- Education
Elevating the student experience with AI-powered search
Overview
Facing information overload for students
Supporting thousands of students across hundreds of global programs, a nonprofit study abroad and intercultural exchange organization faced a major challenge: critical information—such as travel logistics, visa requirements, lodging info, and cultural context—was scattered across numerous unstructured sources.
Students struggled to locate critical information, often leading to confusion and repeated questions directed to support teams. The organization needed a centralized, intelligent solution to streamline access to program-specific information and relieve the burden on internal staff.
Our Solution
An AI chatbot powered by Snowflake Cortex
To enhance the student experience and increase operational efficiency, OneSix developed a robust conversational AI chatbot, seamlessly integrated into the organization’s website and powered by Snowflake Cortex Search.
Key Capabilities
- Document Ingestion & Indexing: The chatbot ingests thousands of unstructured documents, including:
- Program-specific reading materials (PDFs)
- Location-based “Know Before You Go” guides (PDFs)
- Content collected via web scraping
- Natural Language Search: Students can ask intuitive, conversational questions such as:
- “Do I need a visa for Seville?”
- “Will I receive college credit?”
- “What’s included in the housing package?”
- “How do I get around?”
- Real-Time, Reliable Responses: Answers are grounded in the organization’s official documentation, ensuring accuracy and consistency.
Technical Implementation
- Advanced Chunking & Preprocessing: Custom pipelines split content into meaningful, searchable segments.
- LLM Prompt Engineering: Carefully crafted prompts optimize answer accuracy, context relevance, and tone.
- Custom Search Tuning: Retrieval and ranking strategies were tailored using content type and user behavior.
- Backend Integration: Python-enhanced logic is fully embedded in Snowflake SQL stored procedures and UDFs.
- Optimized for Performance: Fine-tuned Snowflake Cortex implementation balances cost, speed, and accuracy for enterprise-grade performance.
Results
Transforming the student support experience
- Reducing support load: Internal teams now rely on centralized, AI-powered search to answer student questions more efficiently.
- Enhancing the student experience: Students benefit from 24/7 access to trusted information, increasing their confidence and satisfaction.
- Earning internal praise: Staff report fewer repetitive queries and a noticeable improvement in operational efficiency.
Ready to unlock the full potential of data and AI?
Book a free consultation to learn how OneSix can help drive meaningful business outcomes.
