In February, Capital University students were greeted by a new kind of communication from the University.
“Hi, this is Cosmo from Capital University! I’m here to support you – I will check in once in a while to see how things are going and text you helpful resources. Also, if you have any questions about Capital, you can ask me!”
This was the introduction of Capital’s new AI chatbot, Cosmo. Its simplest function is to quickly answer student questions and connect them with the resources they need. Simultaneously, it is a sophisticated tool providing real-time information the University needs to help students reach their educational goals.
Cosmo is the newest piece of a framework of more than 500 initiatives to improve the student experience and support student success. These initiatives identify barriers to students getting into university, help them thrive at the institution, and assist them in completing their degrees.
To identify struggling students, a team reviews data at the end of each semester, looking for low grades, disrupted attendance, withdrawals, and incompletes. Many of these can be resolved upon review, allowing students to continue their education. They also look at retention, such as the number of students who return to campus in the fall of their second year. They ask faculty members to watch for changes in behavior, performance, hygiene, and relationships, early indicators that something might be off.
“When a student doesn’t succeed, it’s almost never an academic issue,” University Provost Jody Fournier said. “It may look like an academic issue, but there’s a whole constellation of risk factors that can really trip students up.”
One drawback to these indicators is that they all show up after the fact. The student may already be in trouble by the time the data sounds the alarm.
Through his connections in the Ohio Athletic Conference, Capital University President Dave Kaufman learned that other schools had begun to use chatbot programs, and the results were impressive.
“For me, the hook was you get real-time information directly from students,” Fournier said. “You don’t have to try to piece together this puzzle of who needs help.”
Beyond just receiving inquiries, Cosmo periodically reaches out to the students. Topics have included stress levels, struggling in classes, and finances.
“It’s like a pulse survey that goes to students at predictable periods of the academic year where we know they may be at some pinch points or stress points,” Fournier said.
Just a month after Cosmo’s launch, the University is already impressed with the results. 97% of the undergraduate student population opted in after the initial text, and the chatbot has received more than 3000 texts.
“It’s been a game changer,” Fournier said. “We are learning about students who have needs, who need to be connected to the resources we have, that didn’t appear on our radar using other tools.”
Top questions posed after launch:
- How do I get involved on campus?
- How can I get help with classes?
- What do I do if I have an issue with a classmate?
- How can I get help with stress?
- What is on the menu today?
“What we do at Capital is all about relationship-rich education,” Fournier said. “It’s about social connection. Especially coming out of the pandemic, we’re still looking for ways to have more connections.”
Toward the end of the spring semester, the administration will send out a survey to measure how helpful the program has been from the student perspective. Once they have a more complete sense of its effectiveness, they will look into expanding the program to reach graduate and professional students.
Additionally, a cross-disciplinary team led by Associate Provost Andrea Karkowski is developing a resource to help the University community integrate AI into the classroom and pre-professional environment.
“The team is charged with creating a guidebook that will help students, faculty, and staff integrate AI into their work in a way that’s ethical, that protects student privacy, and that is consistent with the values of Capital University,” Karkowksi said.
he team, which comprises about 10 people from across campus, started by surveying University employees about what AI they are using and what they would like to see in a guidebook. Then they solicited information from students about their current AI practices and their concerns about the technology.
“(The students) were really articulate in their concerns,” Karkowski said. “They talked about things like what’s this going to do to creativity? How is this going to affect it? What’s this going to do to our ability to think and our ability to understand?”
Fournier said the idea is that Capital will be able to provide training and empower instructors to use it with and for their students. “We will also, as a result of that guidebook, provide guidance to staff members on how to use it have efficiencies and improvement in performance for business operations.”
“The faculty will continue to have complete control over what they choose to do in the classes,” Karkowksi said. “We’re not going to force anybody to use AI, but for those people who recognize that we need to teach students these skills, we want to make sure they’re prepared to do that.”
“We have to be aware of the limitations and capabilities and find ways to use it as a tool,” Fournier said, “not to replace certain fundamental transferable skills that we want students to have.”
Fournier sees incorporating AI into the university as a way to prepare for the wave of technology that will inevitably follow it.
“We need to start thinking about what it looks like when we get on the other side of AI usage,” the provost said. “There are many limitations, but I think the opportunities far outweigh them. We can’t just put our heads in the sand or put walls around it. There are too many good things.”