Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach

Chatbot technologies are increasingly integral to higher education, offering significant potential to enhance teaching effectiveness and student engagement. This study explores the strategic integration of chatbot technologies, focusing on optimal selection and resource allocation to maximize educat...

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Main Authors: Suhan Wu, Min Luo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10843671/
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author Suhan Wu
Min Luo
author_facet Suhan Wu
Min Luo
author_sort Suhan Wu
collection DOAJ
description Chatbot technologies are increasingly integral to higher education, offering significant potential to enhance teaching effectiveness and student engagement. This study explores the strategic integration of chatbot technologies, focusing on optimal selection and resource allocation to maximize educational efficacy. We developed a mathematical optimization model and introduced the “Relative Net Utility Differential” (RNUD) as a pivotal metric to facilitate the decision-making process for chatbot technology selection and resource distribution. Our findings reveal that when RNUD values for all chatbots fall within a specified range, the model efficiently determines the optimal resource allocations, providing clear analytical solutions for each technology. Additionally, we devised an algorithm for scenarios where RNUD values vary significantly, effectively isolating optimal solutions by excluding suboptimal choices. Numerical analysis confirms that this algorithm maintains robust performance and high computational efficiency, particularly when the chatbot count does not exceed 20. This efficiency persists across various distributions of chatbots’ technical attributes, and increasing the number of candidate chatbots generally enhances overall educational utility. This suggests that a diverse technological environment can lead to more tailored and effective educational interventions. Moreover, our study highlights a competitive interaction among chatbots: those with superior technical attributes tend to receive more resources. However, when the technical attributes of one chatbot improve, the resources allocated to others decrease, and vice versa. These insights underscore the importance of not only providing more sophisticated chatbots but also carefully managing their interactions to maximize overall educational utility.
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spelling doaj-art-372f15b8eccf46b18437e8f39c3f5fe92025-01-25T00:01:01ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113131561317410.1109/ACCESS.2025.353041310843671Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model ApproachSuhan Wu0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0818-2948Min Luo1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1305-613XSchool of Economics and Management, Nanjing Polytechnic Institute, Luhe, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Management, Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology, Longgang, Shenzhen, ChinaChatbot technologies are increasingly integral to higher education, offering significant potential to enhance teaching effectiveness and student engagement. This study explores the strategic integration of chatbot technologies, focusing on optimal selection and resource allocation to maximize educational efficacy. We developed a mathematical optimization model and introduced the “Relative Net Utility Differential” (RNUD) as a pivotal metric to facilitate the decision-making process for chatbot technology selection and resource distribution. Our findings reveal that when RNUD values for all chatbots fall within a specified range, the model efficiently determines the optimal resource allocations, providing clear analytical solutions for each technology. Additionally, we devised an algorithm for scenarios where RNUD values vary significantly, effectively isolating optimal solutions by excluding suboptimal choices. Numerical analysis confirms that this algorithm maintains robust performance and high computational efficiency, particularly when the chatbot count does not exceed 20. This efficiency persists across various distributions of chatbots’ technical attributes, and increasing the number of candidate chatbots generally enhances overall educational utility. This suggests that a diverse technological environment can lead to more tailored and effective educational interventions. Moreover, our study highlights a competitive interaction among chatbots: those with superior technical attributes tend to receive more resources. However, when the technical attributes of one chatbot improve, the resources allocated to others decrease, and vice versa. These insights underscore the importance of not only providing more sophisticated chatbots but also carefully managing their interactions to maximize overall educational utility.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10843671/Chatbot technologytechnology selectionresource allocationmathematical modelinghigher education
spellingShingle Suhan Wu
Min Luo
Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
IEEE Access
Chatbot technology
technology selection
resource allocation
mathematical modeling
higher education
title Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
title_full Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
title_fullStr Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
title_full_unstemmed Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
title_short Selection and Resource Allocation Strategies for Chatbot Technologies in Higher Education: An Optimization Model Approach
title_sort selection and resource allocation strategies for chatbot technologies in higher education an optimization model approach
topic Chatbot technology
technology selection
resource allocation
mathematical modeling
higher education
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10843671/
work_keys_str_mv AT suhanwu selectionandresourceallocationstrategiesforchatbottechnologiesinhighereducationanoptimizationmodelapproach
AT minluo selectionandresourceallocationstrategiesforchatbottechnologiesinhighereducationanoptimizationmodelapproach