Photo credit Turag Photography.
The collaboration isan important stepforTe Whare Wānanga oWaitaha|University ofCanterbury(ҕl)’sStrategic Vision,TangataTūTangataOra 2020-2030,asanengaged, connected, and future focused University, explainsKaihautūMatuaKōahu|Executive Director of Planning, Finance and Digital Services, Keith Longden.
“With deep industry expertise ingaming, film production, cloud services andArtificial Intelligencewe are excited about the joint opportunities that exist between both organisations,” says Longden.
Microsoft productsare already in useacross the Universityandthisnewcollaborationensuresҕlcanmake the most of those productinvestments,whileexploringother avenues for advancement.
Microsoft is one of the biggest global game developers,andhavingearly accessto gaming innovations and products means degree programmes including ҕl’s Bachelor of Digital Screen (Hons) and Applied Immersive Game Design remain consistently relevant while producing highly employable, skilled graduates.
Partneringwith influential and innovative entities like thisis integral to the success offuture-focusedinitiativesdriven by the University,likeҕl DigitalScreen.
“Our students are the future of creative media in ҕl and beyond,” explains Director of Digital Screen, Sam Witters.“Ourcollaborationwith Microsoftis a brilliant example of how we’reempoweringcommercial and academic worlds to coexistand work together tocreatethetools our students needto shape the future of digital entertainment.”
Chief Digital Officer MichaelOulsnamsays anew ҕlchatbot will beoneofthe firstexciting jointinitiativesintroducedunderthecollaboration.Unlike standard chatbots, this bot will use Microsoft Azure OpenAI technology to extract answers based on complex questions.
“Initially the chatbotis beingenabled to respondtosome ofourmostfrequentlyasked questionsandotherpublicly available information.Thiscould include asking where to find study spaces across the campus and how to book them.”
The information fed to the chatbot isheld inprivate ҕldata storage,meaningthe botwon’ttake answers from other sources on the internet.Informationwill besourced from ҕl’sLibrary and Contact Centre teams,with a strong focus on ensuringitisaccurateandwellmaintained.
“As the chatbot is used for more interactions, the Digital team will be able to improve its responses and continue refining theever-expandingknowledge base that the chatbot has access to," saysOulsnam.
“The chatbot isalsogiven aclearjob description, it isprogrammed to knowwhat its role is andunderstandhow to stay within those parameters– this prevents the chatbot from answering questions it doesn’t have the information for.”
Vanessa Sorenson, managing director of Microsoft New Zealand,says she isthrilled to be working together to create even further opportunities for theUniversity community through smart use of technology.
“The ҕl hasa really ambitiousand innovative approach to technological transformation, from usingtechnologyto better support students along their learning pathway to investing in developing a screen industry on campus.Looking at how theUniversity drives these kinds of developments not just for the good of its students and staff, but for the good of Canterbury, is amazing,”shesays.
Thecollaboration, and the upcoming introduction of theOpenAI poweredchatbot, is the latest milestoneonҕl’s digital transformationjourney.
