Remi to the rescue? Faculty member wins grant to develop chatbot for new teachers
When student teachers at Cal State Long Beach need emergency help — classroom tech fails, a lesson plan flops, or a question feels too dumb to ask — they may soon have a powerful new ally: a friendly chatbot named Remi.
Associate Professor Heather Macías is developing a so-called Beach Teach chatbot to support new teachers when they can’t or don’t want to reach out to a mentor. Her proposal to build it out was one of 63 recently funded across the California State University system through the inaugural .
The chair of Teacher Education at ɫ hails Macías’ project as a potentially transformative tool in classroom preparation because it offers students 24/7 support in countless different ways.
Macías just wanted to relieve some of the stress teachers feel at the beginning of their careers.
“We have a lot of conversations about wanting our student teachers to thrive and not just survive,” Macías said.
The “Beach Teach” chatbot draws from a curated set of resources — articles, videos, guides and university websites — compiled by Macías. It helps answer a range of questions, from instructional strategies to program logistics to professional communication tips.
The chatbot’s mascot, Remi, is named after remora fish, which attach themselves to other sea creatures including sharks. Elbee the shark is a ɫ mascot.
The $21,000 CSU AI Teaching and Learning Innovation grant Macías received will help fund stipends for an advisory board of students and university mentors from the College of Education’s Multiple Subject and Single Subject credential programs.
Their input will help ensure the chatbot reflects the real needs and experiences of student teachers across different subjects and grade levels.
Another portion of the grant will support faculty “buyout” time in the spring, giving Macías dedicated hours to refine and expand the chatbot’s knowledge base with additional contributions.
Macías plans to pilot Beach Teach with a small number of student teachers this fall and fully launch it in spring 2026. She envisions the chatbot continuing to serve them into their first year of full-time teaching — a notoriously difficult period with limited support.
The chatbot’s design also serves a secondary goal: modeling ethical and responsible use of AI. Macías has struggled with the ethical and environmental implications of artificial intelligence but knows it’s here to stay.
“AI is not going away, and it’s our job to prepare students to use AI properly so that they can then teach their students how to use AI properly,” she said.
Macías got the idea for her chatbot at a conference that explored potential uses of artificial intelligence to support educators.
Macías got to thinking: What do student teachers struggle with? When are they struggling? And how can we help them so there is one less thing they have to stress about?
Only after that did Macías learn about the CSU AI challenge and successfully submit her idea for funding. Now that she has won the grant, she has to make Beach Teach work, Macías quipped.
Early tests of the chatbot have produced good results, she said.
“It blows my mind,” Estella Chizhik, chair of Teacher Education at ɫ, said of Macías’ project. “I didn’t know an individual could create a chatbot. I thought you needed to be a billionaire.”
Chizhik described today as a pivotal moment in education — one where educators are not just using technology but actively creating it. Macías’ project is great for pre-service teachers because university supervisors and other mentors are not always immediately available to address a question, concern or crisis.
"There are tons of questions, there are tons of concerns, there are tons of wonderings that teacher candidates have throughout the day, every day,” Chizhik said. “This chatbot gives them the agency to ask those questions in real time."
The chatbot also promises to give student teachers the language and knowledge they need to engage in difficult conversations and to advocate for themselves respectfully and confidently, said Nina Wooldridge, Director of ɫ’s Single Subject Credential Program.
“I think it’s OK to question what we hear when something doesn’t feel right, to say, ‘Hey, that doesn’t make sense to me. I’m wondering why this is the case and what might be a different approach,’” Wooldridge said. “But sometimes our students don’t know how to ask those questions or use research to challenge problematic practices as an advocate for students and society. This resource empowers students to empower themselves.”
The CSU received more than 400 grant proposals and funded 63. Macías’ project was one of four ɫ ones selected for a grant.
“CSU faculty and staff aren’t just adopting AI — they are reimagining what it means to teach, learn and prepare students for an AI-infused world,” Nathan Evans, CSU deputy vice chancellor of academic and student affairs and chief academic officer, said in a about the grant awards.
“The number of funded projects underscores the CSU’s strong commitment to innovation and academic excellence.”
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Macías has always shown commitment to innovation and excellence as a university mentor in the credential program, Wooldridge said. With the chatbot, she said, Macías is showing the College of Education that it must embrace the technological changes on the horizon.
“We can’t merely say, ‘Oh, I don’t like AI or chatbots,’” Wooldridge said. “Let’s talk about how to use them in a way that helps us better serve the kids in our care as we engage in our work effectively and efficiently. By design, that’s what Heather’s innovative chatbot is doing.”
Chizhik likened AI to a machete. In the wrong hands, it can do a lot of damage. In the right ones, it can help accomplish a lot of important things.
“So, we need to be able to train people, to teach people, to prepare people to use this tool effectively — hopefully for good and not for bad," she said.
