Integration of Context-Based Learning with Informative Chatbot for Grassroots Farmers

With frustrating environmental changes, many farmers struggle with their productivity and quality of their crops. As they were tempted to use chemicals to their farms, they were required to update their knowledge and skills in order to achieve proper use and safety for their crops, their lands and their lives. This study was a part of a rice farmer training project which aimed to achieve effective training program that could enhance farmers’ knowledge in rice farming when the chemicals were inevitable for some areas. An explorative study was conducted to investigate insight and needs of knowledge of chemical usage. Then the insight was used in designing and developing an active lesson with informative chatbot, so called ‘Smart Farmer’. This chatbot has served as a knowledge-based agent to facilitate the active lesson with Reflect-Connect-Apply context-based approach for the grassroots farmers in Thailand. The in-dept interview and questionnaire were conducted after the context-based lesson. The results show that a considerate design with most to least frequent rankings of chemicals usage and farming troubles should be incorporated in the context of class instructive flow of the training program as well as in the design of chatbot and other instructive materials.