Skip to main content

Early Prediction of At-Risk Students in a Virtual Learning Environment Using Deep Learning Techniques

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Adaptive Instructional Systems. Adaptation Strategies and Methods (HCII 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12793))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

With the advancement of the internet and communication technologies, online learning has gained acceleration. The largely-scaled open online courses run on specific virtual platforms, where learners can engage themselves in their own space and pace. The Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) have shown rapid development in recent years, allowing learners to access high-quality digital materials. This paper aims at exploring students' affinity towards early withdrawal from online courses. The work expands by finding learner-centric factors contributing to students' early prediction at-risk of withdrawal and developing a prediction model. The current work uses the free Open University Learning Analytics Dataset (OULAD). Here, the early identification of students at risk of withdrawal is predicted based on a Deep Learning Approach using CNN Algorithm. Time-series analysis is done using data from consecutive years. The work's significant contribution is a set of influential parameters predicting at-risk students at an early learning stage. The prediction accuracy falls in the range of 83% to 93%.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Akour, M., Al, S.H., Al Qasem, O.: The effectiveness of using deep learning algorithms in predicting students' achievements. Indonesian J. Elect. Eng. Comput. Sci. 19(1), 387–393 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Aljohani, N.R., Fayoumi, A., Hassan, S.U.: Predicting at-risk students using clickstream data in the virtual learning environment. Sustainability 11(24), 7238 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Batista, G.E., Prati, R.C., Monard, M.C.: A study of the behavior of several methods for balancing machine learning training data. ACM SIGKDD Explor. Newsl. 6(1), 20–29 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bekele, R., McPherson, M.: A Bayesian performance prediction model for mathematics education: a prototypical approach for effective group composition. Br. J. Edu. Technol. 4(3), 395–416 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chowdhry, S., Sieler, K., Alwis, L.: A study of the impact of technology-enhanced learning on student academic performance. J. Perspect. Appl. Acad. Pract. 2(3) (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Coelho, O.B., Ismar, S.: Deep learning applied to learning analytics and educational data mining: A systematic literature review. In: Brazilian Symposium on Computers in Education (Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação-SBIE), vol. 28. no. 1 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Chen, Y., Zhang, M.: Mooc student dropout: pattern and prevention. In: Proceedings of the ACM Turing 50th Celebration Conference-China, pp. 1–6. (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Figueroa-Canas, J., Sancho-Vinuesa, T.: Early prediction of dropout and final exam performance in an online statistics course. IEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje 15(2), 86–94 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Haiyang, L., Wang, Z., Benachour, P., Tubman, P.: A time series classification method for behavior-based dropout prediction. In: 2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), pp. 191–195. IEEE (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hassan, S.U., Waheed, H., Aljohani, N.R., Ali, M., Ventura, S., Herrera, F.: Virtual learning environment to predict withdrawal by leveraging deep learning. Int. J. Intell. Syst. 34(8), 1935–1952 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kuzilek, J., Hlosta, M., Zdrahal, Z.: Open university learning analytics dataset. Sci Data. 4, 17017 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Mubarak, A.A., Cao, H., Zhang, W.: Prediction of students' early dropout based on their interaction logs in online learning environment. Interact. Learn. Environ. 1–20 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Patil, A.P., Karthik, G., Anita, K.: Effective deep learning model to predict student grade point averages. In: IEEE International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Computing Research (ICCIC), pp. 1–6 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Tamada, M.M., de Magalhães Netto, J.F., de Lima, D.P.R.: Predicting and reducing dropout in virtual learning using machine learning techniques: a systematic review. In 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), pp. 1–9. IEEE (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Waheed, H., Hassan, S.U., Aljohani, N.R., Hardman, J., Alelyani, S., Nawaz, R.: Predicting academic performance of students from VLE big data using deep learning models. Comput. Hum. Behav. 104, 106189 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Xing, W., Du, D.: Dropout prediction in MOOCs: using deep learning for personalized intervention. J. Educ. Comput. Res. 57(3), 547–570 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nisha S. Raj .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Raj, N.S., Prasad, S., Harish, P., Boban, M., Cheriyedath, N. (2021). Early Prediction of At-Risk Students in a Virtual Learning Environment Using Deep Learning Techniques. In: Sottilare, R.A., Schwarz, J. (eds) Adaptive Instructional Systems. Adaptation Strategies and Methods. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12793. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77873-6_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77873-6_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-77872-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-77873-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics