Along with the already familiar trends such as microlearning and gamification, experts are actively introducing new products from related areas: social networks, user experience (UX) design, and chatbots.

Chatbots – a trend in learning, which is actively gaining popularity. Chatbots have long been used in marketing, sales, social networks, CRM-systems, but recently began to be used in the field of EdTech. Chatbots have a huge potential in e-learning. They can be used not only to simulate interaction with the instructor or the author of the course but also to create role-playing games within e-learning courses. For example, a dialogue with a patient or customer online store. Chatbots can ask any question and do not feel stupid. It is unnatural to study any subject, only listening to the lecture, and the chatbots successfully solve this issue. You can send a message to the tutor or research supervisor. A live person will answer for a long time, and the robots will answer the questions about learning immediately. In such cases, it is more convenient for people to communicate with the machine than with live people. It is clear that chatbots are a supplement to teachers and should not replace them.

Chatbots help create online communities and networking.  Many people are attracted by the opportunity to make professional acquaintances, enter the community of creative developing people, and perhaps find partners for their projects. For example, students communicate in slack channels where they can share their impressions, ask questions, or ask for feedback on a project. But it is worth remembering that: without a moderator, any communication sooner or later subsides or degenerates.

Any modern company is faced with the training and adaptation of new employees, advanced training of existing personnel, to improve the quality of human resources. Why is it helpful to use a chatbot for corporate employee training?

First of all, to automate the acquisition and assimilation of new knowledge in the format of interactive interaction. Just imagine: every employee of the company can have round-the-clock access to a virtual mentor, request the necessary information right at the workplace, be tested, and consolidate the material studied. Simultaneously, the load on the HR department or the company’s training center is minimal. In fact, after the initial setup and integration, the chatbot for offline training of employees will perform the functions assigned to it.

In the future, not only employees’ knowledge and skills will be assessed, but their work results. This approach will allow you to link learning metrics with business metrics, assess the real learning effect, and not just take courses.