The FAQs

Students can access the appropriate SELBot for their grade level and ask the SELBot any questions they may have around social or emotional issues. SELBot will provide feedback and strategies to the students. Here is how a conversation with SELBot might go:

• • • SELBot: What can I help you with
    • 5th Grade Student: I have no friends.
    • SELBot: I’m sorry to hear that you’re feeling this way. Making friends can sometimes be challenging, but remember that you are a unique and wonderful person. Try reaching out to others who share similar interests or hobbies and don’t be afraid to be yourself. Building friendships takes time, so be patient and keep being friendly and kind.
    • Student: How can I make friends?
    • SELBot: You can make friends by being yourself and showing interest in others. Try joining clubs or activities where you can meet people with similar interests. Be friendly, kind and open-minded and don’t be afraid to initiate conversations and invite others to hand out.
    • Student: How do I initiate conversations?
    • SELBot: You can initiate conversations by starting with a friendly greeting like “Hi” or “Hello”. Ask open-ended questions to show interest in the other person such as, “What do you like to do for fun?” or “Tell me about your favorite hobbies”. Remember to listen actively and respond with genuine curiosity and kindness.

Your school could integrate SELBot into your student support framework in several ways:

• Supplemental Resource: SELBot can serve as an additional resource for students seeking guidance on sensitive or personal topics. It complements existing counseling services by providing immediate, accessible support.
• Anonymous Support: Students who might be hesitant to discuss their concerns face-to-face might find it easier to ask SELBot their questions. 
• Education and Awareness: Schools can use SELBot to educate students on various social and emotional topics, helping them understand emotions, coping mechanisms, conflict resolution, and more.
• 24/7 Availability: Unlike traditional counseling services, SELBot is can be available round the clock, allowing students to seek support at any time, even outside school hours. They are not receiving counseling support from SELBot, but they can get their questions answered any time they need. 
• Parental Involvement: Schools can involve parents by providing information about SELBot and how it supports their children. This could facilitate conversations at home about social and emotional well-being.
• Integration into Curriculum: Teachers might incorporate SELBot as part of lessons on emotional intelligence or as a resource for specific projects or discussions related to social issues. They can bring SELBot up on their boards and talk to it together as a whole class and use the feedback as discussion starters.

SELBot does not capture or store any personally identifiable information. What IS captured are the questions asked and the answers given. If a school decides that they DO want capture more information, we can create a separate version of SELBot, specifically for the school, that conforms to their privacy and confidentiality requirements.

While all the interactions with students are reviewed by the team at SELBot AI, we do not make that information available to the general public. It is only used internally to improve the answers that SELBot provides. If a school opts for a custom version of SELBot, that information can be made available.

SELBot can provide a wide range of support and suggestions that align with any of CASEL’s five (5) competencies including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. The data that was used in training SELBot was specifically informed by those competencies.

SELBot’s content customization is the result of collaboration with a licensed professional counselor and current school counselor and is designed to be responsiveto students’ emotional needs. The platform offers multiple versions thoughtfully crafted to cater to diverse maturity levels across various grade levels. Each version provides nuanced responses and tailored support that aligns with the emotional maturity and comprehension of students at different stages of their academic journey. Further, each version of SELBot uses AI to craft answers that are easily understandable by specific age-groups.

Yes.

The standard, public version of SELBot is not monitored in real-time. There is periodic review of questions and answers that is used to improve the training of SELBot. The capability exists to transfer active sessions to a human counselor, but that requires a customized version of SELBot that is specific to a particular school or district. We have considered building a staff to handle that, but there is no plan for it, today.

The standard, public version of SELBot is not monitored in real-time. The capability exists to transfer active sessions to a human counselor, but that requires a customized version of SELBot that is specific to a particular school or district.

Any device that can access a web page can access SELBot.

We review all interactions on a weekly basis and retrain SELBot, as needed. The knowledgebase behind SELBot is constantly being improved.