Perceived user experience and performance of intelligent personal assistants employed in higher education settings

The application of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) in the educational context is a relatively new paradigm. One of the key features of an intelligent personal assistant is the ability to respond to user voice input through natural language processing. Implementation of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) in higher education teaching process is associated with the students' adoption and satisfaction with IPAs. With the objective to explore students' experience and performance evaluation of IPAs on their smartphones, an empirical study was carried out. Data was gathered by means of post-use questionnaire after completed predefined scenario of interaction with two IPAs: Google Assistant and Lyra. The analysis of collected data uncovered pros and cons of IPAs perceived by students from two Croatian higher education institutions. Empirical findings are presented, whereas implications for educational ecosystem are briefly discussed.