The Ai Powered Assistant for Lecturers: Concepts, Contents, and User Expectations
Abstract
In this paper we will describe the main concepts, contents and user requirements regarding the Artificial Intelligence powered Assistant for Lecturers (AIpA4L). It will be based on our own ideas and a survey among future users of such an assistant. The main idea for AIpA4L arose due to observed weaknesses or omissions of recently proposed AI- tools for use in daily life of many people. Chatbots or other smart assistant systems say hello to customers of on-line banking, of citizen services and of many other on-line services. However, such smart services are still underdeveloped in educational institutions. The proposed AIpA4L is meant to fill this gap. The main task of AIpA4L can be described as a 24/7 available up-todate communication service for students, lecturers and other staff. One highlight of AIpA4L - not yet implemented in earlier versions of AI-based assistants for lectures - will be a broadly conceived taxonomy of topics from which the user will select the one$\mathbf{s} /$he is currently most interested in. We have run a checklistbased survey among students and lecturers to collect a preliminary overview of topics of interest. In total, 117 students of MUST were invited to respond over a period of two weeks. The feedback was quite high: almost 80 %. The respondents selected required topics related to teaching and learning. The result of the open-ended question “What do you primarily expect from an AI powered assistant?” confirmed the result from the “required topics” closed questions. The main concepts, contents and user expectations regarding the AIpA4L service will be described and discussed in this paper.