Whether you consider them a useful tool for accessing information or an annoying distraction when you are trying to find something, there's no denying that chatbots have become increasingly common online communication tool. But have you ever stopped your search to consider the time and creative effort that goes into optimizing a chatbot’s abilities?
This past March, University of South Florida (USF) Judy Genshaft Honors College student assistants Emily Fendrick and Ariadne Herrera presented the creative writing process they developed for Honors chatbot RAMI (Regulative Advisor for Motivation Inhibition) at the Johns Hopkins University Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Symposium. The national conference for interdisciplinary undergraduate research hosts over 150 national scholars from diverse disciplines for a three-day conference annually and features a keynote address by a distinguished researcher in the humanities.
Motivational Chatbot Supports Student Success
The chatbot, RAMI, suggests strategies to overcome low motivation in students using motivation regulation and virtual avatar research conducted by USF Associate Professor of Learning Design and Technology Dr. Sanghoon Park.
At the symposium, Fendrick and Herrera presented on their approach as creative writers in structuring RAMI’s robust 30,000-word script. The duo discussed how they incorporated crucial outcomes from Park’s research, and the graduate student journal entry data from his classes, to guide the chatbot’s conversation. Their presentation featured an animated video introducing basic concepts in chatbot language modeling.
Integrated Honors Research
The chatbot is a virtual assistant project led by Dr. Reginald Lucien, assistant dean for student success at the Judy Genshaft Honors College, which was funded by a grant from the USF Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Its user interface was also programmed by Honors IT Incubator team members Alvaro Lazaro, Nischal Olety and Sydney Driscoll as part of an initiative supporting research in technology at the Honors College.
The trip to Johns Hopkins University was sponsored by the Humanities Institute, an interdisciplinary research center at USF that promotes collaboration, engaged scholarship, and student research. This year, the Humanities Institute supported an unprecedented 23 undergraduate researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the largest contingent to ever present at the national conference. Among the 23 representatives, eight were Honors students presenting on a wide range of multidisciplinary topics, including poetry in mental health treatment, climate action, disability stigma, and more.
The conference amplified Honors research nationally and exposed students to valuable research mechanisms, as well as a community of scholarly peers. “Collaborating through a variety of intellectual disciplines and hearing informed feedback on our research has been deeply enriching, especially considering current language model trends in education,” comments Herrera.
USF students interested in presenting their interdisciplinary research should visit the Humanities Institute’s website for more information. Students may also visit the Office of High Impact Practices & Undergraduate Research grant listing to access other undergraduate funding and research opportunities.