And you were worried about MOOCs

From Inside Higher Ed: Georgia Tech Professor Used Robot as TA, May 9, 2016, Ashok Goel, a professor of computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology, gave his students an unusual lesson in an artificial intelligence course this semester. The Wall Street Journal reported that Goel used IBM's computer analytics programs to create a robot -- with the name of Jill Watson, in honor of the IBM Watson system -- to work as a teaching assistant in the course. Jill Watson prompted students about deadlines and provided information and encouragement in the online discussions for the course. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/05/09/georgia-tech-professor-used-robot-ta
Link to Wall St. Journal article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/if-your-teacher-sounds-like-a-robot-you-might-be-on-to-something-1462546621

It's been done before, sort of: