#41EduOwl

Chatbot
Software Architecture
Logo
User Interface of the major suggestion part 1
User interface of the major suggestion part 2
User interface of the major suggestion part 3
User interface of the major suggestion part 4

Inspiration

As a group of college students who vividly recall the complexities and uncertainties of the university admissions process, we found our collective inspiration. Our team of four, each from different majors and backgrounds, recognized a common challenge faced by high school graduates: the overwhelming task of choosing a major and navigating the intricate admissions landscape. This shared experience led us to create Eduowl. Our goal was to design an innovative tool that not only simplifies the admissions journey but also assists students in finding a major that aligns with their passions and strengths. Eduowl embodies our mission to turn the often daunting pre-college experience into an empowering and streamlined journey, making the path clearer for future students at Rowan University.

What it does

Eduowl revolutionizes university admissions by offering two key features: guiding students through the admissions process and assisting in major selection. This app features an AI-driven chat interface for inquiries about Rowan University, from academics to campus life, ensuring an engaging and informative user experience. Its standout component is the major recommendation system. Recognizing the importance of selecting the right major, Eduowl evaluates students' interests, strengths, and career goals. It then suggests suitable majors, simplifying this critical decision-making process.

How we built it

Building Eduowl began with a crucial first step: meticulously gathering the latest admission information from Rowan University's official website. We implemented a web scraping technique using Python, leveraging the BeautifulSoup and requests libraries. This process involved requesting the admissions page, followed by parsing the HTML content to extract relevant details. We specifically targeted the section detailing international admission requirements, ensuring that our app would be equipped with the most current and comprehensive information. This data was then processed and formatted into a structured format, making it easily accessible for our application.

The development of the Eduowl chatbot was an intricate process that involved several key technologies. First, we utilized the PyPDF2 library for extracting text from PDF documents, allowing our bot to access a broader range of informational resources. The core of the chatbot was powered by OpenAI's language models, integrated through the LangChain library. This setup included initializing the LangChain OpenAI model with our API key and setting up a ConversationBufferMemory for effective conversation management. The conversation chain, built with LangChain, enabled our bot to understand and respond to user queries in a contextually relevant manner. To handle extensive data from PDFs and web sources efficiently, we implemented functions to chunk text and estimate token counts, ensuring smooth and responsive user interactions.

Challenges we ran into

We faced a major challenge with Azure AI Studio when integrating our JSON data, encountering persistent errors that hindered progress. Despite numerous attempts and troubleshooting, we couldn't resolve these issues within our project timeline. This led us to pivot and utilize the ChatGPT OpenAI API, a move that ultimately enhanced Eduowl's functionality and taught us valuable lessons in adaptability and the need for flexible solutions in tech development.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We take great pride in pushing our creative limits to come up with a distinctive, form-based feature that assists students in selecting their majors. This groundbreaking element of Eduowl holds a special place in our hearts because it showcases our dedication to solving real-world problems through imaginative and user-focused approaches.

What we learned

Our journey with ChatGPT-OpenAI and Langchain has broadened our understanding of advanced conversational AI. This knowledge will fuel Eduowl's future endeavors to enrich our advising features across various academic disciplines and integrate Microsoft Azure for an enhanced intelligent bot experience.

What's next for Eduowl

Eduowl is poised to expand its advisory services, focusing on a broader range of academic majors and incorporating Microsoft Azure to enhance our bot's capabilities. This integration aims to streamline user interaction, providing a more responsive and intelligent system for academic guidance and writing assistance.