Adaptive Conversations for Adaptive Learning TalkyTutors: sustainable chatbots as tutors

Using chatbots in education in this era is a promising way to engage students in an efficient learning experience. This paper is about using conversational interfaces and chatbots to support adaptive learning experiences. Adaptivity concerns both access to content (to support specific learning needs) and how the conversation is carried on (to make the experience empathic and effective). An original technology allows the development of sustainable chatbots that we call TalkyTutors. The technology empowers various non-technical actors (e.g., authors, teachers, publishers, and learners) to directly control adaptativity and chatbot's features. The first version of TalkyTutor has experimented with four different courses. A panel of 11 teachers (school and higher education) has been organized for an initial assessment. The preliminary evaluation has shown the great potential of the approach and the possible added value of TalkyTutor, especially in a blended (formal education) environment. Some interesting (and somehow unexpected) ideas and requests have also surfaced from teachers' evaluations.