Balderas Antonio, García-Mena Roberto Fermín, Huerta Milagros, Mora Nestor, Dodero Juan Manuel
Departamento de Ingeniería Informática, Escuela Superior de Ingeniería, Puerto Real, 11519, Cádiz, Spain.
Departamento Ingeniería Mecánica y Diseño Industrial, Escuela Superior de Ingeniería, Puerto Real, 11519, Cádiz, Spain.
Heliyon. 2023 Aug 30;9(9):e19517. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19517. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Chatbots have arrived in higher education, and professors are trying to make the most of them. Typically, chatbots are used to help students learn academic subjects. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, students who were not living with their families during the course, especially international students, were isolated and in critical situations. The student services offices were in constant contact with these students to solve problems, advise them and support them during their stay, within the constraints of confinement and the guidelines dictated by the country at the time. The student services offices were overwhelmed trying to help these students because, although the students' problems were very recurrent, the government guidelines changed from one day to the next. This article proposes the use of a chatbot to provide initial support to students during crisis situations, and facilitate communication between them and the university. The chatbot was tested by more than 160 students and student services staff. The findings support the use of chatbots as a potential tool to facilitate communication with students in emerging emergency situations, and encourage universities to adopt these types of smart tools to be prepared to respond quickly and efficiently to students in times of crisis.
聊天机器人已进入高等教育领域，教授们正试图充分利用它们。通常情况下，聊天机器人用于帮助学生学习学术科目。在危机时期，比如新冠疫情期间，那些在课程学习期间没有与家人同住的学生，尤其是国际学生，被隔离且处于危急状况。学生服务办公室不断与这些学生联系，以便在他们留校期间，在当时的隔离限制和国家规定的指导方针范围内解决问题、为他们提供建议并给予支持。学生服务办公室在试图帮助这些学生时不堪重负，因为尽管学生的问题非常常见，但政府指导方针却每天都在变化。本文提议使用聊天机器人在危机情况下为学生提供初步支持，并促进他们与大学之间的沟通。该聊天机器人经过了160多名学生和学生服务人员的测试。研究结果支持将聊天机器人作为一种潜在工具，以便在新出现的紧急情况下促进与学生的沟通，并鼓励大学采用这类智能工具，为在危机时刻快速高效地回应学生做好准备。
