AI-powered chatbots for enhancing accessibility in higher education-design and implementation

Horvat, Sven (author), Horvat, Tomislav (author), Havaš, Ladislav (author), Crčić, Dražen (author)

The paper explores the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in improving communication and accessibility in educational settings through the development of an AI-powered chatbot. The chatbot addresses students common challenges, such as delays and inefficiencies in administrative processes, by providing an instant and reliable access to the college-related information. The presented chatbot developed using a Voiceflow platform leverages the predefined responses and dynamic AI-generated answers to balance the cost-effectiveness and functionality. Paper reviews the related research, it highlights various methodologies and platforms used for the chatbot development and justifies the selection of the Voiceflow for its user-friendly interface and robust integration capabilities. The chatbot functionality includes answering frequently asked questions guiding administrative tasks and supporting diverse user needs, including visually impaired students. By integrating the third-party databases and utilizing the GPT-3.5 Turbo for complex queries, the chatbot demonstrates scalability and adaptability. The testing reveals its potential to significantly reduce administrative workloads while enhancing the user experience and underscores its transformative AI potential in education. Our future work will be towards expanding the language support, emotion recognition, and knowledge base refinement to further optimize the chatbot efficiency and effectiveness in serving students and staff.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chatbot, education, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Voiceflow
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.04 - Professional Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 61-67
• Numbering: Letn. 92, št. 1/2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-183247
• UDC: 004.8:378
• ISSN on article: 0013-5852
• COBISS.SI-ID: 280399619
• Publication date in RUL: 09.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Elektrotehniški vestnik
• Publisher: Strokovna zadruga koncesijoniranih elektrotehnikov, Elektrotehniška zveza Slovenije
• ISSN: 0013-5852
• COBISS.SI-ID: 742916

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Zasnova in implementacija umetnointeligenčnih klepetalnikov za izboljšanje dostopnosti v visokem šolstvu

Abstract

Prispevek raziskuje uporabo umetne inteligence (UI) za izboljšanje komunikacije in dostopnosti v izobraževalnem okolju z razvojem klepetalnika, podprtega z UI. Klepetalnik se osredotoča na pogoste izzive študentov, kot so zamude in neučinkovitosti v administrativnih postopkih, saj omogoča takojšen in zanesljiv dostop do informacij, povezanih s fakulteto. Predstavljeni klepetalnik, razvit na platformi Voiceflow, združuje vnaprej določene odgovore in dinamične odgovore, ustvarjene z UI, da uravnoteži stroškovno učinkovitost in funkcionalnost. Prispevek pregleduje sorodne raziskave, izpostavlja različne metodologije in platforme, uporabljene pri razvoju klepetalnikov, ter utemeljuje izbiro platforme Voiceflow zaradi njene uporabniku prijazne zasnove in zmogljivih integracijskih zmožnosti. Funkcionalnosti klepetalnika vključujejo odgovarjanje na pogosta vprašanja, usmerjanje pri administrativnih nalogah in podporo raznolikim potrebam uporabnikov, vključno z osebami z okvarami vida. Z integracijo zunanjih podatkovnih baz in uporabo modela GPT-3.5 Turbo za kompleksnejša vprašanja klepetalnik izkazuje prilagodljivost in razširljivost. Testiranje je pokazalo njegov potencial za znatno zmanjšanje administrativnega dela ter izboljšanje uporabniške izkušnje, kar poudarja njegov preoblikovalni potencial UI v izobraževanju. V prihodnje načrtujemo širitev jezikovne podpore, prepoznavanje čustev in izboljšanje baze znanja, da bi še dodatno optimizirali učinkovitost in uspešnost klepetalnika pri podpori študentom in zaposlenim.

• Keywords: umetna inteligenca, izboljšanje komunikacije, izobraževalno okolje