How digital assistants are closing equity gaps in higher education

Researchers at Rockhurst University and Purdue University's Krannert School of Management were keen to increase enrollment by addressing barriers to entry, like in the scenario above, that potentially alienate their prospective students.

Though the two universities are hundreds of miles apart and offer their own distinct digital experiences, they shared a common goal—provide all prospects and current students with the same quality of service, regardless of how or when they choose to engage, what their native language is or the socioeconomic group in which they reside.

Krannert and Rockhurst began closely analyzing student engagement on their websites to identify when, where and how prospects were seeking information. Both schools discovered that the majority of their web traffic was generated after traditional business hours. “A lot of prospects work full time or have other obligations during the day, so they don’t have time to contact the university when someone might be there to answer their call,” says Chris Austin, Director of Market Development at AtlasRTX, a software development company in Park City, Utah.

“These prospects will research schools at night, on the weekends or whenever they can squeeze in a quick search. Staff members aren’t typically available then, but these people still need information, and they need it fast.”

Without the resources to hire more staff, two-thirds of those who visited krannert.purdue.edu or rockhurst.edu were left to sift through a labyrinth of new information on their own. Both universities knew they needed a way to automate student engagement when a human team member was unavailable.

Krannert and Rockhurst turned to AtlasRTX, an IBM Business Partner, to implement digital resources capable of communicating with anyone, at any time.

AtlasRTX uses a combination of AI, digital assistants and human teams to help universities facilitate meaningful engagement with their students. “Our philosophy is that humans and digital assistants work better together,” says Mike Bills, President at AtlasRTX. “We want virtual and human resources working in tandem to give students the best service possible.”

With the AtlasRTX conversational AI engagement platform, institutions like Purdue and Rockhurst can assign responsibilities to their digital assistants and staff based on their needs at the time. As Bills notes, “Digital assistants are better suited for certain functions, like answering frequently asked questions, while university staff are more equipped to handle later-stage engagement, like bringing students in for a campus visit.”

Krannert implemented an AtlasRTX digital assistant powered by IBM watsonx™ Assistant technology for its residential and online graduate business programs. Because Purdue recruits internationally, Krannert's digital assistant had to be able to communicate in hundreds of different languages.

IBM watsonx Assistant is built on natural language processing (NLP) models that enable digital assistants to intelligently process large amounts of language data. With linguistic capabilities like intent classification and entity recognition, a digital assistant built and trained on IBM watsonx Assistant can learn to understand conversations as a native speaker would, no matter what language is being spoken.

Additionally, IBM watsonx Assistant has a nuanced understanding of the businesses it supports, like higher education, so not only does it respond to student inquiries with the right words, it also does so in the correct context. “In many cases, international students prefer to engage with a digital assistant. They can ask questions in their native language, knowing the digital assistant understands them, doesn’t cast judgement and is always available,” says Bills.

Rockhurst deployed an EduBot, known colloquially as “Kaycee,” for its undergraduate programs. Kaycee, also powered by IBM watsonx Assistant, is a specialized digital assistant that serves as a crucial point of contact for Rockhurst’s undergraduate prospects. Kaycee engages in hundreds of conversations every day, answering questions and converting prospects into applicants.

“Engagement doesn’t begin and end on the home page,” says Bills. “Prospects will have new questions and needs based on where they are in their college journey. Kaycee can switch channels to continue interacting with them offline via SMS, web chats, and in-app or social messaging. As an example, Kaycee might send students a reminder text to complete their FAFSA forms.”

As students deepen their research into Rockhurst, Kaycee is with them every step of the way—24 hours a day, seven days a week. Kaycee provides coverage for staff members during off hours and serves as an additional resource for students around the clock.

The tailored, multichannel engagement and 24/7 availability Kaycee provides opens the door for strategic human engagement with prospects further down the line.

“Digital assistants have been a game-changer for us. Before implementing Kaycee, our users had to rely on a staff person being available to help them find very specific information or complete certain forms. We don’t have a 24/7 call center, so adding Kaycee as a resource alongside our staff allows us to better serve our students at the level they expect from Rockhurst, both in person and online,” says Dave Hunt, Associate Vice President of Marketing at Rockhurst University.

AtlasRTXExternal Link (link resides outside of ibm.com) helps companies create real-time experiences using a combination of AI, digital assistants and human teams to engage people at every stage of the buying cycle. The platform leverages popular channels like text, Facebook Messenger and web chat to drive customer acquisition, retention and loyalty.

The With Watson® program is a global customer success program providing exclusive brand, marketing and enablement resources to organizations that are embedding Watson technologies into their offerings.