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Saint Leo University joins other universities including Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Wyoming with their recent rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot “Leona.”
Dr. Mary Spoto, vice president of academic affairs at Saint Leo, introduced the idea of an AI chatbot at the end of last spring semester. She and a team of faculty including Frank Orlando, instructor of political science, and Trisha Toms, instructor of art, spent the summer workshopping the idea.
Planning to incorporate with Saint Leo’s lion, Toms drew a lioness, to deter from the typical depiction of a big, male lion with a mane.
“We didn’t want her dressed up,” said Spoto. “We wanted her kind of natural.”
Toms’ illustration of Leona was held up during an advisory committee meeting, to which one of the faculty members suggested the name “Leona.”
“We thought it would be a really great idea to find different ways to reach out to students,” said Spoto.
One roadblock they encountered when rolling out Leona was anticipating the questions students would have for her.
On September 6, the Leona chatbot device was released for all on-campus students. The innovation is based on a bank of questions and answers. The database behind the chatbot recognizes the most frequently asked questions. Leona learns through her students. The chatbot is constantly growing. The more students use the chatbot, the more the question bank expands.
“She’ll learn along with you, she’ll learn with you, and she’ll learn through you,” said Spoto. “You have to help her learn. The more questions you ask her, the better.”
As of now, she has around 400 questions and answers in the knowledge bank, but as time goes on this will only continue to improve.
Leona was created with the help of Edsights, a company that operates out of New York, seeking to help college kids finish their education in a healthy and happy way.
The chatbot is reactive and proactive. In other words, the chatbot can answer questions and ask questions. Leona checks up on her students. According to previous texts sent to Leona, she will text a student back to make sure everything went well. When it comes to the safety of students, Leona works hands in hand with other Saint Leo departments. The chatbot offers resources for counseling services as well as campus safety contact.
Throughout the week, Leona will send out a new message checking up on students, whether it be asking how school is going, how they are feeling, or if school is stressing them out.
An example of this is a text sent out on Sept 15, where Leona asked, “How are you feeling about the start of the fall term?” She went on to allow students to choose from three options: “good/excited,” “neutral,” or “nervous/overwhelmed.”
Leona will also make sure that students are mentally doing well while adjusting to campus life. The knowledge base has a list of “trigger words” that it recognizes and, if a student uses one of those words while engaging with her, it could possibly send out an alert depending on the seriousness of it. If an alert goes out for a student, it will use the phone number and identify the student in order to get them the correct help that they need.
Saint Leo is home to many students from different countries. Consequently, some wondered about Leona’s ability to communicate with Saint Leo’s international students.
“Right now, Leona will not recognize international phone plans,” said Spoto.
However, if a student prefers Leona to speak in a language other than English, she will respond to a translation device on your phone. Fortunately, Edsights plans to smooth out the kinks regarding this issue.
When Leona was first introduced into the Saint Leo community on September 6, some students thought that the friendly text from the chat-bot was spam. However, Leona is 100 percent authentic and approved by Saint Leo.
Furthermore, if a student accidentally opted out in the initial rollout of Leona, it is not too late to opt back in. Students can email Leona about this at leona@saintleo.edu and inquire about opting back into the messaging system.
Overall, the Saint Leo staff worked incredibly hard this summer to establish this technology for the greater good of the student body. It was a combined effort that sought to help everyone from the new-to-campus freshman to the seasoned senior with a quick question on their mind.
Saint Leo has certainly leaned heavily into the wellness of their students in recent years, and Leona is a product of that. With the rollout of the Wellness Center last spring and Leona this fall, it is evident that there is a clear emphasis on the physical and emotional well-being of students.
This new system is ready to hear students’ ideas and answer their questions. Saint Leo University has an email available for all to express concerns at leona@saintleo.edu.
