![]() ![]() "You never want to seem creepy," McNasby said. Personalization is an area where it would be easy to go too far, which is why most chatbots have so far limited personalization to functions such as addressing the student by name. Not only will chatbots be able to retrieve personal information, such as grades or account balances, for students who are logged in to the college system, but they will also talk to students in an individualized way, perhaps employing humor or references based on the interests of the user. "They might feel embarrassed to ask an admissions advisor whether there's a Chipotle on campus or whether they can bring a dog to their dorm."īoth McNasby and Magliozzi agree that personalization will drive the next generation of chatbots. "Students know that they aren’t texting with a person, and that gives them the freedom to ask whatever is on their mind," said Magliozzi. It also enables the university to proactively reach a student and remind them of deadlines to register for class, for instance. "Texting is the easiest way to reach students," said Magliozzi. If the chatbot can't help, it will direct the student to someone who can.ĪdmitHub primarily communicates with students through text messages rather than a web interface. AdmitHub's chatbots cover 6,500 discrete topics, but students can still ask unexpected questions. AdmitHub, as the name suggests, started with a focus on admissions, but now touches all stages of the student's college-going experience from the first expression of interest in an institution to enrollment, retention and even alumni relations. Often we err on the conservative side."Īndrew Magliozzi, CEO of chatbot company AdmitHub, has seen a similar expansion. "We need to be mindful that when someone is in crisis, they need to speak to a live human or reach emergency services. "We have 10 to 15 counseling bots," he said, adding that providing such services requires a delicate touch - students are quickly referred to trained staff when they need help. McNasby said there are few places in the university ecosystem where chatbots can't be deployed, including for providing counseling services for students who may be dealing with serious mental health issues. And Ivy.ai is exploring new communication channels, including texts, Facebook messenger and email. Colleges have requested bots for administrative functions such as HR and purchasing. ![]() Ivy.ai started out as a tool for the careers office, then moved into adjacent areas such as academic advising, said McNasby. Not only does the appearance of a specialized bot indicate to students that the bot can answer specific questions, it also allows administrators to filter out and review which questions are directed to their department. ![]() Institutional level bots may be on the rise, but many individual departments still want the option of designing a custom-user interface, according to McNasby. In the last three months, we've designed more bots for the whole institution," McNasby said. "Initially we were selling bots to one department, then three, then seven or eight departments. Rather than directing that student to a separate career services bot, institutions want integrated services where students "can ask any question, no matter the entry point," McNasby said. He noted that around 35 percent to 40 percent of the questions students ask a departmental chatbot are actually the domain of another department.Ī student talking to an admissions bot might, for example, want to know about the career outcomes of a particular program. This expansion happened naturally, said Mark McNasby, CEO and co-founder of chatbot company Ivy.ai. For the companies that make this computer software that conducts text or voice-based conversations, this changing usage on campus marks a significant shift. Now institutions are looking to deploy chatbots with much broader capability. More and more colleges are deploying virtual assistants or chatbots to communicate with students on all aspects of college life, creating a virtual "one-stop-shop" for student queries.Ĭolleges initially were deploying this technology only in specific areas, such as financial aid, IT services or the library.
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