Grätzelbot: Social Companion Technology for Community Building among University Freshmen

Abstract

Proper onboarding procedures for freshmen (first-semester students) at the university have many positive effects, especially the increase in retention rates. This paper presents Grätzelbot, a chatbot designed to help with onboarding freshmen by means of connecting them in a network-building 12-day scavenger hunt. The onboarding concept that led to Grätzelbot was developed in a participatory design process together with students, and implemented during the start of the semester with more than 100 participants. The evaluation results revealed that the students felt more familiar with the faculty building and the university campus after the scavenger hunt, also met other students, made new friends, and, by participating, their sense of belonging to the student community got stronger. As a social companion fostering relatedness among its users, Grätzelbot serves as an example for the reach and benefits of Social Software.