Using Chatbots in Flipped Learning Online Sessions: Perceived Usefulness and Ease of Use

Many educators in higher education are using blended learning as an important component of their academic programs. Of the many forms of blended learning, the flipped learning approach, has attracted much attention from many universities, where students learn course materials typically through online video lectures before class so that they can do more active learning in the classroom. Its actual implementation, however, is often beset with challenges, with student disengagement in pre-class online activities being one major problem reported in many previous flipped learning studies. Students who fail to complete the pre-class tasks often have difficulty in performing the follow-up in-class discussions with the instructors and peers. This study, which is part of a larger research project on engaging student in flipped learning, explored the use of two types of chatbots in flipped learning online sessions: Quiz Chatbot, and Self-Regulated Learning Chatbot. We described in detail the implementations of the two chatbots, and evaluated the chatbots in terms of its perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. We also examined the extent of student behavioral engagement with the chatbots. Suggestions to improve the chatbots were discussed, along with recommendations for future research.