Chatbots In Education: Applications Of Chatbot Technologies

In general, the followed approach with these chatbots is asking the students questions to teach students certain content. In terms of the medium of interaction, chatbots can be text-based, voice-based, and embodied. Text-based agents allow users to interact by simply typing via a keyboard, whereas voice-based agents https://chat.openai.com/ allow talking via a mic. Voice-based chatbots are more accessible to older adults and some special-need people (Brewer et al., 2018). An embodied chatbot has a physical body, usually in the form of a human, or a cartoon animal (Serenko et al., 2007), allowing them to exhibit facial expressions and emotions.

Through AI and ML capabilities, bots help to access relevant materials and submit tasks. Implementing innovative technologies, establishments will ensure continuous learning beyond the classroom. In such a way, institutions commit to academic excellence and foster positive student experiences. Almost all institutions aim to streamline their processes of updating and collecting data. By leveraging AI technology, colleges can efficiently gather and store information. Such optimization will eliminate student involvement in updating their details.

To deal with this risk, we searched manually to identify significant work beyond the articles we found in the search databases. Nevertheless, the manual search did not result in any articles that are not already found in the searched databases. Most articles (13; 36.11%) used an experiment to establish the validity of the used approach, while 10 articles (27.77%) used an evaluation study to validate the usefulness and usability of their approach. The remaining articles used a questionnaire (10; 27.7%) and a focus group (3; 8.22%) as their evaluation methods.

It turned out that most of the participants agreed that the chatbot is a valuable educational tool that facilitates real-time problem solving and provides a quick recap on course material. The study mentioned in (Mendez et al., 2020) conducted two focus groups to evaluate the efficacy of chatbot used for academic advising. While students were largely satisfied with the answers given by the chatbot, they thought it lacked personalization and the human touch of real academic advisors. Finally, the chatbot discussed by (Verleger & Pembridge, 2018) was built upon a Q&A database related to a programming course. Nevertheless, because the tool did not produce answers to some questions, some students decided to abandon it and instead use standard search engines to find answers.

Chatbots have affordances that can take out-in-the-world learning to the next level. The most important of those affordances is that chatbots can respond differently to each learner, depending on what they say or ask, so the experience adapts to the learner. This can increase the learner’s sense of agency and their ownership of the learning process. We encourage you to organize your colleagues to complete these modules together or facilitate a workshop using our Do-it-yourself Workshop Kits on AI in education. Consider how you might adapt, remix, or enhance these resources for your needs.

As Conversational AI and Generative AI continue to advance, chatbots in education will become even more intuitive and interactive. They will play an increasingly vital role in personalized learning, adapting to individual student preferences and learning styles. Moreover, chatbots will foster seamless communication between educators, students, and parents, promoting better engagement and learning outcomes. Yellow.ai is an excellent conversational AI platform vendor that can help you automate your business processes and deliver a world-class customer experience. They can guide you through the process of deploying an educational chatbot and using it to its full potential. Chatbots in education serve as valuable administrative companions for both prospective and existing students.

Accessible and Inclusive

They promise to forever change the learning landscape by offering highly personalized experiences for students through tailored lessons. With a one-time investment, educators can leverage a self-improving algorithm to design online courses and study resources that go beyond the one-size-fits-all approach, dismantling the age-old education structures. Chatbots will be virtual assistants that offer instant help and answer questions whenever students get stuck understanding a concept.

Over the past few years, chatbots have become common in higher ed, helping students apply to college and for financial aid, among other functions. Proponents say the digital assistants can help districts utilize their human resources more efficiently and promote equity in the process. In the same way, as word processing tools tell us that our texts are too wordy, complex machine-learning algorithms will be able to assess and grade students’ writing on a particular subject. Although this technology is currently in the prototype phase, the Hewitt‘s Foundation has organized a competition between the most famous essay scorers. According to the report written by Huyen Nguyen and Lucio Dery, from the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, the winning app had 81% correlation with the human grader.

Depending on the activity and the goals, I often design the bot to ask students for a code name instead of their real name (the chatbot refers to the person by that name at different points in the conversation). I’m also very clear, through what the bot says to the user and what I say when I first introduce the bot, about how the information that is shared will be used. Oftentimes reflections that students share with the bot are shared with the class without identifiable information, as a starting point for social learning. When using a chatbot, the gathering of data and feedback from the students happens in a way that is organic and integrated into the learning experience — without the need for separate surveys or tests.

For example, you and your students could use a chatbot to reflect on their experience working on a group project or to reflect on how to improve study habits. We advise that you practice metacognitive routines first, before using a chatbot, so that you can compare results and use the chatbot most effectively. Keep in mind that the tone or style of coaching provided by chatbots may not suit everyone.

Their interactive and conversational nature enhances student engagement and motivation, making learning more enjoyable and personalized. Overall, students appreciate the capabilities of AI chatbots and find them helpful for their studies and skill development, recognizing that they complement human intelligence rather than replace it. The adoption of educational chatbots is on the rise due to their ability to provide a cost-effective method to engage students and provide a personalized learning experience (Benotti et al., 2018).

The authors found that chatbots are used for health and well-being advocacy, language learning, and self-advocacy. Chatbots are either flow-based or powered by AI, concerning approaches to their designs. A conversational agent can hold a discussion with students in a variety of ways, ranging from spoken (Wik & Hjalmarsson, 2009) to text-based (Chaudhuri et al., 2009) to nonverbal (Wik chatbot for education & Hjalmarsson, 2009; Ruttkay & Pelachaud, 2006). Similarly, the agent’s visual appearance can be human-like or cartoonish, static or animated, two-dimensional or three-dimensional (Dehn & Van Mulken, 2000). Conversational agents have been developed over the last decade to serve a variety of pedagogical roles, such as tutors, coaches, and learning companions (Haake & Gulz, 2009).

It engaged in text-based conversations and demonstrated the ability to exhibit delusional behavior, offering insights into natural language processing and AI. Later in 2001 ActiveBuddy, Inc. developed the chatbot SmarterChild that operated on instant messaging platforms such as AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger (Hoffer et al., 2001). SmarterChild was a chatbot that could carry on conversations with users about a variety of topics. It was also able to learn from its interactions with users, which made it more and more sophisticated over time.

Peer agents

Unfortunately, even some of the most expensive schools and colleges in the world are not able to provide this type of service. That is why chatbots are the most logical and affordable alternative for personal learning. A chatbot can simulate conversation and idea exchange for low-stakes skills practice. Users can practice language-based soft skills like leading a class discussion, guiding a parent-teacher conference, or even diagnosing English proficiency levels. With a chatbot, users can try out new competencies and hone skills while minimizing the downsides of practicing with a person (eg, judgment, time, repetition). At last, we could have missed articles that report an educational chatbot that could not be found in the selected search databases.

Concerning the design principles behind the chatbots, slightly less than a third of the chatbots used personalized learning, which tailored the educational content based on learning weaknesses, style, and needs. Other chatbots used experiential learning (13.88%), social dialog (11.11%), collaborative learning (11.11%), affective learning (5.55%), learning by teaching (5.55%), and scaffolding (2.77%). While the identified limitations are relevant, this study identifies limitations from other perspectives such as the design of the chatbots and the student experience with the educational chatbots. To sum up, Table 2 shows some gaps that this study aims at bridging to reflect on educational chatbots in the literature. Chatbots serve as valuable assistants, optimizing resource allocation in educational institutions. By efficiently handling repetitive tasks, they liberate valuable time for teachers and staff.

With software like DialogFlow, no coding or prior experience is necessary for a basic, text-based build. However, it is recommended that someone with close knowledge of the content have primary editing access to the chatbot. Instructors can gather anonymous feedback either on a granular level (eg, regarding a particular class session), or more generally (eg, about the arc of learning over an entire course).

This learning concept involves repeating the old lessons, just before you forget them. The spaced interval learning was used as a basis for developing an app that helps people to track the learning process and reminds them to repeat the lessons they are about to forget. The app was created by the Polish inventor Piotr Wozniak and promoted by the SuperMemo company. (For instance, a chatbot mimicking President Barack Obama inaccurately parroted his administration’s critics as his own views when talking to a reporter about the president’s record on K-12 education). Chatbots will level up the experience for both your current and prospective students. Ethical issues such as bias, fairness, and privacy are relevant in university settings.

Chatbots can provide virtual tutoring and mentoring services, guiding students through coursework, assignments, and career advice. They can supplement the support offered by faculty members and academic advisors. While chatbots can handle most queries, there will be times when a human touch is necessary. Ensuring that the handover from bot to human is seamless is a challenge that requires careful design. Educational services change regularly, and inaccuracies could lead to issues with students or potential learners. A strategic plan is essential to organize and present this data through the chatbot without overwhelming the user.

Ashok Goel, a computer science professor at Georgia Tech, is one of the first teachers to simplify his work in this way, with the help of artificial intelligence. He built a chatbot using the IBM’s Watson platform and named it Jill Watson. The bot answers students’ questions on an online forum and provides technical information about courses and lectures.

The American Council on Science and Health is a research and education organization operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We raise our funds each year primarily from individuals and foundations. Users should be cautious about the information generated by chatbots and not rely solely on them as sources of information. They should critically evaluate and fact-check the responses to prevent the spread of misinformation or disinformation. Users must use chatbots in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others.

By sending questions on various subjects via messaging apps, QuizBot helps students retain information more effectively and prepare for exams in a fun and interactive way. Pounce answers questions about admissions, financial aid, and registration, reducing the number of students who drop out due to confusion or lack of information. Henry I. Miller, MS, MD, is the Glenn Swogger Distinguished Fellow at the American Council on Science and Health.

Real-life examples of chatbots helping in the learning process

They should not be used for malicious purposes, harassment, hate speech, or any activity that violates applicable laws or regulations. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Seven general research questions were formulated in reference to the objectives. We wanted AI-powered features that were deeply integrated into the app and leveraged the gamified aspect of Duolingo that our learners love. The comprehensive list of included studies, along with relevant data extracted from these studies, is available from the corresponding author upon request. We offer this activity for you to self-assess and reflect on what you learned in this module.

• While chatting with bots, students will have the chance to explain their claims.
• Consider asking the chatbot to take on a particular perspective or identity.
• Oftentimes reflections that students share with the bot are shared with the class without identifiable information, as a starting point for social learning.

Begin by telling the chatbot that you would like to develop a fictional short story and that you’d like its assistance in developing your ideas. Try different ways of interacting and responding to the chatbot to get a sense of its capabilities. Go to claude.ai/login and sign in with an email address or Google account to access the Claude chatbot. Go to bard.google.com and sign in with your personal Google account to access Bard.

Master of Code Global specializes in effective chatbot development solutions. We use advanced encryption and follow strict data protection rules, creating a secure space to engage with the bot, assuring users of their data privacy. Moreover, our projects are tailored to each client’s needs, resolving customer pain points. So, partnering with MOCG for your future chatbot development is a one-stop solution to address all concerns from the above. Digital assistants offer continuous support and guidance to all trainees, regardless of time zones or schedules.

Building a Chatbot for Education: Tips and Tricks

Georgia State University developed Pounce, an AI-powered chatbot designed to assist students during the enrollment process. In this article, we’ll explore some of the best use cases and real-life examples of chatbots in education. Every chatbot is different, and depends largely on how much content you put in and how robust a conversation you want to design. As a rule of thumb, it takes one person about a month to make a chatbot with 30 different outputs (ie, types of content you want the user to engage with). For more ideas, reach out to the Digital Learning Solutions team at GSE IT.

Digital assistant integration significantly changes the way learners engage in studying processes, offering an array of benefits. It’s important to note that some papers raise concerns about excessive reliance on AI-generated information, potentially leading to a negative impact on student’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Kasneci et al., 2023). For instance, if students consistently receive solutions or information effortlessly through AI assistance, they might not engage deeply in understanding the topic. In our review process, we carefully adhered to the inclusion and exclusion criteria specified in Table 2. Criteria were determined to ensure the studies chosen are relevant to the research question (content, timeline) and maintain a certain level of quality (literature type) and consistency (language, subject area). Their favorite music is being streamed from distant servers, directly to their smart device.

Exceptionally, a chatbot found in (D’mello & Graesser, 2013) is both a teaching and motivational agent. 63.88% (23) of the selected articles are conference papers, while 36.11% (13) were published in journals. Interestingly, 38.46% (5) of the journal articles were published recently in 2020. Intriguingly, one article was published in Computers in Human Behavior journal. Most of these journals are ranked Q1 or Q2 according to Scimago Journal and Country Rank Footnote 7.

The future of AI and chatbots in education

User-driven conversations are powered by AI and thus allow for a flexible dialogue as the user chooses the types of questions they ask and thus can deviate from the chatbot’s script. One-way user-driven chatbots use machine learning to understand what the user is saying (Dutta, 2017), and the responses are selected from a set of premade answers. In contrast, two-way user-driven chatbots build accurate answers word by word to users (Winkler & Söllner, 2018). Such chatbots can learn from previous user input in similar contexts (De Angeli & Brahnam, 2008). By transforming lectures into conversational messages, such tools enhance engagement.

The sixth question focuses on the evaluation methods used to prove the effectiveness of the proposed chatbots. Finally, the seventh question discusses the challenges and limitations of the works behind the proposed chatbots and potential solutions to such challenges. Addressing these gaps in the existing literature would significantly benefit the field of education. Firstly, further research on the impacts of integrating chatbots can shed light on their long-term sustainability and how their advantages persist over time. This knowledge is crucial for educators and policymakers to make informed decisions about the continued integration of chatbots into educational systems.

Promptly addressing students’ doubts and concerns, chatbots enable teachers to provide immediate clarifications, fostering a more conducive and effective learning environment. Chatbots can help educational institutions in data collection and analysis in various ways. Firstly, they can collect and analyze data to offer rich insights into student behavior and performance to help them create more effective learning programs. Secondly, chatbots can gather data on student interactions, feedback, and performance, which can be used to identify areas for improvement and optimize learning outcomes. Thirdly education chatbots can access examination data and student responses in order to perform automated assessments.

In general, the studies conducting evaluation studies involved asking participants to take a test after being involved in an activity with the chatbot. The results of the evaluation studies (Table 12) point to various findings such as increased motivation, learning, task completeness, and high subjective satisfaction and engagement. One of them presented in (D’mello & Graesser, 2013) asks the students a question, then waits for the student to write an answer. Then the motivational agent reacts to the answer with varying emotions, including empathy and approval, to motivate students. Similarly, the chatbot in (Schouten et al., 2017) shows various reactionary emotions and motivates students with encouraging phrases such as “you have already achieved a lot today”. 3 is more than 36 (the number of selected articles) as the authors of a single article could work in institutions located in different countries.

Understanding student sentiments during and after the sessions is very important for teachers. If students end up being confused and unclear about the topic, all the efforts made by the teachers go in vain. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. For all open access content, the Creative Commons licensing terms apply. For example, they can be very good at handling routine queries and qualifying leads.

Likewise, bots can collect inputs from all involved participants after each interaction or event. Subsequently, this method offers valuable insights into improving the learning journey. I do not see chatbots as a replacement for the teacher, but as one more tool in their toolbox, or a new medium that can be used to design learning experiences in a way that extends the capacity and unique abilities of the teacher. Duolingo, a popular language learning app, has integrated chatbots to help users practice conversational skills in various languages. Through interactive dialogs and simulated conversations, learners can improve their speaking, listening, and comprehension skills in a low-pressure environment.

It has been scientifically proven that not everyone understands and learns in the same way. To cater to the needs of every student in terms of complex topics or subjects, chatbots can customize the learning plan and make sure that students gain maximum knowledge – in the classroom and even outside. This paper will help to better understand how educational chatbots can be effectively utilized to enhance Chat PG education and address the specific needs and challenges of students and educators. Only four (11.11%) articles used chatbots that engage in user-driven conversations where the user controls the conversation and the chatbot does not have a premade response. For example, the authors in (Fryer et al., 2017) used Cleverbot, a chatbot designed to learn from its past conversations with humans.

Chatbots in education offer unparalleled accessibility, functioning as reliable virtual assistants that remain accessible around the clock. Much like a dedicated support system, they tirelessly cater to the needs of both students and teachers, providing prompt responses and assistance at any time, day or night. This kind of availability ensures that learners and educators can access essential information and support whenever they need it, fostering a seamless and uninterrupted learning experience.

These chatbots help students understand complex topics, provide step-by-step solutions, and offer tips for completing assignments. Suggestions, stories, and resources come from conversations with students and instructors based on their experience, as well as from external research. Specific sources listed are only for reference and will evolve with the evidence base.

Peer agents can also scaffold an educational conversation with other human peers. The latest chatbot models have showcased remarkable capabilities in natural language processing and generation. Additional research is required to investigate the role and potential of these newer chatbots in the field of education. Therefore, our paper focuses on reviewing and discussing the findings of these new-generation chatbots’ use in education, including their benefits and challenges from the perspectives of both educators and students. In this section, we present the results of the reviewed articles, focusing on our research questions, particularly with regard to ChatGPT. ChatGPT, as one of the latest AI-powered chatbots, has gained significant attention for its potential applications in education.

Through turns of conversation, a chatbot can guide, advise, and remedy questions and concerns on any topic. These guided conversations can help users search for resources in more abstract ways than via a search bar and also provide a more personable and customized experience based on each user’s background and needs. Only four chatbots (11.11%) used a user-driven style where the user was in control of the conversation.

The educational problems that couldn’t be solved by rules, acts and laws, will finally disappear in the next few decades. This is a fact thanks to fast technological advance and beneficial cooperation between socially aware corporations and educational institutions. Although chatbots are nothing more than simple code snippets, in this equation, they are the tool that is going to offer equal opportunity to every child.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. Educators often use the multiple-choice tests to make their job easier. Essays offer much better insight into a student’s level of knowledge, methodology, and problem-solving skill, but they are much harder to grade and assess. In the future, educational chatbots will have essay scoring functionality. Today, many teachers are solely focused on memorizing lessons and grading tests.