Chatbot for communicating with university students in emergency situation

• Published in: Heliyon Vol. 9; no. 9; p. e19517
• Main Authors: Balderas, Antonio, García-Mena, Roberto Fermín, Huerta, Milagros, Mora, Nestor, Dodero, Juan Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Chatbot; COVID-19; Emergency situation; Students; COVID-19; Chatbot; Students; Emergency situation; 0000; 1111
• ISSN: 2405-8440; 2405-8440
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19517

Chatbots have arrived in higher education, and professors are trying to make the most of them. Typically, chatbots are used to help students learn academic subjects. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, students who were not living with their families during the course, especially international students, were isolated and in critical situations. The student services offices were in constant contact with these students to solve problems, advise them and support them during their stay, within the constraints of confinement and the guidelines dictated by the country at the time. The student services offices were overwhelmed trying to help these students because, although the students' problems were very recurrent, the government guidelines changed from one day to the next. This article proposes the use of a chatbot to provide initial support to students during crisis situations, and facilitate communication between them and the university. The chatbot was tested by more than 160 students and student services staff. The findings support the use of chatbots as a potential tool to facilitate communication with students in emerging emergency situations, and encourage universities to adopt these types of smart tools to be prepared to respond quickly and efficiently to students in times of crisis. •COVID-19 particularly affected university students living away from their home country.•In the event of an emergency, student services must provide students with continuously updated information.•This research proposes a chatbot to facilitate communication between students and student services in emergency situations.•Chatbot enables adaptation to regulatory changes in emergency situations.•Both students and university staff gave the chatbot a positive evaluation.