Dipartimento di Ingegneria informatica, automatica e gestionale

The recent developments in Deep Learning Generative methods provided significant new and developing assets in Technology Enhanced Learning, with the production of conversational agents able to sustain a dialogue with the learner, and answer direct questions about the topic to learn. The possibility to help students at any time, about the topic of a study course, is important at any level of education, and it is almost crucial when it comes to students in Massive Open Online Courses, where the possibility to have direct interaction with the teacher, could be extremely limited. In this paper we present Eduport, a system designed to answer questions posted by learners in natural language. The system is based on a multi-tiered virtual interaction, ranging from using FAQs to generating responses grounded in the course material. One of its main feature is the use of OpenAI API, specifically utilizing the GPT 3.5-turbo model, for more refined assistance on the question at hand. This paper delineates the Eduport system and shares preliminary findings, encouraging outcomes in two primary dimensions: 1) the significant adherence of Eduport’s responses to the established learning materials, and 2) the proficient harnessing of the OpenAI GPT 3.5-turbo model, to yield answers closely aligned with the course’s didactic content.