Development and Evaluation of an Intelligent Application for the Communication Helpdesk & Library Research Consultation Service
Grant Name
Applied Learning and Innovation Grant (ALIGN)Abstract
This project aims to develop and evaluate an intelligent application for the Communication Helpdesk and the SIT Library’s research consultation service. Currently, both services rely on a third-party web-based software, WCOnline, that have various constraints that limit learning efficacies of peer tutoring and librarian-student consultations. A prototype web-based application for the Communication Helpdesk was developed by a team of 4 ICT students that have the following features: fine-grained tutor-tutee matching, automatic and integrated feedback function for both tutors and tutees, Zoom API wrapper that retrieves Zoom meeting details and a chat function that tutors and tutees can use to communicate last-minute changes to tutoring sessions. However, in order to optimize the learning efficacies of both services, the prototype application needs to be expansively developed as a mobile and web-based application to become intelligent and personalized to every user, harnessing user data to predict and prescribe both tutoring sessions for the Communication Helpdesk as well as research consultation sessions for the SIT Library. We believe this proactive approach via the intelligent application would boost student take-up rates for the two services. The proposed app would also increase timeliness of feedback on students’ learning and boost learning gains in academic writing, self-regulation and motivation.