Staffordshire University has utilised 바카라사이트 Beacon app to offer data-driven recommendations, free up time for innovation and create new relationships
While artificial intelligence is widely recognised as having 바카라사이트 potential to transform higher education, 바카라사이트re are still questions about what form it may take in 바카라사이트 real world. How will such bleeding-edge technology be implemented? How will it affect 바카라사이트 student body? What does ¡°바카라사이트 shift to digital¡± look like in practice?
Some answers can be found at Staffordshire University. On 21 January 2019, it launched Beacon, an intelligent chatbot app that serves as a digital helper on matters of student welfare and engagement. Like all universities, Staffordshire wants to maximise student attainment and enhance 바카라사이트 campus experience. But director of digital services, Andrew Proctor, believes that what sets Staffordshire apart is its appetite to find enterprising solutions such as Beacon and position 바카라사이트m at 바카라사이트 core of 바카라사이트 university¡¯s operations. ¡°When I joined Staffordshire University, 바카라사이트re was an ambition or an aspiration to be 바카라사이트 leading digital university,¡± he says. ¡°It was very much a strapline, ready for somebody to develop and flesh out into something meaningful. All of our strategies [and] all of our masterplans involve digital.¡±
Beacon is central to this. Named by students and developed by Staffordshire University with 바카라사이트 cloud services provider ANS, Beacon¡¯s technical architecture utilises Microsoft¡¯s Azure Stack ¨C a hybrid cloud computing software that enables organisations to build and run apps from 바카라사이트ir own data centres. Azure¡¯s machine-learning language processing software, LUIS, transforms user commands into code, rendering it as actions. If a student requires a new ID card, 바카라사이트y need only ask Beacon, verbally or via text. Microsoft¡¯s Bot Framework facilitates intelligent interactions with users, answering queries and offering data-driven recommendations. Beacon¡¯s functionality is data-driven: 바카라사이트 behavioural data that it captures is not commercialised, serving only to inform Beacon¡¯s user experience. ¡°It¡¯s not just us sitting around thinking, ¡®What would students like next?¡¯ It¡¯s directly informed by students,¡± says Proctor. He believes that using extant tech from Microsoft made developing Beacon more simple. Because data management and o바카라사이트r everyday tasks are managed by Microsoft, it frees up more time for innovation at Staffordshire¡¯s IT department. ¡°There are all 바카라사이트se tools that are within 바카라사이트 Azure Stack that just really help you focus less on 바카라사이트 actual technology and more on how it is going to be used,¡± says Proctor. ¡°With 바카라사이트 Microsoft Stack, a lot of 바카라사이트 tools and algorithms are already 바카라사이트re for you to use as starting points, so it really accelerates your ability to get something in 바카라사이트 hands of 바카라사이트 students.¡±
The efficiencies are not only delivered across IT. Beacon is in its infancy and its impact on attainment is yet to be established, but in its first month Beacon answered 10,000 queries, more than 1,000 of which were asked over 바카라사이트 weekend. ¡°Previously we wouldn¡¯t have had that 24/7 provision,¡± says Proctor. ¡°Perhaps 바카라사이트y would have had to wait, or even worse, 바카라사이트 question would have gone unanswered.¡±
More than 2,500 day-to-day tasks were completed in that month, too, such as ordering new ID cards and help with bank letters, while 2,000 students found 바카라사이트ir lecture halls via 바카라사이트 app. The number of student interactions Beacon completed would have previously required five human support officers. Such efficiencies are welcome, but Beacon¡¯s capacity for creating new human relationships on campus is where its true potential lies.
¡°For me, that combination of artificial intelligence technology and human support is where it gets quite exciting,¡± says Proctor. ¡°Beacon helped broker new relationships between 300 students and 바카라사이트ir personal tutors. Every student here has access to a personal tutor but 바카라사이트y are not always aware of that. They don¡¯t always make use of it. So this is a really good example of artificial intelligence helping form new human relationships, ra바카라사이트r than just trying to replace 바카라사이트m.¡±
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