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Enhancing Student Support with a Virtual Assistant

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E-Learning, E-Education, and Online Training (eLEOT 2015)

Abstract

Effective student support can be seen as a key element in enhancing students’ learning experience and has the potential to improve retention, progression and student achievement. The purpose of this research was to investigate student responses to the idea of using an avatar-based virtual support system and to develop such a system for piloting in a specific university service. A survey was conducted to establish the perceived need for such a system. A prototype system was then implemented in a limited domain, namely student employability and a further survey was conducted to obtain feedback from potential users as to its efficacy. This was generally positive and our intention is now to roll out the system across other university services.

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Acknowledgments

This project has benefitted from funding by the School of Science and Technology at Middlesex University. We would also like to thank Mohammed Mirza, of the Middlesex University employability service, for his valuable input and collaboration and Graduate Academic Assistants Rabia Arif and Almaas Ali for their help with the implementation of the prototype.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group on Development of Intelligent Environments, School of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Pirkko H. Harvey, Edward Currie, Padma Daryanani & Juan C. Augusto

Authors
  1. Pirkko H. Harvey
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  2. Edward Currie
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  3. Padma Daryanani
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  4. Juan C. Augusto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward Currie .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Baltimore, Baltimore, USA

    Giovanni Vincenti

  2. IBAM - Istituto per i Beni, Italian National Research Council, Roma, Italy

    Alberto Bucciero

  3. Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Carlos Vaz de Carvalho

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© 2016 Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Harvey, P.H., Currie, E., Daryanani, P., Augusto, J.C. (2016). Enhancing Student Support with a Virtual Assistant. In: Vincenti, G., Bucciero, A., Vaz de Carvalho, C. (eds) E-Learning, E-Education, and Online Training. eLEOT 2015. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 160. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28883-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28883-3_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28882-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28883-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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