Alexa: Can Artificial Intelligence Effectively Support First-Generation Students?

• In Event: From Tech to Tours: Research Rethinking the Transition to College

Abstract

Previous research on the use of an artificially intelligent Chatbot at a Predominately Black/Minority Service Institution to nudge student enrollment behaviors showed significantly improved matriculation rates of committed would-be freshmen, reducing summer melt by 21 percent. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized control trial to test the Chatbot in a predominately white institution (PWI) and a rural feeder community college (CC) for the PWI. The study found positive effects of the Chatbot treatment among first-generation students, but not among the general population at the PWI. Descriptive findings at the community college point to promising results in supporting first time college students. The findings have significance for enrollment managers at PWIs and for state policy broadly.

Authors

• Carol Cutler White, Mississippi State University

• Lindsay Coleman Page, University of Pittsburgh

• Aizat Nurshatayeva, University of Pittsburgh

• Hunter Gehlbach, Johns Hopkins University