Grätzelbot: Social Companion Technology for Community Building among University Freshmen

Grätzelbot: Social Companion Technology for Community Building among University Freshmen

Abstract

Proper onboarding procedures for freshmen (first-semester students) at the university have many positive effects, especially the increase in retention rates. This paper presents Grätzelbot, a chatbot designed to help with onboarding freshmen by means of connecting them in a network-building 12-day scavenger hunt. The onboarding concept that led to Grätzelbot was developed in a participatory design process together with students, and implemented during the start of the semester with more than 100 participants. The evaluation results revealed that the students felt more familiar with the faculty building and the university campus after the scavenger hunt, also met other students, made new friends, and, by participating, their sense of belonging to the student community got stronger. As a social companion fostering relatedness among its users, Grätzelbot serves as an example for the reach and benefits of Social Software.

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Authors
  • Löw, Christian
  • Moshuber, Lukas
  • Rafetseder, Albert
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Shortfacts
Category
Paper in Conference Proceedings or in Workshop Proceedings (Paper)
Event Title
CONVERSATIONS 4th International Workshop on Chatbot Research
Divisions
Cooperative Systems
Subjects
Ausbildung, Beruf, Organisationen
Informatik in Beziehung zu Mensch und Gesellschaft
Angewandte Informatik Sonstiges
Event Location
Online
Event Type
Workshop
Event Dates
23.-24.11.2020
Date
23 November 2020
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