Chatbot Pilot & Results
Our chatbot is dynamic and combines both rule-based and intelligent capabilities. The knowledge base is updated over time based on interactions and, of course, is limited to the content within each book. The OER chatbot is hosted on Railway, and we used H5P to embed it in Pressbooks, making it easy to use within the book.
Access the Chatbot in the development guide.
Student Pilot Findings
We ran a pilot with students in a level 1 business class, Strategies for Success, in the winter of 2025. There were 29 survey respondents.
Usage
- How often students read the textbook: 12-sometimes, 9-rarely, 5-often, 3-never.
- Students still want a blended workflow: 16/29 prefer using both methods (textbook + chatbot), versus 9/29 preferring chatbot-only and 4/29 textbook-only.
- Adoption intent is solid: 13/29 say they’d use the chatbot Often/Always.
Ease of Use & Interactivity
- The chatbot is generally seen as easy to use: 24/29 respondents rated it Easy or Very Easy.
- It increases engagement: 23/29 said it made studying feel more interactive
Challenges & Suggestions
- Textbook: Most students reported finding it difficult to stay focused while reading and finding information in the book.
- Chatbot: Some students mentioned that the chatbot’s responses were sometimes repetitive or not specific enough, but said the additional link was helpful.
- Students suggested adding more textbooks to the chatbot’s database, improving the chatbot’s ability to understand and respond to questions, and making the chatbot’s responses more human-like.
- Other suggestions included adding a read-aloud function, creating an app for easier access, and generating practice questions related to the textbook.
