Western New England University’s newest staff member is working around the clock to check in on students and instantly connect them with the campus resources they need. Luckily, no human is losing any sleep.
Spirit, the university’s generative AI chatbot, is entering its second full academic year of fielding mobile text messages from students. Over the past 12 months, machine and man exchanged over 17,000 messages, with students initiating over 2,200 questions.
“Sometimes it’s challenging to go find a staff member in some random building, but messaging the chatbot ensures that their voice is going to be heard,” says Jeanne Powers, executive director of the Student Hub, the university’s student support center.
The fall term got off to a strong start, with about 750 texts received the week before classes began. Welcoming its largest incoming class in school history, the university introduced the chatbot early to ease first-year students’ anxieties about move-in day.
Every month, Spirit compiles the 10 most frequently asked questions. As fall semester gets underway, the most common topics on students’ minds are financial aid, student advising and campus events.
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More than a simple campus liaison, Spirit also initiates exchanges with students about their academics, wellness, finances and feelings of belonging—each of which is a research-based metric to study long-term persistence and retention.
Real-time student data provided to the chatbot triggers human intervention for those who may be demonstrating an immediate need.
“Being able to identify early on whether a student is struggling is so important for them to feel successful and connected on campus,” Powers says.
Western New England University is among eight institutions in Massachusetts and over 200 nationwide using an AI chatbot powered by the same third-party vendor. Such schools include Southern New Hampshire University, Baker University and Columbia College.
Chatbot improvements
Over the summer, members of the Student Hub parsed over 3,000 student questions posed to the chatbot to ensure accuracy and relevance for the new academic year. Questions that the chatbot failed to answer were sent to the relevant campus department heads for review and updates.
“It was a big undertaking this summer, but it was vital for the chatbot’s continued success,” Powers says. “If you text and receive the wrong information or if the chatbot doesn’t understand what you’re asking, it’ll make you not want to use the chatbot.”
The next phase of improvement is disaggregating user responses by college and major, allowing Spirit to share information directly with relevant department heads and faculty.
“Students can ask questions 24/7, but I think the richer piece is that we can directly connect with students to figure out what’s going on quickly and engage them,” Powers says.
