Desenvolvimento de um chatbot para a disciplina de cálculo numérico

Abstract

With technological advancement, many Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have been developed, such as Moodle, OpenOlat, among others. These systems are used by teachers to carry out activities or assessments in their courses and to monitor students’ performance. However, the assessment methods available in these systems usually consist of objective questions, focused solely on finding answers to simple questions, or subjective questions, which require manual grading by the teacher. There are cases where it is desirable to have a flow of questions about a specific problem, a flow that depends on previous answers, providing a subjectivity to the problem’s resolution, but with answers that can be automatically calculated. Such functionality is not present in the previously mentioned systems. With this in mind, this work presents the architecture and development of a chatbot capable of creating problems with randomly generated values following an algorithm, as well as conducting a logical question flow, where students are evaluated based on their understanding of the process to solve the problem, not just the final result. Therefore, the architecture and development of the chatbot presented in this work aim to fill a gap in the studied Virtual Learning Environments through an innovative approach. With automatic problem generation and a logical question flow, including three flows to the solution of the problem, the solution allows for the evaluation of not only the final answer but also the reasoning used by the student, making the learning process more dynamic and effective. Therefore, this work contributes to the evolution of assessment methodologies in digital education, providing a more interactive experience aligned with the educational needs of the Numerical Calculus course at the Russas Campus of the Federal University of Ceará.