Abstract Manager

Facilitated and Dedicated Poster

P7 - 02

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

no

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Innovation

Other

Professor

yes

Improv Bot - a web-based AI chatbot to improve communication skills

ImprovBot.ca is a web application co-constructed by graduate students at the Centre for Digital Media and the Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver. The A.I. bot continues ongoing iterative development at the UBC Faculty of Medicine's HIVE. Effective communication relies on both listening skills and positive responses. The need to have multiple opportunities to practice communication skills is a challenge that programs in the areas of health and life sciences constantly attempt to improve. Learners benefit from increased training of their professional communication abilities, yet often the time devoted to practice is scarce and there may be barriers to experimenting in front of peers. By the time learners undertake clinical practice they may be under prepared and have to fend for themselves working with broad and often prescribed text book guidelines.

For this reason, an artificial speaking agent, a chatbot was designed that afforded learners persistent and regular opportunities to practice a growing vocabulary of communication skills. Learners are challenged to respond to chatbot prompts spontaneously through a series of games to improve their listening skills and respond to offers with a "Yes, and" mindset. The Yes And, Repeat After Me, and a third Free Talk mode allow users to interact with our A.I. chatbot through recordable conversations that can be saved, sent, and replayed by peers or teachers. Additional scenarios are focused on clinical communication skills as they relate to critical care and family practice.

The ImprovBot is a scalable innovation that is currently undergoing further development to improve machine learning algorithms and expand the repertoire of activities in order to enrichen the learner experience and provide multiple opportunities to exercise their communication skills.

improvisation

communication

ai

General

Teaching and learning

Continuing Medical Education

Professionalism

Undergraduate

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes