Role of convolutional features and machine learning for predicting student academic performance from MOODLE data.

Journal: PloS one
PMID:

Abstract

Predicting student performance automatically is of utmost importance, due to the substantial volume of data within educational databases. Educational data mining (EDM) devises techniques to uncover insights from data originating in educational settings. Artificial intelligence (AI) can mine educational data to predict student performance and provide measures to help students avoid failing and learn better. Learning platforms complement traditional learning settings by analyzing student performance, which can help reduce the chance of student failure. Existing methods for student performance prediction in educational data mining faced challenges such as limited accuracy, imbalanced data, and difficulties in feature engineering. These issues hindered effective adaptability and generalization across diverse educational contexts. This study proposes a machine learning-based system with deep convoluted features for the prediction of students' academic performance. The proposed framework is employed to predict student academic performance using balanced as well as, imbalanced datasets using the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE). In addition, the performance is also evaluated using the original and deep convoluted features. Experimental results indicate that the use of deep convoluted features provides improved prediction accuracy compared to original features. Results obtained using the extra tree classifier with convoluted features show the highest classification accuracy of 99.9%. In comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed approach achieved higher performance. This research introduces a powerful AI-driven system for student performance prediction, offering substantial advancements in accuracy compared to existing approaches.

Authors

  • Nihal Abuzinadah
    Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Sauid Arabia.
  • Muhammad Umer
    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
  • Abid Ishaq
    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
  • Abdullah Al Hejaili
    Faculty of Computers & Information Technology, Computer Science Department, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
  • Shtwai Alsubai
    Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Engineering and Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
  • Ala' Abdulmajid Eshmawi
    Department of Cybersecurity, College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
  • Abdullah Mohamed
    Research Center, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11845, Egypt.
  • Imran Ashraf
    Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan si, Daegu, South Korea.