UX · CONTENT · PERFORMANCE · AI

AI Search - Ask Glen

From keyword chaos to conversational clarity

On this page:

• Overview
• My Role
• The Problem
• Process & Research
• The Insight
• The Solution
• Key Experience Features
• Impact on students and the institution
• Post-Launch Outcomes (Concept Phase)
• Future Opportunity

Overview

Holmesglen students were searching over 147,000 times a year, yet many weren’t finding what they needed. Long alphabetical lists, vague labels, and “no results” dead ends created unnecessary friction at moments when students needed clarity the most - enrolment, fees, pathways, support.

Instead of restructuring menus yet again, we reframed the problem:

What if finding support felt more like talking to someone who understands?

This led to Ask Glen, a conversational AI search concept that interprets intent, not just keywords, and helps students get to answers faster.

My Role

• UX & content lead
• Search-behaviour analysis
• Experience redesign & concept development
• Information architecture and intent modelling
• AI opportunity identification & ethical considerations
• Stakeholder engagement
• Strategic recommendation to guide future implementation

The Problem

Students weren’t struggling because information was missing.

They were struggling because the path to that information wasn’t intuitive.

Key issues identified:

• Heavy reliance on keyword-perfect queries
• Alphabetical lists slowing decision-making
• Content mismatches leading to “no results” frustration
• Student needs expressed in natural, human language, not keyword strings
• High demand for guidance on pathways, fees, support, and life admin

The insight was clear:

Traditional search wasn’t built for the way students communicate now.

Process & Research

I combined search analytics, live query reviews, and student behaviour patterns.

This revealed three consistent realities:

1. Students describe goals, not keywords.

(“I want to work with animals”, “How do I calculate my GPA?”, “What are my options if I fail a unit?”)

2. They expect search to infer context and intent.

Not to match words literally.

3. Teams need better insight into real questions.

Not just the terms students typed.

The Insight

Reorganising links wouldn’t solve the underlying issue, because the problem wasn’t the structure.

It was an interpretation.

Students needed a system that could:

• Recognise intent
• Understand natural language
• Interpret context
• Guide the student forward, not stop at “no results”

And teams needed a clearer window into what students were really asking.

The opportunity was not a new menu.

It was a new model of support discovery.

The Solution

Ask Glen - a conversational search layer that speaks human.

Ask Glen is an AI-led search experience designed to:

• Understand natural language questions
• Interpret user intent using structured pathways
• Provide guided responses rather than dead ends
• Offer relevant, concise next steps
• Help Holmesglen teams understand emerging needs

It sits alongside, not instead of, traditional search, creating a hybrid model that supports all types of users.

Where search requires perfect phrasing, Ask Glen adapts to how students think, ask, and decide.

Key Experience Features

• Intent-based understanding

Goes beyond keywords to interpret meaning (“I want to change courses”, “I can’t log in”, “What is Free TAFE?”).

• Guided, human-centred responses

Clear steps, links, and options, not long lists.

• Reduced friction for common tasks

Fees, enrolment, pathways, support, and login help.

• Insight engine for teams

Surfaced trends that inform content, comms, and service design.

Impact on Students & the Institution

For students

• Faster paths to the right information
• Fewer “no results” frustrations
• More supportive, conversational guidance
• A search experience that feels human, not mechanical

For teams

• Clearer insight into student needs and pain points
• Stronger feedback loops for content and service improvement
• A foundational step toward ethical, human-centred AI in education

Post-Launch Outcomes (Concept Phase)

While Ask Glen was delivered as a strategic concept, it provided Holmesglen with:

• A clear roadmap for AI-enhanced search
• Structured intent categories for future implementation
• An ethical model for AI use in student digital support
• Evidence-based justification for investment in conversational search

Future Opportunity

Ask Glen can evolve into a broader student support fabric, including:

• Integrated help across key pages
• Multi-intent routing (academic, admin, wellbeing)
• Analytics that inform service design
• Multilingual support
• Voice-ready future extensions

Ask Glen is not a replacement for search - it’s an evolution.

A more intuitive, more human step forward in digital self-service.