“This research supports the promising role of autonomous agents like chatbots as active teammates and points to ways in which leveraging the distinction between artificial and human cues during conversation can drive positive outcomes.”
Hwang and Stevenson Won used Juji to design the conversational flow, customized certain functionalities of the chatbot to follow the conversational script written for three studies and designed the language used in the conversation with specific emphasis on being polite and formal.
“The findings showed that not only do chatbots powered by cognitive intelligence encourage greater participation and comfort for users, but can take on a meaningful role in collaborative, team settings,” said Michelle Zhou, CEO of Juji. “This can have far-reaching implications for not only universities, but businesses across every industry.”
Chatbots are expanding in higher education
Maryville University in St. Louis, MO, first started using a chatbot in 2019. To keep up with demand and ensure a seamless experience for its students, Maryville’s leadership decided to introduce “digital employees”–chatbots–into workstreams. The university’s first digital employee was Max.
“It is important to note we refer to them as ‘digital employees’ as the functionality and sophistication exceeds that of a typical chatbot,” explained Dr. Mark Lombadi, Maryville University’s president. “We know students expect and need excellent service so one of the goals was to scale our student service to keep pace with our rapid growth. Our philosophy is everything inside the classroom should be challenging but everything outside the classroom should be easy. We aim to make sure students have access to what they need 24/7/365 through multiple channels and from any device. The goal was for Max (our digital employee) to be on the front lines to answer common questions and then escalate any issues that needed more personalized attention to human staff.”
Maryville University initially made Max available in its online orientation for new adult undergraduates. “The idea was to engage these students before they started their first course and answer any questions they might have. The process of applying, getting accepted, financial aid, and registering for classes can be complicated. The early goal was to be able to provide basic information and direction 24/7,” said Lombardi.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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