The data gleaned from the National Open University of Nigeria's (NOUN) E-ticketing system was studied in this paper. NOUN is one of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions, where students and their facilitators are in different physical locations. Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm, preferred using “intent” for its classification method for the chatbot system. Within 4 months of the launch of the NOUN E-ticketing system, 38,263 tickets (students' complaints and inquiries) were generated and 30,601 have been manually responded to and closed while the remaining 7,662 tickets are still in progress. The chatbot's goal is to respond to students inquiries quickly and efficiently while easing the burden on the management system. With the availability of chatbot, students' responses will be automated and accessible 24/7. The NOUN chatbot will increase student engagement, strengthen communication and create a seamless interaction for both the ODL institutions and its students all together culminating to a robust congenial student-ODL relationship ultimately leading to a higher attraction rate and more importantly, a lower attrition rate, not just in ODL institutions alone, but to other conventional higher institutions. 

Enhanced Open and Distance Learning Using an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Powered Chatbot: a Conceptual Framework

The data gleaned from the National Open University of Nigeria's (NOUN) E-ticketing system was studied in this paper. NOUN is one of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions, where students and their facilitators are in different physical locations. Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm, preferred using “intent” for its classification method for the chatbot system. Within 4 months of the launch of the NOUN E-ticketing system, 38,263 tickets (students' complaints and inquiries) were generated and 30,601 have been manually responded to and closed while the remaining 7,662 tickets are still in progress. The chatbot's goal is to respond to students inquiries quickly and efficiently while easing the burden on the management system. With the availability of chatbot, students' responses will be automated and accessible 24/7. The NOUN chatbot will increase student engagement, strengthen communication and create a seamless interaction for both the ODL institutions and its students all together culminating to a robust congenial student-ODL relationship ultimately leading to a higher attraction rate and more importantly, a lower attrition rate, not just in ODL institutions alone, but to other conventional higher institutions.

A Chatbot is software that makes an interaction between user and machine where the automatic responses will be generated. Chatbot can make the user to think that he/she is chatting with another human by using these bots. The usage of a smart phone with many applications increased. The motive of the chatbot is to generate a quick response within less time to the user’s query and reduce the workload of the management system. Every year, there is a breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence. Bots are now utilized for communication to provide required or predetermined acknowledgment. The Chatbot should be forthright and communicative. They assist us by providing distraction, saving time, and reducing stress. These are designed to simulate the behavior of a human to engage with the real-time conversations. A remarkable customer experience can be built by using chatbots. These can be utilized by a large number of people at the same time. Our concept of considering chatbot can help students in pandemic and socially distant situations. The proposed system is developed by using Multinomial Naive Bayes algorithm and will be able to act as user side and generate responses to the user queries accurately.

Indurthi Deva Kumar

Papers

Information Chatbot for College Management System Using Multinomial Naive Bayes