Pioneering AI Developer Launches Free Resource to Help Colleges Combat Summer Melt
AdmitHub’s Oli for All brings conversational AI to bear on boosting college access and retention during the COVID-19 pandemic
AdmitHub, whose conversational AI technology has helped more than 2 million students enroll and persist in college, announced the launch of a new chatbot that is available for free to all U.S. colleges and universities over the summer. Piloted by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the ambitious initiative is designed to facilitate better communication between institutions and students as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create barriers to enrollment and retention.
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“A growing body of research confirms that deploying an AI-enhanced chatbot can lead to significant improvements in student outcomes,” said Dr. Tim Renick, Senior Vice President for Student Success at Georgia State University. “The ability to communicate with students quickly and at scale has never been more important than now, as we try both to get students the information they need and to learn from them how they are being impacted by the pandemic.”
A body of research suggests that up to 40% of admitted college students never make it to the first day of class, often due to the complexities of navigating the enrollment experience. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to exacerbate this challenge — known as “summer melt” — for not just new arrivals , but also returning students. This new project, dubbed Oli™ for All after AdmitHub’s mascot, is rooted in evidence that AI can play an important role in helping colleges address the issue: according to a randomized controlled trial, AdmitHub’s chatbot helped Georgia State University reduce summer melt by more than 20%. A forthcoming study indicates that chatbots can have a similar impact on boosting year-over-year retention.
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