1 ) They will stop single direction discussions and exhausting repetitive answers by answering FAQ. If you think these metadata questions are trivial chat bots reduce customer service costs by 30% when deployed in commercial sales marketing funnels. There are dozens of articles and academic research efforts validating the benefits to teachers when they use chat bots to support basic question answering – and they are right.

2) They can quickly devour a big chunk of information and take care of difficult issues so they can be understood—right away. Through natural language processing (NLP) algorithms Chat bots can answer complex questions on the first try that can take several minutes of explanation and repetition to disambiguate for a human. NLP is a complex process that yields simplicity in it’s outcome.

3 ) Easy to use, available 24/7 and fun. Call your instructor at 3 in the morning to find out your next due assignment – I dare you.

4) Students can ask questions privately that they might be embarrassed to ask face to face. Instructors understand the importance of impression management to today’s students who swim in social media presentation like water. How many bits of information are lost if a student thinks they have a “dumb” question?

5) Student impulse to ask questions may be increased. If a student can ask a question at any time without disrupting or interfering with anyone else – do you think they might ask more questions?

6) They give extensive criticism to coaches. Students can say whatever they want to their bot without fear of offending anyone.

7) Because the bots are always in development the discussion is always fresh and timely. Some teachers get into a routine – and appear dated or out of touch to their students as a result

8 ) They quickly can give visual answers – and a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine being able to immediately show a picture related to the required answer.

9) They are intended to communicate like a human. In this way they can draw in students with cleverness and insight. Dialog design for a bot can be playful unique and compelling.

10) Students realize they can return and pose extra inquiries at anytime. The bot doesn’t become impatient with a topic simple becasue it has been previously discussed. They never say “Haven’t I already discussed with with you?” or “I have other students to attend to right now”

11) They can assist students with language difficulties as they can look at the responses and answers a few times, without feeling awkward. Even the best Instructors can become frustrated by 2nd language communication difficulties.

12) They deal with cell phone popularity by appearing on them. A bot never says “Students please put away your phones.”

This list was written by Bryan Ogden.