The Development and Implementation of the Frequently Asked Question Online Teaching Assistant Using Chatbot · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Sithole, Knowledge

Title

The Development and Implementation of the Frequently Asked Question Online Teaching Assistant Using Chatbot

Abstract

The communication of potential students with a university department is performed manually and it is a very time-consuming procedure. The opportunity to communicate with on a one-to one basis is highly valued. However, with many hundreds of applications each year, one-to one conversations are not feasible in most cases. The communication will require a member of academic staff to expend several hours to find suitable answers and contact each student. It would be useful to reduce his costs and time. The project aims to reduce the burden on the head of information officer or a support manager, and potentially other users, by developing a convincing chatbot. A suitable algorithm must be devised to search through the set of data and find a potential answer. The program then replies to the user and provides a relevant weblink if the user is not satisfied by the answer. Furthermore, a web interface is provided for both users and an administrator. The achievements of the project can be summarized as follows. To prepare the background of the project a literature review was undertaken, together with an investigation of existing tools, and consultation with the head of information officer or customer support manager. The requirements of the system were established and a range of algorithms and tools were investigated, including keyword and template matching. An algorithm that combines keyword matching with string similarity has been developed. A usable system using the proposed algorithm has been implemented. The system was evaluated by keeping logs of questions and answers and by feedback received by potential students that used it. A pre-trained application can deliver high quality information service to the user and the database can be designed on basis of frequently asked questions from the students and visitor. In the current days of technology, A chatbot application can build conversation with the customer or can make customer relationship by chatting. Students can easily get any kind of specific answer of any question by just asking through the chat, and a computer program (known as chatbot) can deliver the answer to a number of students at a time.

Date

2023

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Development and Implementation

Frequently Asked Question Online Teaching Assistant

Chatbot

Supervisor

N/A