Key Highlights:
- The software checks for accuracy in students’ language and supports them in producing online notes
- Students can evaluate their progress at any moment using the software
- Walden is working on the project solely with Google Cloud
The AI-powered Chatbot
Today, there is a flurry of educational software available in the market. With time, there have been numerous advancements in the software. Integration of AI-driven Chatbots is one such method that has revolutionized the educational software market. The use of chatbots in educational software helps to improve the learning experience of students by making it more interesting and dynamic. These software help teachers to minimize the pressure of daily duties such as checking assignments and analyzing students’ performance. Accordingly, Walden University, a for-profit online college, and Google Cloud have recently developed an AI-powered chatbot that functions as an online tutor and writes assessments of students’ progress.
During a demonstration on August 23, Walden executives presented how the chatbot, named “Julian,” generates simple multiple-choice questions and challenges students on short-form written responses. The software examines students’ language for accuracy and assists them in creating online notes through machine learning. Julian’s approach applies to non-binary topics as well as fields such as social work, psychology, and counseling, where interpretation and feedback about mastery are important.
Steven Tom, the chief transformation officer at the Minneapolis-based school, stated the bot assists educators by automating on-demand assessments, which are commonly employed in coursework to measure students’ progress in understanding specific topics or abilities. By establishing an online tool that can instantly provide feedback, the software enables students to assess their progress at any time, he said.
Walden and Google Partnership
Walden University is collaborating exclusively with Google Cloud on this initiative, and so far, has employed the bot in its social work and childhood education tracks. Students first select a concept or module to test and then choose from a variety of questions they want to answer. Instructors do not supervise the bot’s responses but review questions, and essential ideas are extracted through machine learning for accuracy. The software’s notes feature enables students to highlight vital concepts directly from the course content and then double-check what they’ve marked.
A team from Walden University’s IT department collaborated directly with Google to design and create the software, Karthik Venkatesh, the school’s CIO, said during the demonstration. The Google Cloud’s existence makes maintenance simpler, but there is still a need for a smaller IT department to handle operations, he said.
“The requirement for scale was essential,” Venkatesh explained. “We really wanted to make sure that, from a university standpoint, this is a tool or a platform that offers value through producing speed.”
