The N.C. A&T Center for Academic Excellence has launched a new retention tool by way of AI to guide students through their collegiate journey.
‘Aggie’ is the new AI chatbot for everyone, including graduate and international students. By simply texting 844-759-1419, continuing students can opt in to an advanced system to receive important information throughout the school year. The 24/7 text service can also answer any university related questions and conduct feedback surveys with users.
The idea was brought about last August by former associate Vice Provost of Student Success, Dr. Regina Williams Davis. After a few conversations with EdSights, Davis knew it was time to bring ‘Aggie’ to N.C. A&T and notified the Center of Academic Excellence for assistance.
Antja Caldwell, Student Success project coordinator and University Innovation Alliance Fellow for the Center for Academic Excellence, and Kase Gregory, academic advisor and lecturer for the Center of Academic Excellence, played a vital role in the process ensuring students find value in the new program.
“We weren’t necessarily a part of bringing it to campus,” Caldwell said. “But once it was here, he and I developed the knowledge base, the analytics, and any information that the student texts and gets back…. we were a part of that implementation.”
‘Aggie’ is also set up to do temperature checks with users and recommend campus resources based on responses.
“It will ask you, ‘How are you feeling about your finances? How are you feeling about classes? Midterms are coming up,’ and it will use a scale to measure those feelings,” Gregory explained.
Gregory and Caldwell meet with EdSights twice a month to discuss how the chatbot is working and how engaging students are with the service.
Each semester, contact information of incoming and transfer students gets uploaded into the database allowing them to receive an initial text message. They have the option to opt in to continue to receive messages and temperature checks or opt out and discontinue the service until they text the number again for help.
The chatbot was founded on the intentions of being proactive and reactive while creating a positive virtual community for students to always feel aided no matter the topic or situation. @ncat.teamcae, @ncat.studentsuccessoffice are currently planning to expand promotion to the main N.C. A&T page to increase usage.
