Campuswide, phones buzzed with a text notification – a message from an AI chatbot that referenced each recipient by name.
Murray State announced the launch of a new AI chatbot called “Dunker,” through a partnership with EdSights, a company offering a platform combining “conversational AI and retention research to increase persistence.”
The new service is designed to increase student retention by answering questions, connecting students with campus resources and identifying students who may need additional assistance.
The introductory message from Dunker said messages are not anonymous, and a University staff member may follow up with the student concerning any issues that are disclosed to the chatbot.
According to the company website, the platform “uses AI to check in with students every 7-10 days. This real-time approach helps proactively identify barriers and provides scalable, increasingly personalized support as the AI learns about each student’s unique needs.”
On Feb. 17, every Murray State student received the same text message, beginning with: “Hi (name), it’s Dunker from Murray State University!” As part of the University’s new contract with EdSights, each student is automatically opted in to the service.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a law protecting the privacy of college students. Thanks to EdSights’s status as a “school official,” as per the contractual agreement, the company has legal access to a student body’s personally identifiable information.
The Murray State contract refers to this information as “Confidential Student Information,” which includes but is not limited to the student’s name, name(s) of the student’s family member(s), home address and any other information that a student may provide during conversations with the chatbot.
Patrick Hertz, the partnership director at EdSights, said the company implements measures to keep personal information out of the hands of third parties.
“We collect and process only the minimum student data necessary to provide our services and restrict access to authorized personnel under strict role-based access controls,” Hertz said. “EdSights remains under the direct control of each partner institution with respect to the use and maintenance of student and education records, and does not sell or rent student data to third parties.”
Hertz said the company has administrative and technical safeguards in place to prevent the unauthorized access or disclosure of student information. He said these safeguards include encryption, network security controls, access logging and regular monitoring.
“Students exercise their FERPA rights, including requests to access, amend or delete records through their institution, and EdSights supports institutions in fulfilling such requests in accordance with applicable law and contractual obligations,” Hertz said.
During the Murray State Board of Regents quarterly meeting on Feb. 27, President Ron Patterson said in the first week of the service’s launch, the chatbot received 2,000 messages from students requesting information about resources, cutting down on the workload of human staff.
He said Murray State is the third institution he has brought the service to.
Some students have shared their opinions with The Murray State News, displaying mixed reactions to the new service.
