Robyn (Reflective Overview By Your Notions) assists students in critically reflecting on their academic and personal progress by fostering their curiosity in their specific field of study.
We believe that in many study scenarios, questions prompt critical thinking more effectively than answers do. Additionally, asking reflective questions is legally less problematic than giving specific answers. Therefore, in the current state of the art of chatbots, a reflective Chatbot like Robyn is a good step towards creating a legally secure learning companion, like the one we aim for in the project SMARTA (“Student Motivating and Reflective Training AI-Assistant”).
Reflection is a crucial process in the academic context that allows students to deepen their knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of what they have learned. Robyn pursues a mission closely tied to reflection. Emulating the Socratic dialogue approach, Robyn has the ability to encourage students to delve deeply into their subjects of study. By actively asking targeted questions about a specific course-topic (!) and stimulating discussions, Robyn aims to ensure that students don’t just absorb knowledge but actively reflect upon and deepen it. His curiosity and persistence help break down complex concepts and foster a deeper understanding.
Robyn is part of SMARTA and fully integrated into the Campus Management System through the GPT-API. Robyn is a well-prepared chatbot and, at the beginning of the dialogue, already possesses information about the topic, the course, the gender, the age of the dialogue partner, and other essential aspects for a successful conversation. Robyn uses a complex and dynamically generated dialogue design where input and output are controlled and strives to follow legal compliance rules. Even university-specific buzzwords can be detected in the dialogue and trigger a warning like, ‘Answers about exams are non-binding.’ In addition, Robyn tries to detect mental health problems and, if needed, gives advice to talk to Alix