Students’ perspectives of the use of Riff Bot AI tool to support the development of the skill of reflection within ECIS1102 Transition to Studying in Higher Education

Hutchins, Sarah (2025) Students’ perspectives of the use of Riff Bot AI tool to support the development of the skill of reflection within ECIS1102 Transition to Studying in Higher Education. In: University of Worcester Learning and Teaching Conference: Student Belonging at Worcester - Maximising Pastoral and Pedagogical Approaches for Building Success, 17th-18th June 2025, University of Worcester. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Background: This action research project was carried out in response to level 4 ECIS1102 23/24 ‘Closing the loop feedback’ in which students shared that they found capturing the self-thought processes of reflection difficult. Riff is an artificial intelligence reflection chat bot designed by Stanford University, USA. It has been piloted this academic year (2024/25) as an optional reflective thinking and writing tool. Riff can be programmed with scripted content linked to taught sessions. It uses these parameters to individually model reflection through reflective questions and reflective writing based on the students’ written responses within the App. Method: An interpretivist qualitative approach was employed to discover students’ perspectives of the use of Riff as an artificial intelligence tool to support their development of the skill of reflection. The research was framed by Antonovsky’s (1979) Sense of Coherence (SoC) Salutogenic framework which promotes the comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness of information for self-help and health promotion. A focus group was conducted during which students made notes on Post-it notes. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the students’ responses. Findings: Key themes from the data revealed student’s perceptions of reflection were connected to ‘self’, while artificial intelligence usage was linked to two domains ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of education. Conclusion: Insights from this research have opened a purposeful space in which to contemplate the usefulness of a Salutogenic approach in HE (Antonovsky, 1996). Students considered Riff a useful reflection tool for those who choose to engage with it. While students are digital natives the difference between students being technology-literate and information-literate needs to be further explored.

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