THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CHATBOT FOR STUDENT INFORMATION AND REQUESTS.

ABSTRACT

This project is focusing on creating a chatbot to be used by students to get their queries and fast responded easily from the school website. A chatbot is a program which can do real conversations with textual and or auditory methods.

This proposed chatbot is developed using the Google Dialog flow framework. Dialog flow is a natural language understanding platform that makes it easy to design and integrate a conversational user interface into mobile app, web application, device, bot, and interactive voice response system. The chatbot uses a GUI (Graphic User Interface) integrated into a web app to provide answers to user’s query.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

At the beginning of a new session, the university receives many applications and to convert these applications into enrolments, swift communication is crucial. Students may have questions ranging from courses, fees, scholarships, facilities, and the university environment to accommodation and transportation system. Students comes to the university from regions with different time zones, cultures and environments and will need assistance to settle down in the campus. With so many applications and emails, universities can find it difficult to respond to every student.

Apart from prospective students, returning students need to get certain information about recent development in the university environment. For example, seeking information about facilities like the library, gym, canteens and timing of various events. They can also their experiences with the use of any facility, accommodation or any other issue.

The need for college inquiry system arises due to various reasons that include: the slow nature of college website, an outsider would not know where to search for a particular piece of information, difficult for the person outside college’s domain to extract information (Tarun Lalwani et al., 2018)

Chatbots provides solution to this problem by providing all the important information they need to get comfy on campus. It also helps students navigate through the campus by maps allowing familiarity with the environment.

A chatbot is an artificially intelligent software application used to conduct an online chat conversation with a user in natural language (human language such as English or French) via text or speech.

Chatbot recognize the user input as well as by using pattern matching, access information to provide a predefined acknowledgment. It is implemented using pattern comparing, in which the order of the sentence is recognized and a saved response pattern is acclimatize to the exclusive variables of the sentence. They cannot register and respond to complex questions, and are unable to perform compound activities. (M. Dahiya, 2017). Over duration of interactions, chatbots gather enormous data that provides helpful information about common concerns students face to make significant changes to its operation.

This proposed chatbot is developed using the Google Dialog flow framework. Dialog flow is a natural language understanding platform that makes it easy to design and integrate a conversational user interface into mobile app, web application, device, bot, and interactive voice response system. The chatbot uses a GUI (Graphic User Interface) integrated into a web app to provide answers to user’s query.

AIM

Work Thesis aim;

Implementation of chatbot for student’s information and requests.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this project are:

1. To analyze users queries and understand users message.
2. To provide an answer to the query of the user efficiently and effectively.
3. To develop a system which replies using a responsive GUI similar to a real person talking to the user.
4. To save the time of the user in finding

PROBLEM STATEMENT

In the lead up of starting a new academic year, applicants are buzzing with a lot of questions and it’s undoubtedly a busy time for admissions departments responding to an influx of questions requiring fast responses. In past years, students and parents had to visit the college to enquire about details and other information about the college that is a lengthy and time-consuming process. This is also a hectic and resource wasting process for the admissions offices. To save time, energy and resources this can now be done over the internet with chatbots.

1.  MOTIVATION

Chatbots are a fashionable approach of communication between the user and system’s interfaces. The implementation of chatbots integrated to the university website allows for more economical communication between the student and the management of the school. The implementation of chatbot for student’s information and requests would undoubtedly have a substantial outcome as it brings modification with the approach of communication between schools and students.

2.   METHODOLOGY

A student chatbot is developed with the use of Google Dialog flow framework which is a widely used framework developed by Google LLC which analyses user’s queries and perceive user’s message. The proposed system is a web application that provides answers to the queries of the user. Students will chat by asking questions and there is no specific format for query. The answers are provided based on what the user queries and if the answers are found to be invalid those queries are stored into an unrequited table that is created by the admin. Those queries can be updated later by the admin and in a matter of urgency will provide a message that “our representatives will get in touch with you shortly”. This system replies with the use of a good Graphical User Interface (GUI).

3.   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

The implementation of this project has the potential to benefit the academic field and the society. Chatbots can make the enrolment processes easier as it provides answers to the most common questions applicants and students ask yearly.

It provides a faster response time and provides round the clock (24/7) support. A chatbot can handles multiple requests simultaneously without compromising on the quality of interactions.

Students are often concerned about making the right career decisions, many of these courses are offered in different universities. The university can leverage on chatbots to attract students interested in the courses they offer.

4.  SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF RESEARCH

The scope of this project is the implementation of a chatbot which responds to the queries of student about an academic institution.

The limitation of this work is the need for audio queries and response as it handles only textbased queries. It also requires active internet connection.

5.  REPORT ORGANIZATION

This thesis is comprised of five chapters. The first Chapter provides an introductory knowledge of the project, as well as its scope and limitations. The historical background, review of past work and theory of the subject matter are covered in chapter two, chapter three describes the implementation, and tests, result and limitation are discussed in chapter four.  Finally, a conclusion is reached in chapter five with recommendations for future work.

THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CHATBOT FOR STUDENT INFORMATION AND REQUESTS.

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