Conference Workshop 11.00-12.00 Monday 26th August – Register for the Conference Today
The large scale of first-year courses at the University of Auckland Business School attracts a sizeable volume of often repetitive administrative questions. This is understandable given the transition to university challenges faced by many students, but answering large numbers of non-disciplinary queries consumes extensive labour from already stretched academic staff. BizzBot, an AI chatbot powered by IBM watsonx, is currently being trialed for this purpose, and initial feedback from staff and students has been encouraging. This trial has highlighted both opportunities and threats of the current technology in educational contexts. These will be shared in this presentation along with proposed future work in this area. Workshop participants will also be given an opportunity to try the chatbot themselves and ask questions.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of our session participants will:
- See how an AI chatbot is being used at scale to respond to student queries at the University of Auckland Business School, and have an opportunity to try the chatbot themselves.
- Engage in a discussion on the opportunities and threats posed by the use of artificial intelligence in educational contexts; and
- Ask questions about the technical and implementation aspects of using the chatbot.
Facilitators:
Dr. Parizad Mulla:Currently works as a professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland Business School, where she is a Course Director and Major Specialisation Lead.
Mr. Shohil Kishore: Shohil currently works as a Software Developer and Project Manager in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management. He specialises in the analysis of large-scale social media trace data.
Dr. Michelle Kilkolly-Proffit:Currently works as a Professional Teaching Fellow and Director of Core Courses at the University of Auckland Business School.