Portland State students across the city opened their phones on Oct. 5, 2023, to discover a text message from an unknown phone number offering them a helping hand.
“Hey [insert name], this is Victor E. Bot [robot face emoji] on behalf of Portland State University! I’m here to support you.”
The text bot, analogously named Victor E. Bot to PSU mascot Victor E. Viking, is PSU’s most recent digital communication tool aiming to connect PSU students to various resources and information they may find useful.
Every student at PSU is automatically enrolled in the program and can choose whether or not they wish to remain opted in. So far, 93% of students have remained enrolled, according to data from the Office of Student Success who is the team leading the project.
“We wanted to address student feedback regarding the challenges navigating PSU,” said Andrea Garrity, the executive director of student success. “Part of this is discoverability. For example, you may not know what the Learning Center is, but you might know you could use help with one of your classes, and can use this 24/7 to share that… The bot can then share more about resources like the Learning Center.”
This bridge between students and campus resources seems to be at the heart of the Victor E. Bot project, which is reflected in the conversations of those students who have opted in.
The text bot is a product of Edsights, a New-York-based software company that develops text-based artificial intelligence (AI) for higher education.
“Leveraging a framework built on nearly four decades of research, we use text messaging powered by artificial intelligence to ensure that the most important perspectives, those of the student, are at the forefront of every conversation,” states the mission statement on the Edsights webpage. “Supporting enrollment, retention and persistence while connecting them to the resources and people they need to succeed.”
The artificial intelligence of Edsights’s chatbots may seem less complex in comparison to the recent monumental breakthroughs in AI technology we’ve seen in the form of ChatGPT. The priority is simply connecting students to resources and people rather than creating a lifelike conversational chatbot.
“The goal of this pilot is to engage and support our students by learning more from them about their PSU experience and automatically connecting them to helpful on-campus resources and/or staff when appropriate,” Garrity said.
Some students remain unconvinced about the benefits of the bot. Many thought it was spam when receiving those initial texts, while others mentioned they had yet to use it.
“I have not used it, but I can see the good intentions behind it,” said Lillie, a PSU student. Students also said that the frequency and kind of messages the bot delivers affect their interaction with it.
“It reminded me about some important deadlines, but it texted me often enough to feel bothered by [it] and deem it unnecessary,” said Leo, another PSU student. “I would appreciate it if I got fewer than four texts per term, and if they were about financial and scholarship deadlines. Anything else is unnecessary and invasive to me.”
While some students may see the bot as nothing more than a number to block, the feedback shows that some have found the new program beneficial. According to the Office of Student Success, the bot has received over 22,000 text messages from students since its early October launch, with the aforementioned 93% of students remaining opted in.
“I like that it lays out these resources for you, because the websites on their own are hard to make sense of, but I don’t plan to use the chatbot more than that,” said Sapphire, another PSU student. “It is a good way to get in contact with counselors.”
The Student Success Center says that the long-term goals of this project are to continually get students in contact with the resources they need while continuously developing the chatbot itself.
“Since launching, we’ve been able to connect students to resources and provide staff support when students have asked for it,” Garrity said. “We’re committed to using this tool to support students.”
Project updates regarding the status of the bot, as well as future goals, can be found on the Student Success website.