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Introduction
A significant amount of research has explored two key components that this paper brings together: students transitioning into first year university, and the use of information technology in education.
A great deal of literature has examined the difficulties that students face when starting university. What has been shown is that quite often the challenges faced stem not from a lack of academic preparedness but from several other factors. Among those most frequently cited are a sense of being disconnected from other students and from the instructor and the difficulties of navigating a new environment with new expectations and structure (Jones et al. , 2009). Related to this but not directly examined is the significant volume of information to sort through, absorb, and act upon. A review of the information management literature reveals that high quantities of information may have unintended negative effects such as confusing and frustrating the recipient, leading to information anxiety and diminished performance (Eppler and Mengis, 2004).
Technology has been proposed as a possible tool which can be harnessed to deal with the above issues. In particular, it has been examined as a tool to connect with and assist students both socially and academically (Rau et al. , 2008). The research shows that tools such as e-mail, text-messaging/short-messaging systems (SMS) and instant messaging (IM) can be effective for sharing information with students, answering their questions, and helping them feel connected to the instructor (Rau et al. , 2008; Lauricella and Kay, 2013). Their benefits from a student perspective are the potential for a quick response, convenience, ease-of-use and a sense of greater connection with the instructor. However, the problems associated with IM are that it can be frustrating for the student if the instructor is not online and the student sometimes perceives it as breaching privacy boundaries. For the instructor, it demands greater availability and greater time spent responding to individuals.
A recent technology innovation that extends IM is the chatbot. This is an automated response system that has some limited artificial intelligence capabilities and appears as a contact on the IM system. Its benefit is that the student can navigate through frequently encountered questions using an intuitive, conversation-like approach and locate information as it is needed, when it is needed....