Development of an Intelligent Personal Assistant for Academic Advising

Abstract

The rapid advancement of Automatic Speech Recognition and Artificial Intelligence has enabled the development of Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA) that facilitate natural, voice-based interactions with computational systems. This work presents the creation and evaluation of “Smart Tutor,” an IPA designed to assist engineering students at Universidad de Guadalajara with academic and administrative inquiries. The Tutor aims to offer an intuitive, human-like interaction experience to streamline information acquisition. Usability was evaluated using the SOVO instrument, focusing on effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. Initial and refined iterations of the prototype demonstrated improvements in user understanding and response times. The findings highlight the potential benefits of voice-based assistants in educational contexts, particularly in reducing administrative burdens and enhancing the learning experience.