Supporting students goal setting process using chatbot: implementation in a fully online course

Abstract

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need for promoting efficient online learning. Without external pressure and guidance, fully online learners are expected to self-monitor their learning process and find paths to achieve learning goals; such abilities are considered self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. To become a self-regulated learner, the first step is to learn how to set effective learning goals. However, this is difficult for learners with lower SRL skills, since they may not have enough knowledge on selecting and adopting the appropriate goal setting strategies. Thus, there is a need for supporting fully online learners on setting effective learning goals. This study introduces a new approach of enhancing students' goal setting skills by interacting with a chatbot, which embedded some guiding questions based on a goal setting strategy. Students in an online course were invited to complete a goal setting activity prior to class, and their perceptions of the activity were collected via interviews. The findings from this study shed light on future designs of chatbot supporting SRL activities.