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Strive Software adds AI to ed-tech platform

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 14 Jun 2018
Shaun Swartz, CEO of Strive Software International.
Shaun Swartz, CEO of Strive Software International.

Educational management solutions firm Strive Software International has integrated an artificial intelligence (AI) engine into its educational software system to help track students' academic performance.

Founded in 1997, the developer of education management systems specialises in campus, retention and learner management software. In 2014 the company introduced the mentoring-as-a-service software (MAAS), aimed at assisting students to achieve their academic goals across multiple levels and types of courses.

Targeted at universities; schools; private and government colleges; and corporates that provide employee training, MAAS integrates with each course curriculum to provide for personalised student and tutor monitoring through each step of the learning journey.

The recent integration of AI tools allows educational institutions to profile their learners according to their risk of failing or dropping out right from the registration point, says Strive Software.

Shaun Swartz, CEO of Strive Software International, explains: "The AI engine tracks student attendance, activity. It also monitors student results, which are used to predict future performance.

"This profiling includes how a learner will cope academically, enabling the college to customise mentoring strategies and thereby ensuring the highest graduation success for each learner. MAAS AI profiling has an accuracy rate of over 85%."

Prior to the AI integration, the company says the system was only able to pro-actively monitor and mentor the student through customised triggers, and send alerts generated from the course based on the student's activity and results.

"The AI addition enables a student to be profiled according to their risk of failing or dropping out.

"AI adds another level of monitoring, as now from registration, a student with a high-risk profile could be given more attention or mentoring, recognising at-risk students in time to make a difference when an intervention is required.

"A student who has been profiled as having a high chance of failing therefore needs additional support and guidance to alter behaviour and improve performance," adds Swartz.

The smart education and learning market size is estimated to grow from $193.24 billion in 2016 to $586.04 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 24.84, according to a report by Markets and Markets.

Some of the factors driving smart education and eLearning market include: a boost in the connectivity of handheld devices, increasing significance of eLearning in the corporate and academic setups, technological advancements and widespread government initiatives in the growing market.

Strive Software says it is in the process of adding a chatbot which will enable natural language chat between the student and the system.

Dr Hendrik Botha, director and academic head at Boston City Campus & Business College adds: "MAAS, together with the technical support offered by Strive Software International, is an unbeatable combination for any educational institution.

"The ability to tailor-make proactive monitoring solutions for student performance is the only authentic solution for mitigating the numbers of students at risk, as opposed to the traditional re-active approaches or plans.

"We have seen dramatic increase in student participation rates, which leaves us without any doubt that our students are developing much more positive study behaviours and attitudes due to MAAS."

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