Higher education is being transformed by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on student engagement. This year's Engage Summit was jam-packed full of sessions about AI, including "Rise of the Chatbots: Transforming Student Engagement with AI," led by Ardis Kadiu, CEO and Founder of Element451, Eric Range, Vice President of Product, and Petar Djordjevic, Chief Technology Officer. 

This session shed light on the incredible potential of conversational chatbots like BoltBot. From implementing institutional bots to the power of semantic search, the session was full of knowledge. Join us as we delve into the highlights and real-life examples of chatbot excellence.

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An Ever-Growing Knowledge Base

One captivating aspect of the session was the emphasis on the critical role of institutional knowledge for effective chatbot implementation. The example of BoltBot perfectly exemplified this concept.

Eric explained how BoltBot's knowledge base can be enriched with articles, technical details, and even reliable content from the institution's website, such as admissions and academic majors.

Element451 offers a universal knowledge base to jump-start BoltBot, and you can also store your own institution-specific knowledge. By curating such content and integrating it into the chatbot's knowledge base, BoltBot was empowered to provide quick and accurate answers to user queries.

Semantic Search: Unlocking Meanings and Contexts

Eric masterfully walked the attendees through the intricacies of semantic search, highlighting its significance in building effective chatbots. The distinction between lexical search and semantic search was expertly explained.

He emphasized that while lexical search primarily relies on keywords, semantic search involves understanding the meaning behind the queries and comparing them for relevance.

This distinction is what empowers chatbots like BoltBot to provide contextually accurate answers based on the intended meaning of the question.

Integrated with the complete Element451 profile information, BoltBot can also answer more than just knowledge base questions. It can provide user-specific information such as registration status, application updates, outstanding checklist items, and more.

The Role of Tools in Chatbot Evolution

The team stressed the pivotal role of tools in the evolving landscape of chatbot applications.

From the automation of customer service interactions to providing essential information directly through chat interfaces, chatbots are revolutionizing the way we engage with digital platforms. The team highlighted how the Element451 platform, on which BoltBot is built, enables conversational, multichannel interactions tailored to meet changing student expectations.

BoltBot leverages OpenAI GPT-4, the same tech that powers ChatGPT. This innovation represents a major step forward in Element451’s journey to provide the most comprehensive student engagement platform in higher education.

BoltBot understands complex questions, provides relevant responses, and integrates with Element451's profile information. BoltBot has the ability to remember chat history, support multiple languages and channels, and offers personalized assistance.

Bridging the Gap: Chatbot-User Interaction

Real-life examples of BoltBot's user interactions were shared so attendees could get a live look at the tool. One instance involved mimicking a student's request to speak to someone, to which BoltBot promptly offered to connect them with a human representative.

The beauty of this process was in the seamless handoff, where BoltBot disabled itself and notified the user to wait. This integration of chatbot-human interaction showcased BoltBot's ability to strike the perfect balance between automation and personalized assistance, ensuring that user needs and expectations were met.

Discover how BoltBot can help you shift the paradigm from traditional human-first, reactive approaches to digital-first, proactive strategies.

Schedule a call and see for yourself how it works.

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To see the slides and rewatch all the Engage Summit session recordings, visit our session library.