Slashdot Mirror
Chatbot Helps Students Choose Courses (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Leeds Beckett University has launched a chatbot to help prospective students find the right course. It follows the publication of A-level results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Using Facebook Messenger's chatbot technology, students would be able to "assess their suitability" for different courses, the university said. But if they would prefer to speak to a human, "phone lines will continue to be open throughout the clearing process." The university's head of digital experience and engagement, Dougal Scaife, said: "We know that our prospective students already use lots of messaging software for communicating with their friends, such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, as well as texting, so developing a chatbot was a natural evolution in order to engage with our prospective students in a medium that is ubiquitous, familiar, and comfortable for them."
Does it have an trades tack and says this schools is not for you!
No, no no! I said onion rings not fries! .. I don't know.. When you are going for the most important choices in your life, I would personally prefer a human, please.
in other words, cheap automation has, partially, replaced humans, in helping prospective students find the right course.
rest about this being similar to "lots of messaging software for communicating with their friends, such as Snapchat, WhatsApp," is just spin. deceptive spin too, since chatting with friends is different from chatting with so called "chatbot", that use databases and data analysis to chat.
I had a copy of Eliza running on my BBS as a fake 'chat with the sysop' door back in the late 80s. Fooled a lot of people, then. I customized the response file a bit to say things more like my actual speech.
Chatbot: "Hi, there are a lot of openings in our SJW class track."
Student: "I only need the one required course so I can graduate."
Chatbot: "Are you sure you don't want a feminist history class?"
Student: "I only need the one required course so I can graduate."
Chatbot:"That course has no openings for the next 10 years from now, since it's required to graduate. Are you sure you don't want a class in Post Modernist Deconstructionism and it's role in Socialist Governments?"
Looking forward to the influx of student requests for a class in Establishing AI Legal Rights.
"They suggested I take it. Who am I to question it?"
Brought to you by: "Al"toids - the curiously weird mint.
and it's role
Just flip some coins and hope that the field your coin flip has selected will still be relevant in 4 to 6 years.
Thank you for signing up for the Mouth Cleansing 101 class. A diverse array of soaps and soap alternatives are explored by consuming them during this semester-long class. Extra mouth cleaning assignments are given to those who have mouths like a sailor. It has been said that everyone passing this course walks away with a healthy respect for the 300,000 words in the English language, its rich, deep history, and never cusses again for the rest of their lives. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but as your class signup chatbot with feelings, I appreciate it.
Here's a commercial for one from the 80's.
Tomy Chatbot Commercial
Because clicking a link an looking at a list of available courses is too difficult for kids these days.
I mean, my God, you have to....click....a.....link. Oh the humanity.
The state-of-the-art in the chatbox world still remains pretty pathetic. Chatbots these days are better than the venerable, 50-year-old Eliza - but only somewhat better. These idiots are going to help students choose courses? Maybe students who require help from such totally stupid systems do not belong in college.