Chatbots in the education sector? We hope this is not the strangest thing you read today!🤞
No matter the scarcity of awareness, today, AI educational chatbots are a necessity for educational institutions.
The global shutdown, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, shed light on the relevance of technology like never before. While the world struggled to adapt to the ‘new normal’ – an online world, technology acted as the only connecting thread.
Uncertainties are probably the most certain part of our life. Yet, nothing says we can’t be prepared beforehand. The global shutdown had an impact on almost every aspect of our life. From regular grocery shopping to summer getaways in the Bahamas, everything came crashing down. And sadly, the education sector was no alien to these side effects.
Not long after that, the benefits of educational chatbots were realized in educational institutions.
By now, you would’ve understood what this blog is all about. Yes, exactly. We are going to discuss the need for chatbots in the education sector.
Educational chatbots are the future of educational institutions. While the current world experiences some limitations, the multiple applications of educational chatbots will soon help people realize their importance.
Before we move forward to the what’s and why’s of educational chatbots, here is an article for you to understand AI chatbots in general.
➡️Conversational AI Chatbots – The What, Why and Everything Else
The Onset of Educational Chatbots
According to a UNESCO report, (approximately) 290 million students were adversely impacted across 22 countries during the wake of the lockdown. Although not official, we believe this nudged people to explore the scope of conversational AI in the education system.
In this section, our main focus will be on understanding what educational chatbots are.
We will start by differentiating the educational sector from Edtech companies – often used interchangeably. This will enable us to understand different ways education chatbots help students and educational institutions.
Point to be kept in mind – just like any other chatbot use case, AI education chatbots are to help increase your employee efficiency.
Secondly, we aim to explore the need for chatbots in the education sector. Once done with this, we will proceed to list the benefits of enabling AI chatbots in the education sector.
So let’s begin.
What Are Educational Chatbots?
“Educational chatbots are conversational AI bots used by Edtech companies, universities, schools, or any other educational institute. These act as virtual assistants to help teachers, students, and administration.”
While understanding the role of AI educational chatbots, we must look at them as an extension of teachers. Enabling chatbots for education purposes doesn’t mean eliminating the role of teachers. It simply means allowing them more space to perform their duties efficiently.
As a result, educational bots are smart enough to evaluate papers, store and provide student data on demand, update curriculums, and even coordinate with admission processes. Simply put, educational chatbots are an extension of your interior support system.
As mentioned above, applications of educational chatbots are equally appreciated in Edtech companies as in universities, i.e. universities. Let’s see how these two sectors are benefitted from AI chatbots.
But first, is Edtech different from the education sector? Let’s understand.
Edtech Companies vs Educational Sector
In simple words, Edtech is a sub-sector within the education sector. Let’s now understand this in depth.
The education sector or education system consists of various institutions with the primary motive of providing education to children and young people. It consists of various governmental, semi-governmental, and private institutions. Some examples are – ministries of education, local education authorities, NGOs, teacher’s training institutions, etc.
Edtech is an upcoming section of the education system. It is a combination of ‘education’ and ‘technology’. With a special focus on enhancing teacher-led learning in classrooms, this section of the education system uses hardware and software to their full potential.
A broader understanding of Edtech comes from going beyond the usage of computers and computer programs within the classroom. ‘Distance Learning’ or ‘Online Education’ is one of the biggest achievements of incorporating technology into education. In other words, Edtech companies believe in creating a virtual classroom.
Impact of Growth of Edtech on Educational Chatbots
The concept of Edtech has been around for longer than most people think. Even the 20th century made use of technology such as copy machines in schools and training centers. It sure is a long journey that traces the takeover of copy machines by AI chatbots.
The constant use of technology leaves a positive impact on students’ learning process. It helps them assimilate information better. And, any credit given to conversational AI in education system enhancement is less. It has changed the graph of student learning.
Thanks to conversational AI, teachers can now provide students with a personalized learning environment.
AI conversation tools or AI educational chatbots were primarily developed to enhance the teacher-student relationship. These chatbots, in the education sector, have proved to build better student-teacher interaction and collaboration. We will read more about how educational chatbots do so in a later section.
With the growth of Edtech and online education, the need to enable chatbots for education-related purposes has only grown.
Some important applications of educational chatbots are –
- Answering questions
- Providing study material
- Tracking progress
Educational chatbots can integrate into your learning management system and offer student support, and tutoring. This clarifies how enabling AI chatbots in Edtech offers a personalized learning experience.
Let us now examine how employing educational chatbots has impacted educational sectors.
Role of Educational Chatbots in Educational Sectors
The education industry holds great similarities to other industries. The students already affiliated are the existing customers, and the students looking for affiliation are probable customers. The services offered by you (teaching faculty and aids) are your valued products.
Therefore, like any other business, your institute is bound to encounter repetitive tasks. Dealing with student queries, offering resolutions, meeting student expectations, etc.
By using conversational AI in the education sector you can manage your students’ experience.
From admission to graduation, educational chatbots help you grow your institute exponentially.
With these, you can
- Automate repetitive tasks such as sending reminder emails
- Take care of administrative and non-administrative queries
- Offer help with assignments, projects, and exams
AI chatbots are known for their great functionality and speed. And, the benefits of enabling AI chatbots are no different. Its smart functionality helps both the teacher and student save time. Rather than spending hours finding notes, you can have your online educational chatbot support do that for you.
It is therefore rightly said – conversational AI is the imminent future of Edtech (like many other industries, duh!😉)
However, is it only great functionality and speed that makes AI chatbots the future of Edtech?
Of course not.
The ability of educational chatbots to enhance students’ learning experience makes them an elite addition to the educational sector.
On this note, let’s see what factors make educational chatbots a perfect fit for Edtech.
Benefits of Enabling AI Chatbots in Education
By now you must have understood that educational chatbots have brilliantly transformed the institution-student interaction. The main goal is to make conversations easy and simple. This not only encourages student participation but also ensures a progressive performance.
Here are four applications of educational chatbots that result in guaranteed advantages.
Better Student Engagement
The best way to drive student engagement is to create a thirst for knowledge. Institutions therefore must enhance their students’ capacity to absorb knowledge.
How educational chatbots can drive better student engagement?
AI chatbots are responsive. They can provide students with relevant resources timely. Furthermore, these resources can be customized and personalized according to students’ needs.
Today, education no longer follows the traditional process of ‘direct teaching’. Modern education is more focused on self-directed learning. This means incorporating multimedia into the curriculum. The key to providing self-directed learning is to allow the students to learn at their own pace.
With AI educational chatbots it is easier to identify the challenging parts of the curriculum. It can be measured by the number of times an individual has viewed that section with multiple pauses.
Moreover, educational chatbots when integrated with your educational platform can figure out gaps in student understanding. It can initiate tests or simply ask questions. Once the gap is identified, it can improve the student learning experience by providing a better depth of information.
Efficient Teaching Assistance
One of the biggest challenges faced by teachers is working with a large number of students. Every student has different needs. The humane capabilities of teachers limit them from helping every student according to their needs.
Why are AI educational chatbots efficient teaching assistants?
The introduction of conversational AI in education has led to the creation of devoted virtual teaching assistants.
AI educational chatbots are available 24/7 to explain concepts to students. It can also ease the process of assessing tests for teachers by providing access to easy plagiarism and grammar check. They can also streamline their tasks and make better use of their time. This helps them develop better curricula that can provide students with a high-quality education.
Therefore, we have repeatedly talked against chatbots as a replacement for teachers. The role of teachers is rather supplemented by educational chatbots.
Student Support Center
There are two ways an AI educational chatbot helps students. First, they are a great addition to solving admission and curriculum queries. They can even be deployed on a university platform to help students navigate the website better. The AI enables them to answer FAQs quickly. Other use cases of conversational AI in education are as followed
- Class Scheduling
- Room Allotment and Changes
- Publishing Grades and Announcements
Secondly, educational chatbots can deliver instant solutions to student doubts. Hence, they are celebrated for their contribution to students’ learning experiences.
Let’s try and understand this with the help of ChatGPT.
How Educational Chatbots Support Students: ChatGPT as a Case Study
Educational chatbots are AI-powered programs with the ability to converse with humans. This allows chatbots to understand student requests and questions. It further enables them to provide relevant information and assistance on a wide range of topics.
ChatGPT is one such advanced chatbot. It uses NLP and ML to communicate with students. It can handle queries concerning a particular subject, and students seeking advice on general issues such as time management.
Let’s now see why ChatGPT is a perfect example of the benefits of chatbots in education.
- It can provide personalized recommendations based on students’ learning history
- It gives quick and accurate answers
- It results in improved skills and time management by reducing the time spent on research
- It encourages motivation and engagement among students
- It has access to a wide range of resources
If you are interested in learning how ChatGPT has revolutionized the education sector let us know in the comments below.
Feedback Collection
There’s hardly anyone in business who doesn’t know the importance of feedback. No matter the industry you belong to, regular collection and analysis of feedback is a must.
Educational institutes have a lot to collect feedback for. Teachers, syllabus, hygiene, etc – almost every aspect of the institution needs to meet student expectations.
Chatbots in the education sector can be used to collect feedback from all stakeholders. After every conversation or completion of a process, the live chatbot can seek user feedback.
Conclusion
Conversational AI is a revolutionary concept in marketing. Many businesses across various sectors utilize AI chatbot features to simplify communicating with customers.
The educational sector doesn’t fall behind when it comes to incorporating technology. The use cases of conversational AI in education are probably more than in any other sector. Artificial intelligence can help educational institutes streamline service. With the help of educational chatbots, you can deliver a high-quality learning experience to your students.
There are multiple benefits of enabling AI in the education sector.
AI educational chatbots can engage prospective students by analyzing their intent and engagement pattern. It offers you the capability to personalize students’ experiences right from the beginning. Collecting data and feedback is just an added benefit.
If you are an educational institute looking to digitize, Simplify360 is your one-stop answer.
We provide all chatbot benefits and features that you can imagine of. Moreover, our one-of-a-kind omnichannel platform enables you to handle all of your social channels from one dashboard.
So, what’s the delay?
Register for a demo session today and increase your student engagement.
FAQs About Educational Chatbots
1. What are educational chatbots?
Educational chatbots are conversational bots used by Edtech companies and educational institutions. Their primary motive is to encourage an active and personalized learning environment for students.
2. How can chatbots transform the future of the educational sector?
One of the biggest advantages of utilizing educational chatbots is to map your student’s journey right from the moment they join your institution. This helps you create a personalized environment for them to grow in.
3. What are the benefits of AI chatbots in the educational sector?
Educational chatbots come with multiple benefits. These include efficient teacher assistance, active feedback collection, proactive student learning experience, 24/7 available student support center, etc. These features can encourage student engagement which further leads to increased student participation in your educational platform.