Opportunities and Challenges in Using AI Chatbots in Higher Education

Shanshan Yang, Chris Evans
2019 Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Education and E-Learning  
Artificial intelligence (AI) conversational chatbots have gained popularity over time, and have been widely used in the fields of ecommerce, online banking, and digital healthcare and well-being, among others. The technology has the potential to provide personalised service to a range of consumers. However, the use of chatbots within educational settings is still limited. In this paper, we present three chatbot prototypes, the Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, are currently
more » ... eloping, and discuss the potential opportunities and technical challenges we face when considering AI chatbots to support our daily activities within the department. Three AI virtual agents are under development: 1) to support the delivery of a taught Master's course simulation game; 2) to support the training and use of a newly introduced educational application; 3) to improve the processing of helpdesk requests within a university department. We hope this paper is informative to those interested in using chatbots in the educational domain. We also aim to improve awareness among those within the chatbot development industry, in particular the chatbot engine providers, about the educational and operational needs within educational institutes, which may differ from those in other domains. CCS Concepts •Information systems ➝ Information retrieval ➝ Users and interactive retrieval ➝ personalisation Keywords Chatbot; AI in education; personalised educational service; AI in educational simulation; AI in application training; AI in helpdesk support; intelligent systems.
doi:10.1145/3371647.3371659 fatcat:7sq37nqgqrci3hdwhujsbig7pm