The syllabus answers most of what students ask, and most of them still ask.
Where it breaks down:
Students ask for dates, weights, and policies that are already in the syllabus.
Instructors and TAs answer by email, one at a time.
Questions spike before deadlines and exams.
The answers are needed most when staff are busiest.
Office hours change, and not everyone hears.
Students show up at the wrong time, or not at all.
We started with the course documents and one rule: the syllabus is the answer.
- Most of these questions have a factual answer that is already in the syllabus or on the course site.
- A student asking about a deadline wants a date, and a place to see it in writing.
- A policy question the documents don't cover is a question for the instructor.
The agent had to:
- Answer only from the course documents.
- Say plainly when something isn't in them.
- Put the official page in the student's hands when the call ends.
A RevAIvo Voice agent that answers syllabus and deadline questions from your course documents.
Answers from the syllabus
Due dates, exam logistics, grading weights, and policies, from the documents the instructor provides and keeps current.
Office hours and help sessions
Says when and where the instructor, the TAs, and help sessions meet.
Consent first
The first text carries the syllabus and office-hours page and asks the student to confirm they would like text updates for this course. Later texts go only to students who confirm.
Instructor for the rest
Anything the documents don't cover, or that needs a judgment, goes to the instructor as a callback request.
It brings in your instructor when…
Scoped narrow on purpose. Where you've set a number it can connect the caller; otherwise it logs a callback request for the instructor.
- The student asks for an extension or an exception to a policy.
- The question isn't covered by the course documents.
- The student asks about their grade.
- The student asks for a person.
What the call sounds like
When is the midterm, and what does it cover? Is it open book?
The midterm is on October 22nd, in the regular classroom, and it covers chapters 1 through 5. The syllabus says it's closed book, with one handwritten page of notes allowed.
Got it. When are Professor Marlowe's office hours?
Tuesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. in Room 214, and the TA runs a help session on Mondays at 6. When we hang up I'll text you the syllabus and the office-hours page. The text will also ask you to confirm you'd like text updates for this course, and I won't send more unless you do.
Thanks.
Sent after the call
Hi, this is the Hartwell College STAT 101 course line. Here are the syllabus and office hours: hartwell.example.org/stat101/syllabus. Tap to confirm you'd like text updates for this course: hartwell.example.org/stat101/texts. To stop texts at any time: hartwell.example.org/stop
Thanks for calling the STAT 101 course line. The syllabus, exam details, and office hours are here: hartwell.example.org/stat101/syllabus. For anything else, contact the department office at 555-0150.
The first text asks the student to confirm they would like text updates for this course. Later texts go only to students who confirm. Messages go out when the call ends, and the wording is illustrative.
What changes for your team
An illustrative scenario:
Say your team handles 300 syllabus and deadline questions a month, and the agent takes 40% of them end to end, at an assumed 5 minutes a call. These figures are assumptions for illustration, not customer results.
In a pilot we measure this with you, on your own calls in RevAIvo Pulse: calls connected, how each call ended, and how many needed a callback.
Routine syllabus and deadline questions answered the same way every time, at any hour, with the official page in the student's hands.
Your inbox and office hours kept for the questions that need you.