Building Chatbots: From Basics to Advanced Conversational Agents

Course Overview
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to chatbot development, covering the fundamentals and advanced concepts of creating conversational agents.
Participants will gain hands-on experience in building chatbots for various applications.

Learning Outcomes
Having passed the course, the students:
• understand the basics of chatbot development,
• develop chatbots and intelligent agents using the Blip platform,
• learn to integrate chatbots with external APIs and services,
• implement advanced conversational design principles,
• integrate intelligent features, such as natural language processing, into chatbots.

Course Content
The course covers the following topics:
1. Introduction to Chatbots
o Understanding the role and applications of chatbots
o Overview of different types of chatbots
o Introduction to Natural Language Processing (NLP) and its significance


2. Building Chatbots and Intelligent Agents
o Basics of conversational design
o Creating user-friendly conversational flows
o Integrating multimedia elements into chatbots
o Developing intelligent agents for specific applications


3. Integrating Chatbots with APIs and External Services

o Connecting chatbots to external APIs for enhanced functionality
o Implementing third-party integrations for a richer user experience
o Handling data securely in chatbot interactions


4. Advanced Conversational Design
o Designing multi-turn conversations
o Implementing context-aware chatbots
o Handling user interruptions and fallback strategies


5. Testing, Deployment, and Analytics with Blip
o Testing chatbots on different channels
o Deploying chatbots and monitoring analytics on the Blip platform

Instructional Method
Lectures, hands-on coding sessions using the Blip platform, and individual/group projects.

Required Course Materials
Participants will need a desktop/laptop.

Assessment
Project-based assessment to develop and present a functional chatbot and intelligent agent using the Blip platform. Online quizzes to evaluate understanding of chatbot development concepts.