By j christopher stanger on March 22, 2019
Chatbots are computer dialogue programs using artificial intelligence (AI) that carry out conversations with real people either by text or voice interaction. Chatbots are designed to pass the Turing test and convincingly impersonate real people within a human to AI interaction. This A3 explores the promising affordances of chatbots as virtual assistants in mobile education. The A3 also provides: a brief history of chatbots, how they work, their presences in our daily lives and emergence in the internet of things.
Please use the links to access my A3: https://sites.google.com/view/chatbots-in-mobile-learning/home
Christopher shares on this website a few keys points about Chatbots and education. To summarize, chatbots could be used to answer questions about assignment criteria, check homework completion, track progress, provide resources, send reminders, provide feedback during a lesson and are accessible 24/7. He also says “Apps like Duolingo, Mondly and Andy are using Chatbot technology to support mobile device language learning experiences.”
I can see the benefit of chatbots for education, especially in a time of remote teaching when many of the questions I get from students are about locating material. However I do struggle with getting the answers I need from chatbots which makes me frustrated and not want to use their service. I can see Chatbots causing frustration for kids online, especially if they are not indicating their issues clearly in a manner that the chatbot understands. I think it will be a few more years of development before chatbots become more prevalent outside of the ways apps like Duolingo users it (for reminders etc.)