Published 12 December 2024
UNSW is exploring the potential of Scout, an experimental, AI-powered chatbot designed to transform the student experience at the University.
Scout serves as a single point of contact that provides quick and reliable answers to a wide range of enquiries. It uses UNSW Current Students website content as well as select internal data, such as course outlines and course-specific FAQs to point students toward admin, learning & wellbeing support.
Piloted in T3 2024 across several courses in the Arts, Design & Architecture, Engineering and Science faculties, Scout's primary aims are to address common pain points for students. But it can also reduce the administrative workload for staff in responding to thousands of student questions throughout the session.
Facilitating a richer student experience
Scout can assist with many aspects of a student’s daily life. Drawing on trusted UNSW data sources, the technology can offer guidance on general enquiries about UNSW, support services, events and activities, as well as advice on where to go for financial or health concerns.
By addressing these significant aspects of the student experience, Scout aims to free up time for students to focus on their learning journey and personal wellbeing.
Benefits for students
As a student’s go-to source for everyday support, Scout offers:
- instant answers, so students may quickly get information on UNSW services, course information, administrative processes and deadlines
- tailored responses based on student context, ensuring the most relevant information is provided
- 24/7 availability, accessible through Moodle
- multilingual capabilities, ensuring information is accessible to UNSW’s diverse student community.
Benefits for staff
Scout also has the potential to provide significant advantages for UNSW staff, including:
- reduced workload by handling routine and repetitive enquiries, freeing staff to focus on more complex and personalised student needs
- streamlined communication through integration with UNSW’s websites and systems, so students can receive accurate information without needing to contact multiple departments
- improved efficiency by managing common administrative tasks, so staff can dedicate more time to teaching, research and being the human touchpoint for students needing personalised support.
Looking ahead
Although still in the early experimental stage, Scout has the potential to become a foundational part of the future of AI at UNSW, advancing workstreams 1, 3 and 8 of UNSW’s Education Technology Roadmap 2024–2028.
Get involved
Your feedback and insights are invaluable in shaping tools such as Scout to best meet the needs of our staff and students. While the list of courses that can participate in T1 2025 pilot is now full, the team is always keen to connect with colleagues interested in collaborating or getting involved in the forthcoming steps and developments:
- visit the internal Scout information page on the Education Technology Roadmap SharePoint site
get in touch with the Scout team to ask questions, find out more or share ideas: scout.pvce@unsw.edu.au
This article was originally published on 25 October 2024 via Inside UNSW