In today’s modern world, most of the interactions among people are happening only in social networks. Now more transactions are possible on social platforms than websites. It will not be an exaggeration to say that they have completely changed the way students of all ages study, and the overall landscape of education has evolved for good. The advances of technology has dramatically changed how we live our day-to-day lives, including in the learning processes. The educational sector has undergone massive changes post the proliferation of internet services in learning. There is a large variety of online educational mobile apps for readers of every age. Schools also recommend online educational mobile app these days to reinforce and supplement in-class sessions. Research (https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/education-apps-market-rising-at-2746-cagr-by-2022-681497371.html) suggests that the size of educational mobile apps is going to rise by CAGR of more than 27% by 2022, which marks it as one of the fastest-growing segments in mobile apps. On the hand, according to the data provided by the Commission, 37% of the EU workforce still has low digital skills, or none at all, and only 20-25% of them are taught by teachers who are confident using technology in the classroom.
The solutions that are currently available in the market rely on coded content, embedded videos, and paid manual support to enhance the teaching experience. This is a gap that is still unaddressed and also a massive opportunity for improvement and innovation in the sector. Quality of content in training may be excellent, but it can never replace that component of personal approval that a learner seeks to reinforce their mind-map. Online mobile education is just a supplement and not a replacement to in-person education due to these very reasons in the present scenario.
One of the examples are Chatbots. A chatbot is a conversational computer program that users can interact with via a messaging interface. They are computer programs that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to conduct conversation via auditory or textual methods. It is a form of dialog system of virtual assistant. They are an artificial intelligence-based solution that relies on natural language processing and native language generation to address certain aspects that existing mobile apps are missing. Chatbots act as an online representative that may answer some of your questions. Their usage has increased enormously in the last 5 years with the internet of things but also with their integration on massive messaging platform (Facebook Messenger, WeChat, KiK, WhatsApp etc). Instead of downloading yet another app, users are comfortable using their messaging app to complete other tasks, like booking a table or checking the weather.
Now, in education sector where a real-life human teacher imparts its learnings to vet students through innovative methods and further reinforces it by asking and answering questions, a chatbot will work like magic. As adapted chatbot systems can offer students a range of advantages and act as a digital form of tutoring, we are creating together a Tutor Chatbot to support the students in their learning process and the trainers in their training.
To do so, through Tutorbot for VET project we intend to give the tools to trainers to create their own chatbot in an already developed chatbot creator platform. 4 or more (it depends on the number of the partners) different chatbots, filled with content and connected to the learning outcomes of the VET centers involved in the projects, as well as a chatbot design guide and a chatbot creation training module to support trainers and VET organizations in developing their own chatbot. #tutorbot