Here's to the future: Conversational agents in higher education- a scoping review
Daniela S. M. Pereira, Filipe Falcão, Lilian T. Costa, Brian Lunn, José Miguel Pêgo, Patrício Costa
Abstract
With AI's advancing technology, pedagogical changes are occurring, and chatbots are becoming more intertwined in our daily lives. While these can be used in a variety of disciplines, they play a particularly significant role in the digital transformation of education. We present a scoping review of chatbots in higher education (HE), investigating where chatbots are being applied. The main benefits and challenges of chatbots were explored. The quality of the selected papers was assessed using the International Organization for Standards (ISO) 9241–11 guidelines. A total of 2692 citations were found while searching recognized digital databases. After reading the abstract and full text, 64 publications were considered. Backward and forward reference checking yielded four further studies. Altogether, 66 studies were included. This review provides a comprehensive overview of research on using chatbots in HE, including advantages, and challenges. Research demonstrates the versatility and the promising aspects of this type of support system for university education.