Abstract
This chapter describes the use of a virtual teaching assistant called Jill Watson (JW) for Georgia Tech’s OMSCS 7637 class, Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence (KBAI). JW has been operating on the online discussion forums of different offerings of the KBAI class since Spring 2016. By now, some 750 students have interacted with different versions of JW. In the latest, Spring 2017 offering of the KBAI class, JW autonomously responded to student introductions, posted weekly announcements, and answered routine, frequently asked questions. This chapter describes the motivations, background, and evolution of the virtual question-answering teaching assistant.
