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The education sector is not necessarily the first that comes to mind when we talk about educational chatbots. However, it is one of the industries that is heavily inundated with repetitive enquiries from students, parents and teachers.
In addition, the pandemic upended the industry, forcing it to adapt to the changing times. Now, education is present in the top five business sectors that not only use but make profits with chatbots.
Many university students in the US favor the use of digital learning technologies (DLT) as an academic tool. 79% of them believe that DLTs help teachers be more efficient during classes and 81% agreed that they help improve grades too.
Let’s look at how universities are using chatbots to improve their education systems and provide better experiences to their students, but before that lets explore in depth what educational chatbots are.
Education chatbots are used by EdTech companies, universities, schools or any educational institutes to transform the way institutions interact with students. They make it easier for students to explore more about their options and things they can do at school.
Technology is changing the way students learn and absorb information. Artificial intelligence is letting educators provide a personalized learning environment to the students.
Chatbots and other artificially intelligent tools are game-changers in the EdTech world.
Online education is not just restricted to extra online certificate courses anymore. Online education is part of mainstream education too. Apart from the distant learning programs universities also offer online mediums on their flagship courses.
With a rise in multiple educational tools, the entire online education norm has changed.
Students miss out on the classroom experience and the accessibility of professors. This is where education chatbots can bridge the gaps. Let’s look at a few use cases to help you understand better.
Use cases of chatbots
AI-powered chatbots can give personal attention to students and their learning habits. They can observe the pattern of studying and content consumption and based on that they can help students excel in their streams.
With intelligent tutoring systems schools can deliver personalized learning experiences. To cater to the needs of every student, chatbots can customize learning plans and make sure that students benefit the most in the classroom, even outside. They can help also students with all study materials as and when they need them.
Amidst virtual learning during the pandemic, student engagement has hit rock bottom. Student-teacher interaction and student-student engagement both have been gravely affected.
Chatbots can help in this scenario by continuously interacting with students and clarifying their queries instantly. Students can create alumni groups or project groups to exchange information about projects, assignments, deadlines, presentations, events and more. Engaging with each other using conversational AI can help them create a better environment for learning.
Queries of students before the enrollment, during the course and after the course must be prioritized and solved instantly. Educational chatbots can be a great help in providing excellent student support and delivering instant solutions to students’ doubts.
Mundane tasks such as tracking student attendance, scoring tests or sending out assignments to students can easily be carried out using chatbots as teachers’ assistants. If an institution automates the attendance recording of students, they must ensure that the chatbots in school send absent students the notes and recordings of the lectures that were recorded during their absenteeism.
Instead of visiting the office and waiting in long queues to find answers, texting via chatbots to resolve queries is always a better option. For prospective as well as existing students, educational chatbots can be their administrative companions.
Course details, enrollment, information on various courses available, qualifications needed, fee structure, scholarships and many more can be taken up by the chatbot.
Educational institutions can handle these queries anytime anywhere without human interference, delivering superior interactions and experience.
Assistance regarding the payments or addition of a new module to the syllabus or a deadline, all can be proactive and can prove to be helpful.
Schools can even communicate important messages like “Bring your water bottles, the school water tank is not working” or “due to the snowstorm, the school will remain off today” to build a communication bridge between students and institutes.
From teachers to syllabus, admissions to hygiene, schools can collect information on all the aspects and become champions in their sector.
Chatbots in the education sector can help collect feedback from all the stakeholders after each conversation, or completion of every process. This can help schools in extracting useful information and attending to matters with immediate action.
With artificial intelligence and machine learning, all student responses can be automatically evaluated and scored. Teachers can rely on AI to fill students’ scorecards as per the results generated.
Education chatbots can share study material and reference links to students. Teachers can be relieved of the assessments and evaluations, giving them extra time to devote to their students.
Chatbots act as a data collection tool as well as a data distribution tool. For instance, students can upload all their details and teachers can use them to distribute lessons and other important information to all their students at once.
With automation, the chances of mistakes are reduced, and the process can take place 24/7. All data in a single place can be used for problem solving and to derive insightful conclusions.
Understanding student sentiments is very important. Chatbots can understand sentiments and thus can help teachers in improving their teaching practices to clarify students’ doubts right away.
Future educational Chatbot
Researchers have already developed systems that possess the ability to detect whether students can understand the study material. This is a game changer in terms of helping students who fall behind, ensuring that every student gets the most out of their chosen course.
In the days to come, chatbots can be used for essay scoring and more general grading tasks. Spaced Interval Learning is a learning concept that is being integrated with the bots. Chatbots can be used to remind students to repeat their lessons or deliver the material to them at spaced intervals to ensure that the lesson is fresh in their minds.
From Admissions to guidance to retention, a chatbot can help a university in multiple ways. Numerous Universities are employing chatbots to answer students’ day-to-day questions, to make their campus experience much better.
Looking at the dropping retention rate, universities in the USA are even employing chatbots to learn about students’ personal struggles. Their mental & emotional health issues, lack of resources, etc.
Bethel University is an excellent example of an institution using a chatbot for student retention. Bethel’s retention rate was dipping for three straight years, and then they introduced EdSight’s Wilhelm, an AI-powered bot that asked students reasons for considering dropping out.
The University staff would then help these students with external support or resources to make them stay at the university.
According to Forbes, “after one semester of Wilhelm’s nudges, Bethel’s retention rate increased 4%, and 85% of the students who used the app rated it very favorably. On average, over 95% of students offered the program opted for it.”
Not just Bethel, in fact many universities can witness an increase in their retention rate if they opt for a chatbot with functionalities unique to their requirements.
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