Abstract:

Distance learning is the modality of education whose primary objective is the dispersion of knowledge reaching students wherever they live or want to study. The term education or distance learning denotes the physical and temporal separation between teacher and student who, unlike campus-based or face-to-face teaching, begin to work in an isolated and desynchronized way. Distance learning allows to "customize" the educational process in order to meet specific needs that cannot be met by face-to-face methodologies, such as geographical distance and restrictive physical health conditions. Furthermore, it also allows the student to develop skills and competencies through autonomous learning. Contrary to what one imagines, distance learning has been used in the university educational process since the 19th century. Progress and constant technological renewal have enabled distance learning to gain a new outfit through computerized methods and active teaching methodologies. In an ambiguous way, the technological advance allowed access to information and the accelerated development and propagation of distance learning, requiring the teacher to play the role of facilitator, mediator, and stimulator of collective interaction, while the availability of teacher, compared to the student's temporal freedom, is not total. In view of this concern, we propose the development of an autonomous communication interface (chatterbot), which will help students solve academic doubts through natural language questions. The tool will look for the best answer in a knowledge base. The knowledge base will be populated by artificial intelligence, able to read classroom materials provided by the teacher, and validated by a professional.

Keywords:

Chatterbot, artificial intelligence, distance learning.