Event Title

Medical Financial Aid; MARA

Presenter Information

Logan Smith
Michael Powell
Amy Sugar
Julian Chambliss
Shree Raj Shrestha

Location

CB1-301

Start Date

4-11-2017 1:45 PM

End Date

4-11-2017 3:00 PM

Description

Medical Financial Aid Chatbot Demonstration (Logan Smith and Michael Powell)

The demonstration will consist of a working example of a chatbot able to help people request financial relief for a acute (and expensive) medical procedures. A web-based version will be able for users to test responses from the chat through a keyboard interface. Additionally, a voice input version will be available so that users can see how someone might get assistance by only using their voice. Both demos will be shown by at least one of the project developers. The developers on hand will be available to answer any questions about the project.

MARA: Mobile Academic Research Application (Amy Sugar, Julian Chambliss and Shree Raj Shrestha)

Mobile Academic Research Application (MARA) is an application that allows users to collect, annotate, store, publish, and collaborate on digital content. The initial iteration of the project involved developing a means for student researchers to collect information while working on community based research projects. Project Mosaic created collaborative multi-class projects conducted under the auspice of the Africa and African-American Studies program at Rollins College encouraging students working under faculty direction to investigate issues of race, culture, and place within the local community. Growing from multiple semesters of working on this project, the problem of information abundance and the need to standardize the information to create stable online exhibits to demonstrate outcomes became apparent.

Recognizing that the mobile platform provided the opportunity to bring together multiple tools utilized by students conducting these projects, faculty and instructional technologists reviewed available software. While numerous programs promised some elements of functionality, ultimately, the decision to develop a mobile application that would provide students with a versatile tool for conducting information in the field emerged.

The result was a collaborative effort between faculty, instructional technologists, and a student app developer to design and develop this custom mobile application. We will demonstrate how MARA enables students to collect, annotate, and store media and then easily publish digital artifacts for collaboration and peer learning. We will also share our experiences and lessons learned during the planning, development, testing, and implementation stages for this project and discuss future plans.