AUT wins Overall Innovation Award at the 2016 Microsoft Tertiary ICT Innovation Awards for Artificial Intelligence bot for guiding student learning
Auckland University of Technology has taken out the Overall Innovation Award at the Microsoft Tertiary ICT Innovation Awards in Manukau City, Auckland for an artificial intelligence ‘bot’ that automatically guides students on their learning paths.
Called ‘NINA’, the AI bot works like a personal digital assistant for AUT students and staff, using various cognitive technologies to understand and interact with users, systems and data across multiple subject areas in an effort to answer queries in natural language.
Held at the Manukau Institute of Technology as part of the 35th Annual Tertiary ICT Conference last week, the Microsoft Innovation Awards celebrate ICT excellence within the tertiary education sector.
Data Warehouse Architects for AUT, Tim Davison and Tasleen Hussein, say the university is excited to be leading innovation around AI in New Zealand, and bringing to life ideas that only a few years ago would have seemed impossible to implement.
“NINA is a new and engaging way for our students and staff to interact with the university that breaks down barriers between people and technology. It allows people to use technology in a human way, using natural language conversations to access information that is contextualised to their needs,” says Davison.
“Students and staff will be able to go to a single place to find answers and perform tasks across a whole range of university systems, from renewing a library book to asking when the next shuttle bus leaves, enrolling in a course or even ordering lunch. They will no longer need to know where information is stored, login to multiple services or apps, or have technical training for all the different systems.”
Hussein says the technology is not just about one-way conversations, but that NINA could be used to communicate with staff and students, and even identify and initiate support when students need extra help.
“We can imagine a future where NINA is an artificial intelligence for the university – a personality that people interact with day to day to manage their information and activities. We’re passionate about developing and adopting new technologies like these, which make a real difference in people’s lives and ultimately help our students to succeed,” says Hussein.
The three categories for the 2016 awards were Technology Innovation for non-BAU, extreme or utterly new use of technology in a tertiary environment, Technology Deliver for exceptional delivery of technology across projects and Technology for Learning, Research or Students for exceptional delivery of technology supporting the core sector outcomes of Learning, Research or Students– with the submissions focused on a range of innovations, from processes designed to improve efficiency or effectiveness of services at enabling educators and students to reach their full potential.
Katrien Pagnaer, Higher Education Lead at Microsoft New Zealand says it is hugely satisfying to see the education institutes leading the way in the implementation of innovative ICT services by so many passionate people which directly enable better outcomes for the institution, its staff and its students.
“The conference theme for this year, ‘Bring IT on’ focused on identifying and sharing the key issues and opportunities for ICT in tertiary education, now and into the future. Bring IT On is about embracing new technology, understanding how it can make our daily activities easier & connecting us to a world of opportunities,” says Pagnaer.
“The awards are an exciting opportunity to celebrate the outstanding technology innovation we are seeing in the New Zealand tertiary education sector. The calibre and quality of the submissions this year was very impressive – more and more we see ICT used to enhance institutional effectiveness and learning experiences, and we hope these awards will continue to encourage others in the sector to make the most of what technology has to offer.”
The Auckland University of Technology received the Microsoft Innovation Award trophy and $3,000 of Microsoft Innovative Technology Pack in recognition of its cutting edge work.
The three category winners were as follows:
The Microsoft Award for Technology innovation: Auckland University of Technology for NINA- Artificial Intelligence Digital Assistant.
The Microsoft Award for Excellence in Technology Delivery: Waikato Institute of Technology for its driving business intelligence project.
The Microsoft Award for Excellence in Technology for Learning, Research or Students: Victoria University of Wellington for Changing IT to bring IT- New Strategic Capabilities at Victoria University,
The Microsoft Innovation Awards is another example of Microsoft’s commitment to the education sector. Other initiatives include the Partners in Learning programme, local tertiary education alliances, and leading software solutions designed to facilitate learning through the use of ICT.
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