The Virginia Community College System has created an online education tool to help Virginians map out their educational and career paths.

The free Web site, called the Virginia Education Wizard, provides information about educational and job opportunities. The Wizard also provides easier access to a host of resources.

Its creator, Craig Herndon, said the site is not solely intended for prospective community college students, although they were the initial target audience.

While the site provides ample information about Virginia's 23 community colleges, it also serves as a database for job hunters.

"The Wizard brings together all of the information prospective students and families need today to make smart choices about their future," Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia's community colleges, said in a news release. DuBois unveiled the tool at a presentation at the Roanoke Workforce Center on Thursday at Valley View. He initiated the project after becoming an active user of Expedia.com several years ago. He said after noticing all the services provided on the travel Web site, he began to wonder why the Virginia Community College System couldn't do for higher education what Expedia did for vacationing.

Shortly after coming up with the idea, he acquired $2.5 million in federal funding for the online tool and assigned Herndon to oversee its design.

Herndon, director of career and educational resources for the community colleges, said the Wizard lets prospective students and job hunters know the criteria they need to meet in order to land the job they want.

With the help of an automated online guide named Ginny, users can participate in a series of assessments to determine their skills and interests. They also can sift through the latest data on the local job front, provided by Chmura Economics and Analytics, a Richmond-based research company. The data provide users information about job opportunities in their area, DuBois said.

Prospective students can use the online tool to obtain information about majors and programs offered at Virginia's community colleges and ways in which to qualify for financial aid and scholarships. They also may research transfer agreements that are available to students looking to continue their education at a four-year college.

Prospective community college students at the presentation seemed impressed with what the Wizard had to offer. Jeremy Ramirez, 17, has plans to attend Virginia Western after completing a GED program. He said the Wizard was easier to navigate than other employment search engines. "It's really upfront and helps you look up information about opportunities closer to home."

DuBois said they intend to expand the site in the future to include other services, such as providing veterans with information on how to best apply their GI Bill benefits toward education.