Rule-Based Adaptive Chatbot on WhatsApp for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learning Style Detection
Abstract
Adapting learning methods to individual learning styles remains a major challenge in digital education due to the static nature of traditional questionnaires and the absence of adaptive feedback mechanisms. This study aimed to develop a rule-based adaptive WhatsApp chatbot capable of automatically identifying users’ learning styles, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, through a weighted questionnaire enhanced with probabilistic refinement. The proposed system introduces an adaptive decision framework that dynamically manages conversation flow using score dominance evaluation, early termination, and selective question expansion. Bayesian posterior probability estimation is employed to strengthen decision confidence in borderline cases, ensuring consistent and interpretable results even when user responses are ambiguous. The chatbot was implemented using WhatsApp-web.js and MongoDB, supported by session validation and activity log monitoring to ensure operational reliability and data integrity. System validation involved white-box testing using Cyclomatic Complexity to verify logical accuracy and 20-fold cross-validation using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) to evaluate classification performance. The adaptive model achieved an accuracy of 80.2% and an AUC of 0.902, supported by a balanced precision (0.738), recall (0.662), and F1-score (0.698). These results demonstrate stable discriminative capability and confirm that the adaptive scoring mechanism effectively reduces redundant questioning, lowers cognitive load, and improves interaction efficiency without compromising reliability. In conclusion, the study successfully achieved its objective of developing an adaptive, efficient, and mathematically transparent learning style detection system. The findings confirm that adaptive rule-based logic reinforced by probabilistic reasoning can significantly enhance the efficiency and reliability of digital learning assessments. Future research will extend this framework by incorporating multimodal behavioral indicators and personalized learning content to further strengthen adaptive learning support
Downloads
References
P. Jalali et al., “Performance of 7 Artificial Intelligence Chatbots on Board-style Endodontic Questions,” J Endod, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.JOEN.2025.06.014.
T. Debets, S. K. Banihashem, D. Joosten-Ten Brinke, T. E. J. Vos, G. Maillette de Buy Wenniger, and G. Camp, “Chatbots in education: A systematic review of objectives, underlying technology and theory, evaluation criteria, and impacts,” Comput Educ, vol. 234, p. 105323, Sep. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.COMPEDU.2025.105323.
L. Labadze, M. Grigolia, and L. Machaidze, “Role of AI chatbots in education: systematic literature review,” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 56, 2023, doi: 10.1186/s41239-023-00426-1.
R. Guan, M. Raković, G. Chen, and D. Gašević, “How educational chatbots support self-regulated learning? A systematic review of the literature,” Educ Inf Technol (Dordr), vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 4493–4518, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s10639-024-12881-y.
N. Knoth, C. Hahnel, and M. Ebersbach, “Promoting online evaluation skills through educational chatbots,” Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, vol. 4, p. 100160, May 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.CHBAH.2025.100160.
W. Qiu et al., “A Systematic Approach to Evaluate the Use of Chatbots in Educational Contexts: Learning Gains, Engagements and Perceptions,” Computers, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 270, Jul. 2025, doi: 10.3390/computers14070270.
A. Makhambetova, N. Zhiyenbayeva, and E. Ergesheva, “Personalized learning strategy as a tool to improve academic performance and motivation of students,” International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, vol. 16, no. 6, 2021, doi: 10.4018/IJWLTT.286743.
T. Hussain, L. Yu, M. Asim, A. Ahmed, and M. A. Wani, “Enhancing E-Learning Adaptability with Automated Learning Style Identification and Sentiment Analysis: A Hybrid Deep Learning Approach for Smart Education,” Information (Switzerland), vol. 15, no. 5, May 2024, doi: 10.3390/info15050277.
F. M. Córdova, F. Cifuentes, H. Diaz, C. Castro, and C. Hinostroza, “Customer behavior in e-commerce purchase from learning style,” Procedia Comput Sci, vol. 214, no. C, pp. 851–858, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.1016/J.PROCS.2022.11.251.
S. Satıcı, Y. Saçlı, N. Bal, A. A. Çiprut, A. C. Yumuşakhuylu, and Ç. Batman, “The effects of learning styles and attention control on P300 test in young adults,” Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology, vol. 41, no. 1, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1186/s43163-025-00786-7.
B. A. Muhammad, C. Qi, Z. Wu, and H. K. Ahmad, “An evolving learning style detection approach for online education using bipartite graph embedding,” Appl Soft Comput, vol. 152, p. 111230, Feb. 2024, doi: 10.1016/J.ASOC.2024.111230.
B. Bazán-Perkins and J. A. Santibañez-Salgado, “Relationship between the learning gains and learning style preferences among students from the school of medicine and health sciences,” BMC Med Educ, vol. 25, no. 1, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06554-0.
A. Iku-Silan, G. J. Hwang, and C. H. Chen, “Decision-guided chatbots and cognitive styles in interdisciplinary learning,” Comput Educ, vol. 201, p. 104812, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1016/J.COMPEDU.2023.104812.
B. Alsafari, E. Atwell, A. Walker, and M. Callaghan, “Towards effective teaching assistants: From intent-based chatbots to LLM-powered teaching assistants,” Natural Language Processing Journal, vol. 8, p. 100101, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.nlp.2024.100101.
M. Romero-Charneco, A. M. Casado-Molina, P. Alarcón-Urbistondo, and J. P. Cabrera Sánchez, “Customer intentions toward the adoption of WhatsApp chatbots for restaurant recommendations,” Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 784–816, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1108/JHTT-01-2024-0024.
A. R. Sayed, M. H. Khafagy, M. Ali, and M. H. Mohamed, “Exploring the VAK model to predict student learning styles based on learning activity,” Intelligent Systems with Applications, vol. 25, p. 200483, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.ISWA.2025.200483.
C. S. González-González, V. Muñoz-Cruz, P. A. Toledo-Delgado, and E. Nacimiento-García, “Personalized Gamification for Learning: A Reactive Chatbot Architecture Proposal,” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.3390/s23010545.
H. A. El-Sabagh, “Adaptive e-learning environment based on learning styles and its impact on development students’ engagement,” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 53, 2021, doi: 10.1186/s41239-021-00289-4.
Y. Roza, I. D. Id, Y. Andriyani, R. Kurniawan, and A. Adnan, “Toward Precision on Evaluation: Hierarchical Weighting-Based Assessment on Implementation of Outcome-Based Curriculum,” Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 53–72, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.46303/jcsr.2025.11.
Y. P. Valencia Usme, M. Normann, I. Sapsai, J. Abke, A. Madsen, and G. Weidl, “Learning Style Classification by Using Bayesian Networks Based on the Index of Learning Style,” in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, Jun. 2023, pp. 73–82. doi: 10.1145/3593663.3593685.
A. Pavone, A. Merlo, S. Kwak, and J. Svensson, “Machine learning and Bayesian inference in nuclear fusion research: an overview,” May 01, 2023, Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1088/1361-6587/acc60f.
R. Wang, Y. Zhang, L. Yu, J. Antoni, Q. Leclère, and W. Jiang, “A probability model with Variational Bayesian Inference for the complex interference suppression in the acoustic array measurement,” Mech Syst Signal Process, vol. 191, May 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.110181.
F. Rasheed and A. Wahid, “Learning style detection in E-learning systems using machine learning techniques,” Expert Syst Appl, vol. 174, Jul. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.eswa.2021.114774.
D. Honfi and Z. Micskei, “Automated isolation for white-box test generation,” Inf Softw Technol, vol. 125, p. 106319, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.1016/J.INFSOF.2020.106319.
L. Lavazza, A. Z. Abualkishik, G. Liu, and S. Morasca, “An empirical evaluation of the ‘Cognitive Complexity’ measure as a predictor of code understandability,” Journal of Systems and Software, vol. 197, p. 111561, Mar. 2023, doi: 10.1016/J.JSS.2022.111561.
D. Chakraborty, F. Foucaud, and A. Hakanen, “Distance-based (and path-based) covering problems for graphs of given cyclomatic number,” Discrete Math, vol. 348, no. 11, p. 114595, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.DISC.2025.114595.
A. Polański, A. Roman, and J. Zelek, “Optimal solutions for variants of graph coverage-related problems in software test design,” Expert Syst Appl, vol. 277, p. 127216, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.ESWA.2025.127216.
J. Lee, S. Kang, and P. Jung, “Test coverage criteria for software product line testing: Systematic literature review,” Inf Softw Technol, vol. 122, p. 106272, Jun. 2020, doi: 10.1016/J.INFSOF.2020.106272.
U. Atasever, F. L. Huang, and L. Rutkowski, “Reassessing weights in large-scale assessments and multilevel models,” Large Scale Assess Educ, vol. 13, no. 1, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1186/s40536-025-00245-y.
B. Bazán-Perkins and J. A. Santibañez-Salgado, “Relationship between the learning gains and learning style preferences among students from the school of medicine and health sciences,” BMC Med Educ, vol. 25, no. 1, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06554-0.
M. A. Kuhail, N. Alturki, S. Alramlawi, and K. Alhejori, “Interacting with educational chatbots: A systematic review,” Educ Inf Technol (Dordr), vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 973–1018, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.1007/s10639-022-11177-3.
H. Y. Ayyoub and O. S. Al-Kadi, “Learning Style Identification Using Semisupervised Self-Taught Labeling,” IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, vol. 17, pp. 1093–1106, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TLT.2024.3358864.
S. Qazi et al., “AI-Driven Learning Management Systems: Modern Developments, Challenges and Future Trends during the Age of ChatGPT,” Computers, Materials and Continua, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 3289–3314, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.32604/CMC.2024.048893.
M. D. Abdulrahaman et al., “Multimedia tools in the teaching and learning processes: A systematic review,” Heliyon, vol. 6, no. 11, p. e05312, Nov. 2020, doi: 10.1016/J.HELIYON.2020.E05312.
A. Kathole, S. Patil, Dr. D. Jadhav, H. Pathak, and A. S. Mirge, “Development of student intent-based educational chatbot system with adaptive and attentive DTCN on symmetric convolution approach,” MethodsX, vol. 15, p. 103542, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1016/J.MEX.2025.103542.
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad rahulil, Yuni Yamasari, Ricky Eka Putra, I made Suartana, Anita Qoiriah

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlikel 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).


.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)