Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2356 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144244)
Principal Investigator: Villarreal,Michael U
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 262,131
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): Yes
Start and End Dates: 6/1/20 - 5/31/23
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: Education
Department, Center, School, or Institute: URBAN EDUCATION INSTITUTE
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: EDU-10801-#7515 Victoria: the AI Assistant for College Advisors
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
Greater TX Fdn
Program Title: none
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1; 1.3.1 The Urban Education (research) Institute at UTSA (UEI) will build Victoria using the artificial intelligence platform of IBM’S Watson. UEI will work with the college advisors of Café College, San Antonio’s free, public, one-stop college advising center. Together, we will create a feedback loop that begins with frequently asked college-related questions of students. Victoria will refer students to a live, experienced college advisor at Café College when the student’s needs call for more personal attention. Victoria will also serve as a channel for communicating the credible findings produced by researchers using Education Research Center (ERC) data at the UEI and throughout the ERC system. As we perfect our processes, we plan to scale up Victoria to serve rural communities surrounding Bexar County, and eventually expand to all of Texas. Expected Outcome: Victoria will change the current triage approach to college counseling. Victoria will enable students to ask questions at any time of the day and every day and to immediately receive answers and supporting resources online. Victoria will also help schools more efficiently use face-to-face meeting time between advisors and students so that students receive personal attention with tasks that genuinely need personal attention. By providing high-quality and timely information that responds to students’ questions, more adolescents will develop postsecondary career and college aspirations and, more importantly, practical plans for pursuing these aspirations. By increasing the number of students who take early steps toward preparing for their college and career goals, more students will pursue postsecondary education and be more prepared to be successful.
Discussion: No discussion notes