In higher education, cognitive overload is a growing concern, as students face increasing demands to assimilate large volumes of information across various subjects. This challenge is particularly evident in TBL, where student preparedness is critical for successful participation in classroom activities such as individual and team readiness assurance tests (iRAT and tRAT) and complex application exercises. To address this, we have developed an AI-chatbot or “bot” for the Year 1 Physician Associate (PA) Master students, who face the pressures of cognitive overload, as they are on a fast track to completing a clinical programme in two years. Consequently, our students are resistant to the flipped classroom approach and do not engage well with the preparatory materials or readiness assurance tests. The purpose of the “bot” was to take on the persona of an AI-tutor which could help students clarify their understanding of complex pre-class study material. This could decrease the cognitive load and help learners come better prepared to engage with in-class activities in TBL.

The “bot” was integrated into an online learning platform (LAMS), which is used to deliver TBL at our institution. The assigned learning materials in word or pdf format were incorporated into the “bot” interface. Each student could interact (chat) with the “bot”, in their own time prior to the start of the TBL lesson, asking questions and explanations about the learning content or even creating simple multiple-choice questions to test their knowledge. In this way the “bot” provided students with a personalised learning experience. The “bot” kept students focussed on learning key concepts, through active participation with the directed study material. The integration of the “bot” into the LAMS platform, precluded students from having to search the internet for information, thus saving time and effort and increasing their “germane load”.