BLINN LAUNCHES NEW VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TO ANSWER STUDENT QUESTIONS

  

Blinn College students now have an innovative new way to receive answers to common admissions, advising, and financial aid questions when they visit www.blinn.edu.

Blinn recently launched a virtual assistant named “Buc” on the admissions, advising, and financial aid pages of Blinn’s website.

The program is Blinn’s newest tool to provide students access to the student support system.

“Blinn is committed to making sure our students get connected with the support they need,” said Karen Buck, Vice Chancellor for Student Services and Administration. “This virtual assistant is an innovative technology that serves as a complement to our dedicated staff members and helps streamline our ability to respond and connect.”

“This tool was planned as a new resource for our students, but with Blinn offices currently closed to the public due to COVID-19, we felt there was even more urgency to provide an additional layer of virtual assistance for our current and prospective students,” said Christy Johanson, Dean of Enrollment Services and Registrar. “We believe this new feature will guide students to relevant information and help direct them to the answers they need.”

Buc uses artificial intelligence equipped with information from the Blinn website to help students find answers to commonly asked questions.  The more the virtual assistant is used, the smarter the artificial intelligence becomes.

For questions the virtual assistant cannot answer, students are routed to a live agent or, if the question arrives outside of business hours, they are invited to submit their question so a live agent can email a response back.  Students also can utilize the live chat option or they can reach out by phone or email to the appropriate department during regular business hours.

For more information, go to: www.blinn.edu.

(INFORMATION COURTESY: Richard Bray, Blinn Information)