Chatbot Development as a Digital Learning Tool to Increase Students’ Research Knowledge

Abstract

The research aimed to: 1) develop the chatbot; 2) evaluate its effectiveness; and 3) investigate its effects on students’ research knowledge. The sample consisted of 36 Thai university students. The research instruments consisted of: 1) the chatbot; 2) an evaluation form; 3) an effectiveness questionnaire; and 4) research tests. Data analysis used was mean, standard deviation, content analysis and a t-test. The findings indicated that: 1) the chatbot was evaluated by experts with the applicability at a very high level ( = 4.67, S.D. = 0.08) with recommendation to add more research content and interactive learning. The pilot test was done with 14 non-target group of students. Students perceived the chatbot’s effectiveness at a high level ( = 4.43, S.D. = 0.35) with comments to add more examples and graphics to make the chatbot more interesting; 2) the 36 target group of Thai university students perceived the chatbot as an effective technology to use as a digital learning tool at a high level ( = 4.37, S.D. = 0.48). They thought that chatbot technology was easy to use, easy to understand, innovative and fun for learning. They could get answers instantly and be able to seek specific information without waiting for responses. However, in response to questions not matched keywords specified, further details of finding proper answers such as links should be provided instead of leaving those questions unanswered. Also, the chatbot only provided responses when typing correctly so there should be an option to choose from a list of questions or keywords; and 3) the post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores at the 0.05 level of significance. In conclusion, using chatbot technology in education settings to increase students’ research knowledge gave positive results as it led to positive learning outcomes and helped provide better personalized learning experience for students.

Impact of Chatbots on Student Learning and Satisfaction in the Entrepreneurship Education Programme in Higher Education Context

“…The findings were consistent with previous researches. They were in line with Vanichvasin (2021) who found that the application of chatbot technology in education context to promote student knowledge of research yielded positive views of the chatbot as it created positive learning outcomes and provided better individualized learning experience while Winkler and Söllner (2018) reported that chatbots in education promised to have a significant good impact on learning success and satisfaction of students, which was in accordance with Alepsis and Virvou (2011) who reported that their study showed success in the use of conversational systems with high acceptance from both students and teachers that perceived the system as a very useful tool for health education and Preecha (2020) who reported that learning with an artificial intelligence chatbot was efficient as students can quickly find answers anytime and anywhere. Positive impact may stem from the researcher's experience in conducting this kind of research before but with different type of chatbot frameworks and platforms.…”

“…Chatbots are useful in applications (Shawar & Atwell, 2007), which can be used as a tool to learn or study a new language, access an information system, visualize the contents of a corpus; and give answers to questions (Bayan, 2005). Benefits involve saving costs, time, and effort (Abdellatif et al, 2020), increasing interaction, active learning, and creative learning (Bii, 2013), promoting retention and engagement (Benotti et al, 2014), motivating students to learn (Benotti et al, 2014), and enhancing user satisfaction (Vanichvasin, 2021).…”

“…Therefore, this research aims to focus on higher education context with educational intentionality because chatbots can create a learning environment where students use them to increase the quality of learning and provide individual support when the classrooms get bigger and individual support becomes more challenging (Winkler & Söllner, 2018). This study is also built on the researcher's previous research (Vanichvasin, 2021) but with different chatbot framework and platform.…”

Contribution of the Activities Prepared with Web 2.0 Technologies to the Level of Learning

“…It has been determined that the activities prepared with Web 2.0 technologies contribute to the creation of a more effective learning environment in line with the interests and wishes of the z-generation students and to transform the learning environments into a more equipped and enjoyable one. Similarly, studies have supported that the activities carried out with web 2.0 technologies contribute to the learning level of students (Arslan & Coştu, 2021;Ergül Sönmez & Çakır, 2021;Açıkgül Fırat & Fırat, 2020;Vanichvasin, 2021;Kazazoğlu & Bilir, 2021;Egüz, 2020;Karakaş & Kartal, 2020;Bolliger & Shephard, 2017;Şahin Topelcengiz & Yıldırım, 2020;Juškeviciene & Kurilovas, 2014;Azid, Hasan, Nazarudin & Ali, 2020;Jong & Tan, 2021). With this thought, it is necessary to use in-class and extra-curricular activities prepared with web 2.0 technologies that support educational environments.…”

Lehtori Moti

“…Opetuskäytössä ja erityisesti opetukseen integroituna chattibotit ovat harvinaisia, joten aihepiirin tutkimustakaan ei juuri ole (ks. Vanichvasin 2021). Kieltenopetuksessa chattibotteja on hyödynnetty jonkin verran (Lee, Yang, Shin & Kim 2020, 340), ja tutkimuksenteon opetuksessa niiden on todettu vaikuttavan myönteisesti oppimistuloksiin.…”