Currently, more than every fourth student entering a Brazilian academic education will exit without a degree. A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool allows universities to spot potential dropouts early on and thereby hopefully bring the numbers down. Behind the solution is the young company Lanse, established with assistance from RNP, the national research and education network (NREN) of Brazil.
According to the Ministry of Education, 9.9 million students were enrolled at Brazilian universities by 2023. The same year, the level of dropouts for courses with physical attendance was 26.4%. For online courses the level was even higher, 40.1%.
To address the complex scenario, a group of scientists based at the Federal University of Santa Catarina began developing a tool that would assist in gathering data on the problem. Assistance from RNP allowed the team to broaden the scope of the tool. To further advance these efforts, the startup company Lanse was born.
Began as a scientific project
Lanse is also the name of the platform, which universities can use to anticipate risk of dropouts and act before they lose their students. So far, four universities use Lanse.
“From the development of a plugin tool which allows the professor to identify the students that are skipping exercises, we initiated research into identifying risks of having to go through reexaminations. Then, RNP got involved at some point. Here, the project progressed into the creation of a product,” says Vinicius Ramos, coordinating development at Lanse.
The team obtained support from the RNP program for advanced services research, development and innovation in 2021. A working group was set up with the purpose of creating a solution that would identify dropout risk using AI and other tools.
Identifying students in need of help
During the period of participation in the program, it transpired that the tool could also be the basis of a business model for a startup company. The participation from RNP was instrumental in transforming the scientific project into a digital product, explains Rafael Targino, CEO at Lanse:
“The participation from RNP led to the formation of a permanent team, which in turn was fundamental for developing a product. RNP also contributed with experience and provided mentoring and input regarding startups and entrepreneurship.”
Using AI, Lanse can analyze online participation, physical attendance, and other student activities. From this information, the tool generates reliable estimates of those who need help. Further, related details that assist the institution in taking prophylactic measures will be given.
Reducing the sentiment of solitude
At the four universities currently using Lanse, more than 5,000 students are monitored. Besides the benefits for students, the platform contributes to augmenting the engagement of professors.
The idea is to extend the solution even further, using generative AI which may provide students with personalized answers, also identifying questions of social or financial nature and forwarding these to the relevant entities at the institutions.
“A remote learning student is a student who is very much alone. We can minimize this sentiment of solitude, being in the shadows, through personalized messages. We are quite successful when it comes to including students in the process, and raising their engagement,” Rafael Targino concludes.
The text is inspired by the article “Startup cria solução que usa IA para reduzir a evasão no ensino superior” (in Portuguese) at the RNP website.
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