To help our students save time and decrease stress, we developed Irving, an AI chatbot that offers on-demand administrative support 24/7.
 

When you’re juggling school, work and family responsibilities, your time becomes precious. Students can spend a lot of time on administrative tasks for school – learning new technology, seeking support at the library and looking for financial resources. Hunting for answers can be time-consuming. If a school’s support staff is only available during business hours, students often have to cram these admin tasks into their workdays, which can be stressful.

To help our students save time and decrease stress, Strayer University developed Irving, a student service chatbot. Irving is named after the university’s founder, Dr. Irving Strayer. This virtual helper, originally launched in 2017, offers on-demand administrative support 24/7. Irving also offers students time management support by giving them options to sync assignment schedules and reminders to their personal calendars.

Strayer students can access Irving from any page on their iCampus portal, as well as their Blackboard and Canvas course rooms. Simply click the chat box at the bottom of the screen and Irving will pop up, even if it’s late at night or on the weekend.

Irving can:

• Answer frequently asked questions about degree programs and financial aid
• Guide students to academic resources, such as tutors
• Set due date reminders for coursework
• Notify students about overdue coursework and class attendance
• Provide encouragement and motivation
  

Examples of questions you can ask Irving:

• What’s the status of my financial aid?
• What courses do I need to take to complete my degree?
• How do I register for winter quarter?
• Where can I find a tutor?
  

Irving is actually helpful

Before launching Irving, we knew that he had to be a genuinely helpful resource for students, or nobody would use him. Irving combines artificial intelligence (AI) technology and natural language processing, so he can handle your requests in a conversational style. Irving has had over 2.6 million conversations with more than 170,000 unique students. And 84.5% of students agree that Irving helped them solve their issue easily. 

Irving gets smarter over time

New questions from students help the development team update Irving’s knowledge base. They recalibrate Irving to respond even more accurately and efficiently with more personalized information.

When you need human help, it’s available

Irving can’t resolve everything – he’s a virtual assistant, after all. If a student needs help from an actual person, Irving can refer them to a staff member. You can also reach out to your student services coach. But it may help to know that Irving can handle most of the basic administrative tasks and questions.

Irving helps students efficiently complete administrative tasks whenever it’s most convenient. He can save students valuable time and help them quickly get back to the important stuff – studying for their degree, working and spending time with family.

Thinking about going back to school? Strayer University offers convenient online learning, or you can take courses at one of our 50+ campus locations. Explore degree programs.