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Chatbot Helps Students Choose Courses (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the new-ways-to-serve dept.

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."

3 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. automation by another name by sittingnut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:automation by another name by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

      Someone found a copy of "ELIZA" and installed it on the network. Problem solved.

  2. I imagine something like: by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?"