The challenge
Since August 2019, Odisee Hogeschool’s chatbot, Lisa, has been answering student’s most frequently asked questions with ease. Thanks to Lisa, we lightened the workload on Odisee’s support team and met the expectations of increasingly digitally-savvy students. And that’s not all. To optimize student experience of its future graduates even further, in 2024, Odisee Hogeschool decided to upgrade Lisa and equip the chatbot with generative capabilities. Meet Lisa; always there to help you.
Students and applicants can consult Lisa via Odisee’s website. This way, students can access Odisee’s support through a familiar platform. From inquiries about enrollment processes and tuition fees to opening hours and facilities, Lisa efficiently handles a broad range of topics. By providing instant responses, the chatbot eliminates the need for students to search for contact information or wait for email replies, empowering them to get answers directly via their smartphones.
Right from the beginning, Lisa proved to be quite popular. After only one month, she replied to approximately 38.000 questions - totaling to more than 66.000 messages - asked by around 7.000 users. Remarkably, only 3% of these questions remained unanswered by the virtual assistant. Luckily, the Oswald platform allows for human takeover, which means the contact center can take over from Lisa whenever it’s necessary.
Even though Lisa did her job quite well for more than five years, we decided to give her a big upgrade. Think of it as some extra training - just like a human would gather more skills, we make sure Lisa does as well. Since 2024, Lisa is equipped with generative capabilities, allowing her to respond to more nuanced and open-ended questions. By integrating a large language model (GPT-4o mini in this case), Lisa can draw insights from Odisee’s knowledge base (accessed through an integration with their Drupal website). This ensures her responses are accurate, context-aware, and up-to-date. This hybrid approach - combining traditional chatbot control with the flexibility of generative AI - enables Lisa to handle even more complex questions than before, without the need for manual configuration of dialogues.
Lisa proves AI can transform the student experience by improving accessibility, reducing response times, and empowering staff to focus on higher-value tasks. By trusting Oswald, Odisee continues to set the standard for future-proof and tech-driven education.
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