A Proposed Cognitive Framework Model for a Student Support Chatbot in a Higher Education Institution

Abstract

The proposed student support chatbot is a framework model that enables the discovery of theoretical and conceptual design. It is aimed at responding to students' frequently asked questions (FAQs) about pedagogical information, including course registrations, fees, exams, course assessments, grades, appeals against the grades, and anything related to students in a higher education institution (HEI). All the student-related information can be implemented as a real-time conversational system on the web or on a mobile platform of any HEI, such as institutional websites, mobile apps, or integrations with their social media like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram. This design intends to provide cognitive services by identifying the benefits, challenges, and various ways of implementation. Most students individually ask the same question repeatedly to their advisors and course lecturers, which could be discussed and explained earlier, in which the faculties are spending too much time responding to their advisees' or students' questions. The cognitive services include different languages for text-based, voice-based, and graphical user interface requests with sensitive as well as non-sensitive requests. Thus, a student support chatbot is recommended for any HEI to minimize the time spent repeatedly answering questions, and this helps the staff, advisors, and faculties utilize the time on other academic performance.