Revolutionising how you learn

With Syntea, the AI learning partner.

Cover all of your course materials

And get immediate answers to questions

With IU’s one-of-a-kind AI tutor.

Syntea: your personal AI tutor

Syntea is a unique AI-powered tool developed by IU International University of Applied Sciences, specifically for our students. Linked to the AI Learn app and available in all of our courses, Syntea is a first-of-its-kind AI tutor, offering you a new and exciting way of learning and practising new information.

Use Syntea, the AI tutor, to empower yourself and optimise your studies. Leverage the benefits of cutting-edge technological advancements before everyone else – artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs) and GPT – and you’ll not only learn better, but also be more prepared for working with these AI tools and other apps in the future, throughout your career.

Simply put, it gives a real competitive edge over other job-seekers. You benefit from studying in an innovative learning environment offered by IU – pioneers in AI-powered learning.

Think about it as a way of enhancing your studies and another tool in your belt. You can ask any question you have and get real-time feedback, and you can assess your exam readiness using the pre-assessment quiz.

What is an AI tutor?

As the name suggests, an AI tutor (also known as an AI teaching assistant or AI learning assistant) is an AI-powered instructor designed to provide students and learners with a teaching experience without a human teacher.

AI tutors - benefits for students

More accurate preparation for exams
The ability to work with sophisticated technology

Access to real-time feedback without waiting for a teacher
Learning support that matches individual needs

Having a private tutor without paying for one

The advancement of natural language processing technology has enabled these AI tutors to become better: more sophisticated, robust, and authoritative.

And yet, an AI tutor alone is not enough for students looking to develop their skills.

The presence and involvement of a human teacher is still required to ensure that the information given by the AI tutor is accurate, consistent, and helpful towards the desired learning outcomes - such as building practical skills for the workplace.

That's where Syntea comes in. It adds to your learning experience without replacing human teachers. All answers are monitored by our tutors to ensure accuracy, and the information it works with is 100% based on IU learning materials.

Curious? In this video, you'll get a short review of why Syntea is the future of online education.

How Syntea helps you study

With Syntea’s higher education chatbot features, you now have 24/7 access to tutor support. It’s a tool you and your tutors use to enhance and improve your learning experience, with immediate answers to your questions and your regular interaction with your teaching staff. That means you get feedback and can check your knowledge when and where you want, on your terms.

The benefits of using Syntea as your AI tutor:

Personalised
Available 24/7
Matches your personal learning style.

Main features

Here are the key current features of Syntea:

Q&A

You can ask Syntea any question related to the course content through the Course Feed or directly in the IU Learn app, through the Syntea widget. You’ll be given an answer and directed to the course book element where the answer was taken from so that you can expand your knowledge through it.

PreAssessment

The PreAssessment feature can be used in two different ways:

Testing your existing knowledge before you start a course to understand which units you should focus on.
Testing your knowledge before you take the final exam to understand what needs improving.

By leveraging state-of-the-art AI tools and natural language models, powered by Chat-GPT, Syntea’s PreAssessment feature uses video and audio to personalise your experience, and give you concrete suggestions for what you need to strengthen, highlight, and plan for as you advance in your course studies or prepare for the final exam.

Answer all of the PreAssessment questions and get a detailed summary of your correct and incorrect answers, to guide you as you plan your next study session. The AI tutor remembers which questions you couldn't answer, and it matches the knowledge level you develop as your learning progresses.

With a combination of single-choice, open-ended questions and multiple-choice questions, the PreAssessment feature is designed to be your source of truth throughout studying for each course. Want to get an honest assessment of your skills and progress before taking a test? Use Syntea and get real-time feedback.

How to access Syntea

Syntea is available only for IU students. If you currently study at IU, you can easily access Syntea via the desktop version of the IU Learn app. Go to any coursebook, and look for the chat bubble at the bottom right of the screen:

We're currently working on the mobile version of Syntea - expect to have it available soon!

Maximise your education with the help of IU’s innovative learning environment!

Coming soon: more Syntea features

Alongside the new mobile version, there's plenty more to come.

Did you know that IU has an entire team of developers dedicated to adding new features to Syntea, based on our students' needs and feedback?

Here's a sneak peek of what's coming up next!

Socratic teaching

The oldest documented teaching format - and still one of the most efficient ways to learn - is Socratic teaching. By having a dialogue with an instructor, students learn how to not only memorise learning material, but also understand, question, and challenge them.

Imagine getting into a debate with your university tutor whenever you want, 24/7, from anywhere. That's what this new feature will let you do: you'll be able to ask any question you want, and will be asked open-ended questions that help you learn through conversation.

Using Syntea as an IU student

Meet Parag Chitale, an MBA student at IU's Berlin campus. Parag has been using Syntea's AI tutor abilities since it was introduced to our study programmes, and here's how it helped him so far:

"Syntea helps me understand the course topics better by suggesting related questions that other students have also asked. Finding the relevant and right information from the course content is much easier with Syntea."

AI in education

The international higher education system has been experiencing major disruptions in recent years. With massive population growth in developing countries, and the challenges presented by global events since 2020, more and more students around the world are struggling to access quality university education.

Online universities like IU have been steadily bridging that gap, thanks to revolutionary online learning models, which offer flexible, affordable university education to students around the world.

With the breakthrough of AI technology we've seen in 2023, thanks to tools like Chat-GPT, the ability to bridge the educational gap is now significantly improved.

Students from around the world can now have not only an AI tutor - they have a whole world of tools at their disposal, helping them progress their skills, for free, at a pace they can decide.

Find out more about AI and education

One brunette woman and one blond woman using a tablet

How to Learn AI: The Ultimate 2023 Guide for Beginners

Dive into AI with our ultimate beginner's guide! From the basics of AI, ML, and Python to book and course recommendations, this detailed guide paves your path to mastering AI.

Attractive businesswoman using laptop in meeting

Best AI Tools for Students

In this comprehensive guide and list of the top 10 AI powered education tools, we will explore some of the best available AI in education tools, the benefits they offer, considerations when choosing AI tools, and future trends in AI for education.

AI at IU: a leader in global artificial intelligence education

Alongside its major benefits, the AI revolution also presents major potential obstacles to students. They need the right skills to succeed in a world where AI can do many things we thought only humans could do.

At IU, we look at this moment as a pivotal opportunity: our goal is to prepare each student to benefit from the AI revolution.

Here's how we do it:

Teaching AI degrees

IU stands at the forefront of global AI education: we've been selected as one of the top 10 universities in the world for learning AI.

We offer a wide range of AI-specific and related degrees, at both the Bachelor's and Master's levels:

In addition, we also offer an exclusive MBA programme specialising in Artificial Intelligence.

AI prompting taught in each programme

Even if you're not planning on a career in AI, learning how to work with AI tools is a crucial skill to develop.

That's why all of our study programmes, from business to marketing, offer courses in prompting for tools like Chat-GPT.

That way, you'll graduate with AI proficiency, no matter what you study - so you can future-proof your career.

FAQ

What is an AI tutor?: An AI tutor, also known as an AI teaching assistant or an AI learning assistant, is an AI powered tool designed to act like a human personal tutor. Thanks to access to either the entire internet, or in the case of Syntea, specific course books, and their conversational abilities, AI tutors help students learn better by providing feedback, support, lesson plans and other features.
What is the best AI tutor?: More and more AI tutors have been made available to the general public in recent years. However, not many of them offer a lot of added value when comparing them to Chat-GPT, for example. When choosing an AI tutor, you need to consider how its features match your specific needs. With Syntea, you get an AI tutor designed specifically to help you ace your studies at IU - and it free of charge for all of our students.
How will AI help me in my studies?: AI tutors help make education more accessible for everyone, by providing customised support for student needs at a very low price. Other AI tools help teachers meet the needs of each student by providing additional exam preparation, math instruction and overall just giving educators more options for helping any student who needs extra support. When used regularly, AI tutors can provide solutions to a lot of educational challenges.
How can I learn AI?: To learn how to work with artificial intelligence, you can either get a degree in computer science and specialise in AI, or study for a designated AI degree. You'll need to make sure that the degree you choose covers natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning algorithms, and is up to date when it comes to the latest AI technology.

Personal counselling

Have any questions?

Visit our FAQ page or get in touch with our Study Advisors. You can also find information about the application process under our Become a Student page.