What Walter AI is, plus a full demo walkthrough of it in action.
What is Walter AI?
Walter AI is Noodle Factory's intelligent AI tutor, designed to support learners 24/7 using Boston University's own course content. Instead of giving generic chatbot answers, it uses your uploaded materials, learning outcomes, and lesson structure to guide students step by step — running practice quizzes, facilitating role-play scenarios, and integrating directly into Blackboard.
AI-Powered
Understands your course content
LMS Ready
Integrates directly with Blackboard
Role Play & Quizzes
Guided practice with instant feedback
Analytics
Track learner engagement & gaps
Multilingual
Supports 140+ languages
Demo Walkthrough
Demo walkthrough: a recorded, end-to-end walk-through of setting up Walter AI — use it alongside the checklist on the next tab.
Track your rollout step by step — progress is saved automatically.
Pick a use case to see exactly where to find it and how to set it up.
Role Play
Simulate real-world conversations so students practice before it counts.
Activities tab → Create Role Play- Go to the Activities tab in the left panel of the Admin Portal.
- Click Create Role Play.
- Describe the AI Assistant's role and the learner's role.
- Write (or use AI-Assist for) a scenario description — you can link supporting documents.
- Set skills assessment criteria: what's being evaluated, a description, and an optional score.
- Optionally add a custom avatar for each role.
- Test it: in Learner View, type "role play," pick the scenario, and confirm to begin.
Quizzes
Auto-generate quizzes and instant feedback straight from your own course content.
Activities tab → Create a Quiz- Go to the Activities tab in the left panel of the Admin Portal.
- Click Create a Quiz.
- Choose a quiz type: conversational, one-question-at-a-time, or show-all.
- Choose a question source: generate from documents, pull from a question bank, import a test, or import from an integrated source.
- Pick question types — multiple choice, checkbox, bullet, table, short answer, or essay.
- Optional: turn it into a Conversational Quiz for a back-and-forth format instead of a static test.
Essay
Grade written responses consistently with AI-assisted, rubric-based scoring.
- Add an Essay question type inside a Quiz Activity (Activities tab).
- Turn on rubric-based grading for that question.
- Pick a rubric format: description-only, or a full breakdown with per-criterion max scores.
- Write specific, concrete rubric criteria — this is what keeps AI grading consistent.
- Review learner submissions and the AI's suggested feedback before releasing grades.
Deep Linking
Let instructors drop a Tutor, a specific Quiz, or a specific Role Play straight into a Blackboard page — not just one generic chat link.
What's the Activity Chooser?
When an instructor adds a "Walter AI Activity" content item in Blackboard, a picker called the Activity Chooser pops up. Instead of always linking to the general Walter AI Tutor chat, the instructor can choose exactly what that link opens:
| Choice | Opens for the student |
|---|---|
| Walter AI Tutor | Open-ended tutoring/Q&A — the general chat experience. |
| Specific Knowledge Group | Launches the Tutor scoped to just one Knowledge Group, so answers stay focused on that topic's material only. |
| Specific Quiz | Launches directly into one chosen quiz, skipping any menu. |
| Specific Role Play | Launches directly into one chosen role-play scenario. |
General Tutor vs. Specific Knowledge Group vs. Quick Help
Inside the Activity Chooser, the Walter AI Tutor section actually offers a few different scopes to link to — pick based on how focused you want the conversation to be. Note: the top-level "General Tutor" option is temporarily missing from the Activity Chooser while our dev team restores it. It's coming back, but the guidance below already applies.
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| General Tutor | Links to the full Walter AI Tutor with access to every Knowledge Group in the course. Best for one general help button — e.g. on a course homepage — when you don't want to scope students to a single topic. |
| Specific Knowledge Group | Links directly into that one Knowledge Group. Best when you're embedding help on a specific module or topic page and want answers scoped to just that material, with no risk of the AI pulling in unrelated chapters. Heads up: because it's already scoped to a topic, Walter AI may start tutoring on it right away instead of sitting idle like a general chatbot waiting for a question — expected behavior, not a bug. |
| Quick Help | Links to a quick chat for asking anything about the course or a topic — no lesson or Knowledge Group attached. Best when students just need to confirm or ask about information, rather than work through a full lesson. |
Adding one in Blackboard
- (Faculty, per course) In your course, go to Build Content (Original course view) or Content Market (Ultra course view).
- Select Walter AI - Activity Chooser.
- In the Activity Chooser that appears, pick Walter AI Tutor, Specific Knowledge Group, Specific Quiz, or Specific Role Play.
- Save and publish — the link now sits exactly where you placed it in the course, opening exactly what you chose.
Troubleshooting
The issues that come up most — usually a settings tweak, not a rebuild.
| Issue | What's happening | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Doesn't stick to course content / Answers are too long | The AI answers from general knowledge instead of staying inside the uploaded materials, or responses read like essays when students just wanted a quick answer. | Both are persona-level tweaks (e.g. an explicit instruction like "only answer using the uploaded course materials" or "keep answers short unless asked to go deeper"), and it's not something course teams can adjust themselves from the Admin Portal — reach out to Noodle Factory and we'll tune the persona for you. |
| Answers before being asked | Students see Walter AI jump straight into tutoring on a topic instead of waiting quietly for a question — this isn't random, it happens when the link used was to a Specific Knowledge Group rather than General Tutor or Quick Help, so the AI is already scoped to that topic and starts guiding right away. | If you want a plain, wait-for-a-question experience instead, link to general Walter AI Tutor. |
What is Agent Persona?
Agent Persona is a natural-language description of how Walter AI should behave — tone, response length, boundaries, and personality. It's the first place to look whenever the AI's tone, scope, or verbosity feels off.
Boston University currently has a set of existing personas that course teams can pick from directly in the Admin Portal. Tuning or writing the actual persona instructions — tightening scope, shortening responses, or anything more custom — isn't self-service; that's done on Noodle Factory's side, so just let us know what you need.
Common questions from faculty and students — click a question to expand it.
The honest answer for when a student asks "why not just use ChatGPT?" Students already have general AI tools, and that's fine — Walter AI isn't trying to compete with that. The difference is what it's built on and what it actually does for them:
Aligned to This Course
Answers come from the actual course materials, learning outcomes, and lesson structure — not a generic internet answer that may not match how it's taught here.
Proactively Guides
Rather than a blank chat box waiting for questions, it can point students to the right quiz, role play, or Knowledge Group — actively steering their study instead of just responding to it.
Visible Progress
Learner Insights surfaces engagement and knowledge gaps, so both students and instructors can see where extra practice is actually needed.
Learner Insights
A dashboard showing how students are actually engaging — completion, quiz performance, and where the class is struggling — so the value isn't just a promise, it's visible.
Illustrative mockup — based on the actual Walter AI Insights dashboard
Total Questions Asked
525
Quiz Submissions
19
Role Play Submissions
24
Learner Overview
Progress Highlights
Completed Part 1 on bonding and structure
Completed Part 2 on kinetics concepts
Showing persistence by starting core topics
Recommendations
Review notes from Parts 1–2 and write 3 key ideas
Start Part 3 and complete just the first section
Insights
"You've made a solid start by finishing the first two parts of the course... Focusing on one small task at a time will help you keep moving forward."
Learner Progress
| Name | Progress | Feedback |
|---|---|---|
| Science and Engineering | In Progress | — |
| Part 1: Bonding, Structure and Defects | Completed | |
| Part 2: Kinetics | Completed | |
| Part 3: Phase Diagrams and Microstructural Evolution | Completed | |
| Part 4: Mechanical Behavior of Materials | Not Completed | — |
| Part 5: Electrochemistry | Not Completed | — |
Click "View Feedback" to see the kind of write-up Walter AI generates per part.
Submissions
| Exercise Name | Type | Submission Date | Highest Score | First Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job Interview | Role Play | 24/07/2026 10:51 AM | 18 / 65 | 18 / 65 |
| Bonding, Structure, and Defects Essay | Quiz | 24/07/2026 10:38 AM | 89.5 / 100 | 89.5 / 100 |
| Chemical Engineering Role Play | Role Play | 23/07/2026 11:28 PM | 93 / 100 | 7 / 100 |
| Test Role Play | Role Play | 02/07/2026 12:57 PM | 20 / 90 | 20 / 90 |
| Sales Pitch | Role Play | 17/06/2026 11:20 AM | 41 / 100 | 41 / 100 |
| Test Reflection Activity | Role Play | 06/05/2026 11:10 AM | 76 / 100 | 76 / 100 |
| Math Quiz I | Quiz | 31/03/2026 02:10 PM | 1 / 2 | 0 / 2 |
Reuse the existing AI Tutor's content for a new semester or course by mapping it to the new course page in your LMS — there's no need to rebuild or duplicate anything. Complete these steps before adding Walter AI Admin to the new course page.
- Go to your existing setup in the Admin Portal.
- Go to Users → Classes.
- Add a new class.
- After adding the new class, select Manage.
- Click +Add beside LMS Course Mapping.
- Select your LMS connection.
- If there's a dropdown, select the new course. For certain LMS platforms, you may need to enter the new Course ID instead — this is usually found in the course URL when you open it inside your LMS.
Screenshot — Step 7 · Link Course
Once mapped, the AI Tutor appears in the new course page with all the existing content already there.
There isn't currently a duplicate-content function in the UI for copying content from one agent to another. If you specifically need that, email support@noodlefactory.ai and we can handle it for you.
Good question — and the short answer is no, nothing copies over on its own. Your Blackboard content only shows up in the AI Tutor once you (or your team) bring it in from the LMS into a Knowledge Group. It's a quick, deliberate step, not something happening quietly in the background. And since it's a one-time import, if you update the course material later on, you'll just want to bring in the new version too.
You can import Files (.docx, .pdf, .pptx, .html, .txt, .srt, .vtt) and Pages — just from courses where you're listed as the professor.
One friendly distinction to keep in mind: whatever you import becomes content knowledge the tutor can reference when chatting with students — it's a different thing from an Activity. Quizzes and Role Plays are still set up on their own from the Activities tab.
How to bring content in
- Go to Knowledge in the Admin Portal.
- Open Set Up Contextualised Chat, select the Group you're working with, then click Proceed to Upload Content.
- Click Import from Integration Source.
- Select your LMS and choose your course.
- Choose a file type — Files or Pages — and select which ones you'd like to upload.
One small tip: try not to import the same content twice, since re-importing creates duplicates. A quick check of what's already in the Knowledge Group beforehand goes a long way.
What it looks like in the Admin Portal
Screenshot — Step 1–2 · Knowledge → Set Up Contextualised Chat
Screenshot — Step 3–5 · Import from Integration Source
You're actually in full control of this — it just needs to be set up in the scenario description when you're building the Role Play (Activities tab → Create Role Play). Right next to Add Image and Link Video in the toolbar, there's a Link Reference button, and that's what ties the scenario to your Knowledge Base.
How to link it up
- While writing the scenario description, click Link Reference in the toolbar.
- In the panel that opens, filter by Year, Module, or Topic (or just search) and tick the specific document(s) from your Knowledge Base you want the AI to draw on.
- Click Link Documents — they'll show up as linked pills right inside your scenario text.
- Add a line telling the AI exactly how to use them, e.g. "Use the following documents as reference for the entire role play:" followed by the linked pills. You can do the same for a reference image with "Show this image every time the AI speaks:".
Screenshot — Link Reference in the scenario editor
Screenshot — the Link References panel
The Link Reference panel actually spells this out for you: "The AI will only consider the chosen materials when responding to the task assigned." So once documents are linked and the instruction line is in place, that's your scope — nothing outside it gets pulled in.
View Feedback
A few curated links to go deeper — not an exhaustive list.
Help Centre
The full Noodle Factory knowledge base — every guide referenced in this page lives here.
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New Releases
What's changed recently — new features, fixes, and LMS integration updates.
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Contact Support
Email the Noodle Factory team directly at support@noodlefactory.ai.