Friday, July 1
11:55 AM-12:15 PM
UTC
Salon 7

Freudbot: An Investigation of Chatbot Technology in Distance Education

Brief Paper: Other ID: 13420
  1. aaa
    Bob Heller
    Athabasca University
  2. Mike Proctor
    Athabasca University
  3. Dean Mah
    Athabasca University
  4. Lisa Jewell
    Athabasca University
  5. Bill Cheung
    Athabasca University

Abstract: A chatbot named Freudbot was constructed using the open source architecture of AIML to determine if a famous person application of chatbot technology could improve student-content interaction in distance education. Fifty-three students in psychology completed a study in which they chatted with Freudbot over the web for 10 minutes under one of two instructional sets. They then completed a questionnaire to provide information about their experience and demographic variables. The results from the questionnaire indicated a neutral evaluation of the chat experience although participants positively endorsed the expansion of chatbot technology and provided clear direction for future development and improvement. A basic analysis of the chatlogs indicated a high proportion of on-task behaviour. There was no effect of instructional set. Altogether, the findings indicate that famous person applications of chatbot technology may be promising as a teaching and learning tool in distance and online education.

Presider: Chien-Sing Lee, Multimedia University

Topic

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