ASU offers many resources to support students, including office hours and supplemental instruction sessions. However, these resources have certain limitations, notably keeping normal business hours.
To address the gap in timely aid, the Academic Support Network launched the Tutorbot, an AI designed exclusively for ASU courses. This feature is integrated into the Online Study Hub, ensuring help is available regardless of time.
While the Tutorbot's functionality seems similar to other AI systems, like ChatGPT, it draws and generates answers based on course content and resources provided by ASU faculty members and student staff.
Rhonda Rumble, the associate director of the Academic Support Network, said student staff and faculty members worked closely together to built the Tutorbot's database.
"Even just one piece (of information) was probably going through at least about eight different people to make sure it was correct before it actually got released," Rumble said.
Over time, the Tutorbot has evolved to keep pace with the advancing technology and changing student needs. It was recently updated to provide more engaging and interactive responses.
"Instead of just necessarily providing a direct response to your question … they would interact with you in a way that a tutor would," said Regina Peebles, the program manager for Online Study Hub. "(Tutorbot) provides additional resources or other related topics that you may want to consider that are relevant to your question."
According to Lisa Cahill, the director of the Academic Support Network, the Tutorbot initiative was introduced by Ivette Chavez, the former director of the Academic Support Network, around 2021, before the onset of generative AI. It emerged as part of a broader solution to address the growth in the student population and their demands for accessible resources.
Tutorbot was first integrated into math courses, tailored explicitly for statistics and calculus. Currently there are no plans to expand the program, but using Tutorbot for other courses are a potential possibility.
Nhi is a freshman studying health care coordination. This is her second semester with The State Press. She has also worked as a content creator.
