Question

1) Explain where and how chatbots might be effective in Higher Education (feel free to focus on the University of Akron), and

2) How you would feel about the University using them in this manner.

Answer 1

In general terms bot is a software that works according to the set programs and Chatbots are a computer program that stimulates human conversations . Chatbots are designed to communicate with humans using internet.Answers to some questions are incorporated in the Chatbot and it performs according the query asked.They respond through chats or even voice commands.When asked a question chatbot will respond based on the knowledge database available in it . There are many advantages of having a chatbot for any business:

• Accessible anytime
• Handling capacity
• More flexible
• Customer satisfaction
• Cost effective
• Personalization

Chatbots in Higher education :

Technology is evolving with each passing minute and is solving the most complex problems in very easy manner.It has entered into each and every sector and education is also one of them.Artificial intelligence has changed the traditional way of education with the introduction of Chatbots.

1) How does Chatbots works in Higher education:

There are many ways how chatbots are helping students in higher eduction.They act as a personal teacher to you and assist you even at the odd hours.Apart from this it provides an intelligent learning systems which gives student a personalized learning environment and also analyses student's response,stimulates it and suggest further lectures or topics depending on the mental capability of that student.

How Chatbots are effective at University of Akron :

• Comfort level : Some students are shy and don't want to talk to humans about their problem or doubt.Many times they don't raise questions or clear their doubts which creates problems for them to clear the basics.Chatbot are highly effective in this context and students can refer to chatbot for any doubt or problem they are facing.It will happily answer them and make them comfortable.
• Ease the process of communication : Chatbots contains each and every information which is helpful for students.They can easily ask the chatbot about anything they want to pursue and stay updated.It ease out the process of communication between university and students.
• Extensive Feedbacks : Feedbacks are very important in education sector for both teacher and students.Teacher can easily provide the feedbacks through tests,assignments etc but students don't have a proper channel to give a feedback.Here in Chatbots brings a great help.Students provide answers to the feedback question and help the teachers to understand and implement changes wherever required. Certain questions asked to the students like "How can we improve the course" or "how would you like us to improve" etc.
• Provides Information about University : Chatbots are also helpful for students before enrolling for any course.It provides detailed information about the courses offered and helps them to choose the interested one.
• Instant help : Unlike humans Chatbots are accessible 24/7 i.e you can talk to a chatbot whenever you want.It provides great student support whenever they need.
• Quick learning : Today is the era of social media and mobiles,laptops or computers.Students are much more comfortable and learn quickly from these devices.Now chatbot can be accessed from any of these and learning can be made more fun ,easy and interesting through video lectures and audio textbooks.
• Reduce manual efforts : It helps in reducing the repetitive manual work for teachers.They can focus on more productive areas in this saved time.
• Helpful in outbreak situations : In unforeseen circumstances and situations like Virus outbreak,wars,earthquake etc chatbots becomes the only available help to students.For example in current situation of pandemic COVID-19 chatbot will help students to solve their query and assist them in these panic times.

2) University using Chatbots are having a serious edge on the competitors and becomes the prime choice for students.Chatbots can sometimes be the deciding factor for students as it brings in a lot of help and depicts the systematic approach of the university. Artificial is the next big thing in terms of technology ,that day is not far when robots will take lectures in colleges or universities.Chatbots being a computer software does a lot more than a human can without any interference.It eases out various processes and adds more smoothness and accuracy in the functioning of university.It saves time and money and is very effective and consistent .However it has some drawbacks like technical glitches and bugs or student might not be able to make a bot understand about the query etc.

So as they say each coin has 2 aspects,chatbots has also got some Pros and Cons.Having said that Chatbots is a new age product and it will add more value to its existence in the near future.