Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Chatbots for Education: A Survey of Applications

Title: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Chatbots for Education: A Survey of Applications
Authors: Jakub Swacha; Michał Gracel
Venue: Applied Sciences
Year: 2025
Canonical: doi:10.3390/app15084234
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/app15084234
Collector: openalex
OA: true

ABSTRACT
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) overcomes the main barrier for the adoption of LLM-based chatbots in education: hallucinations. The uncomplicated architecture of RAG chatbots makes it relatively easy to implement chatbots that serve specific purposes and thus are capable of addressing various needs in the educational domain. With five years having passed since the introduction of RAG, the time has come to check the progress attained in its adoption in education. This paper identifies 47 papers dedicated to RAG chatbots’ uses for various kinds of educational purposes, which are analyzed in terms of their character, the target of the support provided by the chatbots, the thematic scope of the knowledge accessible via the chatbots, the underlying large language model, and the character of their evaluation.