North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has implemented a chatbot to capture the student voice via text message, identify potential issues students may be facing, and provide guidance and support resources where needed.
The new AI-powered chatbot, powered by EdSights, uses persistence research and SMS text messaging to increase student retention, engagement, and success. The chatbot – named Aggie – simulates a human interaction, offers students proactive, tailored outreach to their needs, and includes 24/7 reactive support on frequently asked questions. One major benefit of the chatbot is that it requires no additional staffing.
“We are now using AI to streamline communication to students and further promote their success,” said Kase Gregory, implementation specialist at the university.
Since October of this year, the school has been using the chatbot to check in with students every seven to 10 days to gauge how they are feeling and connect those in need to targeted resources. Student responses are fed into the EdSights dashboard and the platform flags students who would benefit from additional outreach.
Using the regular interactions, EdSights’ platform identifies students that could use human outreach. A select number of campus partners with access to the database will then follow up and connect students with appropriate resource (i.e. housing, counseling services, etc.) to ensure they have spoken with the student directly, or those partners will reach out to the student. North Carolina A&T said this extra step ensures students are contacted by someone on campus if the situation warrants.
“This chatbot is exciting,” said Antja Dionne Caldwell, implementation specialist at the university. “It is going to be the best resource for students to have easy access to campus resources and information.”
Aggie sends academic, financial, engagement, and wellness reminders such as key event dates or course management notices and deadlines. It also sends out wellness, persistence, and support system check-ins. To date, Aggie has sent six proactive, research-backed check-ins to students to measure how they were doing in each of the key drivers of student success (academic, financial, wellness, and engagement). The school said the chatbot has also sent five custom campaigns to students to share important reminders, foster a sense of community and belonging, and get their feedback to enhance student support.
Thus far, 98 percent of students on the platform remain opted in to receiving texts from Aggie and 36 percent are actively engaged and texting Aggie. Students have sent more than 12,300 texts to Aggie since October.
