This session discusses the impact story of the first AI-powered online student support community for Biology using Inscribe. Learn how we promoted learner engagement, peer-to-peer discourse, learning efficacy, and personalized support. We also share takeaways from project strategies for conceptualization, development, implementation, and data analysis.

Introduction This session will discuss the development, implementation, and impact of an online student support community for Biology students. This one-year pilot of an AI-powered online student support community specifically, aimed to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive support environment with key goals: promoting engagement, fostering peer-to-peer discourse, enhancing learning efficacy, and providing personalized support. Value of AI-Supported Student Support Communities for First-Year STEM Students A virtual learning community can help address students' challenges in introductory Biology courses by providing personalized access to resources that can help learners explore and understand biological concepts. By connecting with peers who share their interests and passions, biology learners can feel supported and motivated to continue their studies. A virtual learning community can provide biology learners with access to valuable and resource-rich support structures. This can include online tutoring, academic advising, and mental health support that can be shared across sections and multiple courses. There are limited best practices that harness modern AI tools in the virtual student support space. This project leverages the capabilities of the AI-integrated community platform InScribe to provide a support environment tailored to the needs of students. Student support systems are critical for fostering academic success and retention, particularly during the first year of university. Traditional support systems often fail to provide the comprehensive, personalized assistance that diverse student populations require. By integrating AI, a Biology Student Support Community enhances the ability to address individual student needs, fostering a sense of belonging and engagement that is crucial for academic and social success. This project sets a new standard for virtual student support, making it highly relevant to institutions seeking to leverage technology for improved student outcomes. Community Design using the Community of Inquiry Framework The Biology online community was founded on the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework as a guiding social-constructivist theoretical framework, highlighting the importance of fostering deep and meaningful learning experiences through the development of three interconnected elements of a learning community: social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. - Cognitive Presence refers to “the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse” (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001) - Social presence refers to learners’ ability to “identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop interpersonal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities” (Garrison, 2009, p. 352) - Teaching Presence refers to “the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes” (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001) - Adapting the COI Framework to this project, a unique aspect of this project includes an emergent layer of AI Presence. AI presence refers to the ability of the AI-Assistant built into the community platform to link-within (community behaviors) to offer personalized and adaptive support to students and instructors. Project Design Methodology The project team emphasized the conceptualization, research, theoretical foundations, design strategies, and evaluation process, to implement an online student support community for first-year gateway students in Biology. Multiple evaluation methods were applied utilizing varied data sources that ranged from analysis of learning analytics, focus group interviews, student engagement surveys, faculty satisfaction questionnaires, and a content analysis of community posts. This allowed for both quantitative and qualitative measures to be examined. The Biology Community aims to enhance high-impact learning practices using technology to achieve key community goals: -Enhance Engagement and Belonging: Creating a welcoming online environment where students feel connected and supported. -Foster Peer-to-Peer Discourse: Encouraging meaningful academic discussions and mutual support among students. -Boost Learning Efficacy: Providing personalized learning paths and adaptive support to meet individual student needs. -Provide Personalized and Adaptive Support: Utilizing AI to offer customized recommendations and assistance based on each student's. Project Impact The launch and implementation of the online student support community have proven its strengths that combining in-class support with online student support can bring forth a stronger sense of help-seeking in coursework, build peer connectedness and belonging, instill greater learning efficacy to help students find resources to study and offer an accessible, affordable, inclusive, and equitable student support platform that is scalable over time. Through the integration of live online tutoring, peer-to-peer support, study groups, and faculty and undergraduate peer teaching assistants (UPTAs) have fostered a supportive peer-to-peer learning environment for Biology students. Feedback from students indicates that the platform helps them better understand course materials and fosters a sense of community, making them feel less isolated in their studies. Student feedback from the pilot showed the following positive trends: "Having a platform… class is extremely unique and makes me feel like I am not alone in the course." "It was great seeing other people ask the questions that I was too afraid to ask!" "InScribe makes me see that my peers are heard, making me feel reassured that if I ever need anything, I will be heard as well." "InScribe supported my learning by giving me easy access to help from others." Faculty feedback from the pilot showed the following positive trends as well: “Students have shared study resources they created and/or found with others and form study groups…” “One part I really like is that students have access to students outside of their current sections. This allows students to connect with those in their major or minor who might not be in their specific sections.” Undergraduate Teaching Assistant feedback from the pilot showed the following positive trends alongside the faculty: “Students felt more comfortable to ask questions. I've been a TA for chemistry a few times and we didn't have anything like this, and I feel that students were a bit more afraid or apprehensive to ask questions. It was also a good way for the TA to like interacting with the students. So I liked that it gave the students another form of communication with either the TA or the professor.” “I thought it was helpful that there were modules and in each of the modules were links to additional resources that students could click on and linked to InScribe.” As the online community is in its first year launch, it was important to extract patterns of posting behaviors in the community. We were interested in what students were posting about, how the community was supporting students, and how the instructors, teaching assistants, and the AI supported students. These questions drive indicators to different types of user behaviors, which can be mapped to the different types of presence we are trying to promote. A content analysis of community posts revealed several unique user behaviors categorized into themes and mapped to cognitive, social, teacher, or AI presence. Results indicate evidence of all four presences, with a greater prevalence of social presence among students. Engagement in the community showed students seeking help with course materials, setting affinity groups during the first week of class, common foodie interests, and checking in during the downtime. Challenges and Improvements Course materials affordability remains a top concern among college students. This project supports students with a model of affordable, inclusive, and equitable access to Biology course resources and the student support community on the first day of class via the online community. Despite its successes, the project has faced challenges, including low awareness and sustained engagement among some students. To address these issues, suggestions include more in-class demonstrations, assignments that require the use of InScribe, and better promotion of the platform's features. By implementing these improvements, the project aims to increase student participation and maximize the benefits of the AI-powered support system. Conclusion and Future Directions The success of the initial pilot has paved the way for broader application across the university. Future projects will focus on further scaling the platform, integrating additional engagement features, and extending support to more departments and courses. Continuous feedback and data-driven insights will guide ongoing improvements, ensuring that the Biology Community remains a vital resource for student success. Learning Outcomes from the Session Attendees will gain insights and practical takeaways from the presentation, including: -Understanding AI Integration: Knowledge of how AI can be integrated into student support systems to enhance engagement, peer discourse, learning efficacy, and personalized support. -Implementation Strategies: Strategies for implementing AI-powered support communities in their institutions, including best practices and common challenges. -Impact Assessment: Methods for assessing the impact of AI-driven student support on engagement, learning outcomes, and overall student satisfaction. -Scalability and Sustainability: Approaches to scaling AI-supported initiatives and ensuring long-term sustainability within educational institutions. Interactivity Plan The presentation will include interactive elements to engage the audience and provide a deeper understanding of the project: -Student Personas and Scenarios: Participants will work on personas from diverse backgrounds and challenges to identify support mechanisms and community-building activities to enhance the student experience. -Q&A Sessions: Interactive Q&A sessions will be held at multiple points during the presentation to address audience questions and encourage discussion. -Strategy Discussions: Attendees will be divided into small groups to brainstorm potential applications of AI for forming and sustaining online communities.