Help at 3:00 AM! Providing 24/7 Timely Support to Online Students via a Virtual Assistant

Autor/inn/en	Vu, Phu; Fredrickson, Scott; Meyer, Richard
Titel	Help at 3:00 AM! Providing 24/7 Timely Support to Online Students via a Virtual Assistant
Quelle	In: Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 19 (2016) 1 PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1556-3847
Schlagwörter	Electronic Learning; Robotics; Online Courses; Feasibility Studies; Technology Uses in Education; Educational Technology; Undergraduate Students; Interaction; Time on Task; Time Factors (Learning); Artificial Intelligence; Computer Mediated Communication; Teaching Assistants; Help Seeking; Student Attitudes; Student Surveys; Online Surveys + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Robotertechnik; Online course; Online-Kurs; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Unterrichtsmedien; Interaktion; Zeitaufwand; Künstliche Intelligenz; Computerkonferenz; Help-seeking behavior; Help-seeking behaviour; Hilfe suchendes Verhalten; Schülerverhalten; Schülerbefragung
Abstract	With a dearth of research on human-robot interaction in education and relatively high non-completion rates of online students, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using a virtual assistant (VA) to respond to questions and concerns of students and provide 24/7 online course content support. During a 16 week-long academic semester, four hundred and seventy five interactions between the virtual assistant and learners in two online course sections were generated. On the average, the virtual assistant had 4.2 interactions with the students each day. Three hundred and twenty one interactions out of 475 (67.6%) were made during weekend hours, and 422 interactions (88.8%) were conducted between 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM - time the human instructor usually was unviable, thereby providing better and more efficient access for the students. The students were almost unanimous that they enjoyed/appreciated working with the virtual assistant, felt they had better and more immediate support from the VA than they had in previous online classes, and believed that the VA helped them understand the material better. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	State University of West Georgia. 1601 Maple Street, Honors House, Carrollton, GA 30118. Tel: 678-839-5489; Fax: 678-839-0636; e-mail: distance@westga.edu; Web site: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01