Canabot Chatbot
A simple chatbot for new Canadians to research resources and opportunities; a group project as part of my MET degree.
The purpose of Canabot was to develop a basic concept for a chatbot that would support international/immigrant adult learners who are new to Canada as they get established. The chatbot provides informative responses to questions about finding academic resources, career development opportunities and making a new life in Canada. It suggests Canadian resources and services of a personal, professional and academic nature; providing users direction and support in an effort to reduce cognitive load and fun. One of the goals of the tool was to help bridge the gap for those who are most likely to be rejected from various assistance services; experiencing racial profiling, prejudice and inequality. The Liberatory Design process guided the development of the project; a suitable model as it is centered around equity and self-awareness (Liberatory Design, n.d.).
I designed a usability rubric with specifications to guide the design and measure the success of the tool. this included: usability (includes accessibility), scalability, sustainability, affordability, security (includes data and privacy), and chatbot characteristics.
The chatbot was developed on Google AppSheet. Queries and data were held in Google Sheets and utilized ChatGPT for development assistance.
This project was developed with fellow classmates, Momina Abid and Kirsten Gear.
Year
2023
Type of Project
Chatbot
Image: The chatbot app is designed to be responsive to different devices. Users can upvote queries as being especially helpful/informative and add new responses (which get reviewed by a system admin first before posting to the app).
Image: Users can access an interactive user guide to address any questions about navigating the chatbot.
Using a Framework
Whether an existing framework or designed from scratch, utilizing a thoughtful research-based framework to guide the development of educational technologies ensures that what is being made is rooted in evidence and values. The framework then guides the development of the tool/technology and can be referred back to as competencies that a user/learner needs to achieve. It also acts as a foundation for the whole project—what values and core areas form the structure of the project, whatever it might be.