Detecting symptoms of low performance using production rules

This is an electronic version of the paper presented at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM'09), held in Cordoba (Spain) on 2009E-Learning systems offer students innovative and attractive ways of learning through augmentation or substitution of traditional lectures and exercises with online learning material. Such material can be accessed at any time from anywhere using different devices, and can be personalized according to the individual student’s needs, goals and knowledge. However, authoring and evaluation of this material remains a complex a task. While many researchers focus on the authoring support, not much has been done to facilitate the evaluation of e-Learning applications, which requires processing of the vast quantity of data generated by students. We address this problem by proposing an approach for detecting potential symptoms of low performance in e-Learning courses. It supports two main steps: generating the production rules of C4.5 algorithm and filtering the most representative rules, which could indicate low performance of students. In addition, the approach has been evaluated on the log files of student activity with two versions of a Web-based quiz system.This work has been funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through the HADA project TIN2007-64718

Propuesta de una metodología para la evaluación de cursos hipermedia adaptativos

Tesis doctoral inédita. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Escuela Politécnica Superior, junio 201

A problem-oriented method for supporting AEH authors through data mining

Also published online by CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org, ISSN 1613-0073)Proceeding of International Workshop on Applying Data Mining in e-Learning ADML'07. Sissi, Lassithi - Crete Greece, 18 September, 2007.One of the main problems with Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHS) is that is very difficult to test whether adaptation decisions are beneficial for all the students or some of them would benefit from a different adaptation. Data mining techniques can provide support to overcome, to a certain extent, this problem. This paper proposes the use of these techniques for detecting potential problems of adaptation in AEH systems. The proposed method searches for symptoms of these problems (called anomalies) through log analysis and tries to interpret the findings. Currently, a decision tree technique is being used for the task.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through project TIN2004-03140 and TSI2006-12085. The author C. Vialardi is also funded by Fundacion Carolina

Improving AEH courses through log analysis

Authoring in adaptive educational hypermedia environment is complex activity. In order to promote a wider application of this technology, the teachers and course designers need specific methods and tools for supporting their work. In that sense, data mining is a promising technology. In fact, data mining techniques have already been used in E-learning systems, but most of the times their application is oriented to provide better support to students; little work has been done for assisting adaptive hypermedia authors through data mining. In this paper we present a proposal for using data mining for improving an adaptive hypermedia system. A tool implementing the proposed approach is also presented, along with examples of how data mining technology can assist teachers.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through project HADA (TIN2007-64716). The first author is also funded by Fundación Carolina

Using decision trees for discovering problems on adaptive courses

Copyright by AACE. Reprinted from the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, Nov 17, 2008, with permission of AACE (http://www.aace.org).Adaptive Hypermedia Systems personalize the learning experience of each user, by providing learning materials adapted to his/her needs, preferences, personal characteristics, etc. The goal is to make the learning process easier or more efficient. However, on the teacher side the improvement and evaluation of these systems are difficult tasks, especially when there are multiple student profiles or huge amount of interaction data of students. In this work, data mining methods, and specifically decision trees, are used for helping in both improvement and evaluation. Our work consists of analyzing two data sets by using decision trees. The first data set contains the interaction data of 24 real students, and the second data set is composed of synthetic data about 100 students. The results of these analyses demonstrated that 24 students is a small data set when decision trees are used. However, the tree showed information relating to the practical activities in which students had more problems for completing them providing useful feedback to the course designer.This work has been funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through the HADA project TIN2007-64718. Cesar Vialardi is also funded by Fundación Carolina

Implantación de un SPOC en la educación a distancia para la mejora del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

The introduction of the information and communication technologies (ICT) has been a major change in many aspects within the field of education, as in the form of information processing and acquire the knowledge on the part of the pupils, due to their immersion within an audiovi­sual culture. This has led to many teachers with the aim of improving the process of teaching and learning, have ente­red the video in their classrooms. The introduction of information technology and the one of the forms of training that uses this type of teaching materials (video) as the basis of its methodology, are the massive open on-line courses (MOOCs). These courses are open in nature, massive and made in specialized platforms, have suffered a great evolution since its appearance in 2012, making of its methodology is derived various modalities of courses. This is the case of the small private on-line courses (SPOTs), that maintain the structure and methodology of the MOOC, but restricts the number of pupils and the access to the same. This article proposes a project based on the deployment of a SPOC within the on-line distance education, as «course zero of mathematics» for the new additions in the degree of Engineering. The purpose of this project is to verify if this methodology based on the audiovisual format, significantly improves the teaching-learning process, with regard to the methodology used so far.La introducción de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) ha supuesto un gran cambio en muchos aspectos dentro del ámbito educativo, como, por ejemplo, en la forma de procesar la información y de adquirir el conocimiento por parte de los alumnos, debido a su inmersión dentro de una cultura audiovisual. Esto ha provocado que muchos docentes, con el fin de mejorar el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, hayan introducido el vídeo en sus aulas. Una de las modalidades formativas que utiliza este tipo de material didáctico (vídeo) como base de su metodología son los massive open on line courses (MOOC). Estos cursos, que son de carácter abierto, masivo y se realizan en plataformas especializadas, han sufrido una gran evolución desde su aparición en 2012, haciendo que de su metodología se deriven diversas modalidades de cursos. Este es el caso de los small private on line courses (SPOC), que mantienen la estructura y la metodología de los MOOC, pero restringiendo el número de alumnos y el acceso a los mismos. El presente trabajo propone un proyecto basado en la implantación de un SPOC dentro de la educación a distancia on line como «curso cero de matemáticas» para las nuevas incorporaciones en las titulaciones de Ingeniería. La finalidad de este proyecto es comprobar si esta metodología basada en el formato audiovisual mejora de manera significativa el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje respecto a la metodología utilizada hasta el momento

Flipped classroom como puente hacia nuevos retos en la educación primaria

In the last years, the educational stage in Spain has been characterized by an evident transformation with regards to the methodology to apply in classrooms of the different educational stages. The lack of motivation largely of the students invites to restructure an educational system anchored in the time. There is a need to adapt the contents and the methods of transmission, following the new reality that surrounds to the students of the present. In this sense, the information and communications technology (ICT), aims to be an instrument of transmission and engine of change towards new bridges of learning. In particular, the flipped classroom model consists of inverting the way of explaining the educational contents that transform the figure of the teacher and the student. This work proposes a methodology to implement the flipped classroom model in the area of elementary education. In this way, the education and the ICT are merged in transforming the classroom in an environment that incites to be creative, to enhance collaborative working practices, to establish discussion, and to encourage to think about.En los últimos años, el escenario educativo en España se ha caracterizado por una evidente transformación en cuanto a la metodología que se aplica en las aulas de las distintas etapas educativas. La falta de motivación en gran parte del alumnado invita a reestructurar un sistema educativo anclado en el tiempo. Existe una necesidad de adaptar los contenidos y su transmisión, siguiendo la nueva realidad que rodea a los alumnos del presente. En este sentido, la tecnología de la información y las comunicaciones (TIC) es un instrumento de transmisión y motor de cambio hacia nuevos puentes de aprendizaje. En particular, el modelo flipped classroom consiste en invertir la manera de explicar los contenidos educativos trasformando la figura del docente y el discente. Este trabajo propone una metodología para implementar el modelo flipped classroom en el ámbito de la educación primaria. De este modo, la educación y la TIC se fusionan, transformando el aula en un ambiente que incita a la creatividad, al trabajo colaborativo, a la discusión y a la reflexión

Implantación de un SPOC en la educación a distancia para la mejora del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

La introducción de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) ha supuesto un gran cambio en muchos aspectos dentro del ámbito educativo, como, por ejemplo, en la forma de procesar la información y de adquirir el conocimiento por parte de los alumnos, debido a su inmersión dentro de una cultura audiovisual. Esto ha provocado que muchos docentes, con el fin de mejorar el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, hayan introducido el vídeo en sus aulas. Una de las modalidades formativas que utiliza este tipo de material didáctico (vídeo) como base de su metodología son los massive open on line courses (MOOC). Estos cursos, que son de carácter abierto, masivo y se realizan en plataformas especializadas, han sufrido una gran evolución desde su aparición en 2012, haciendo que de su metodología se deriven diversas modalidades de cursos. Este es el caso de los small private on line courses (SPOC), que mantienen la estructura y la metodología de los MOOC, pero restringiendo el número de alumnos y el acceso a los mismos. El presente trabajo propone un proyecto basado en la implantación de un SPOC dentro de la educación a distancia on line como «curso cero de matemáticas» para las nuevas incorporaciones en las titulaciones de Ingeniería. La finalidad de este proyecto es comprobar si esta metodología basada en el formato audiovisual mejora de manera significativa el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje respecto a la metodología utilizada hasta el momento.2016-1

Insights into students' conceptual understanding of operating systems: a four-year case study in online education

For decades, instructors and researchers have been trying to improve or enhance the learning process of students. In this process, it is important to know whether students have misconceptions in their conceptual understanding. The study of these elements is becoming a relevant research area in science and engineering education. This article provides insights into why students have misconceptions in an online course on operating systems. Specifically, this study presents a four-year qualitative case study of 78 online students in order to identify misconceptions and the causes that generate them. Our results indicate that students experienced misconceptions with the concept of interrupt. In fact, this study reveals that the natural-language meaning of the term interrupt is a hindrance to understanding this concept. In addition, a methodology for discovering misconceptions and their causes is developed

Autenticación facial como soporte extra en los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje para evitar el fraude académico

Currently, both teachers and students are adapting themselves to the new technologies offered by the XXI century. In the case of teachers, this adapta­tion is greater since there is a need to adapt learn­ing to new technologies, lifestyles and habits. One of the possibilities that information and commu­nication technologies (ICT) offer us is to provide learning management systems, with flexible learn­ing, that allows us to manage and evaluate diffe-rent activities of an e-learning process. Despite the progress made in the field of e-learning, there is a very low number of works that allow through proper mechanisms to a correct identifica­tion of students when they do their on-line activi­ties to prevent cheating. Although current learning management systems include tools for user authen­tication, they only verify the user’s identity at the time of login through a username and password, but it does not certify that it is the correct student. Against this trouble, the use of facial authentica­tion software in on-line activities which students have to do, allows us to identify and prevent those students who might cheat. This research project seeks to propose a mechanism or technique to ensure the correct access to the student within a learning platform, that is to say, the student is the one who really is, through a facial recognition software called Smowl.Actualmente, tanto los profesores como los estudiantes se están adaptando a las nuevas tecnologías que nos ofrece el siglo XXI. En el caso de los profesores, esta adaptación es mayor. Ya existe una necesidad de adaptar la enseñanza a los nue­vos ambientes tecnológicos, estilos de vida y hábitos. Una de las posibilidades que ofrecen las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) es propor­cionar entornos de aprendizaje virtuales, flexibilizando el aprendizaje, permitiendo administrar y evaluar diferentes actividades de un proceso de aprendizaje e-learning. A pesar de los avances producidos en el campo del e-learning, existe un núme­ro muy reducido de trabajos que permitan, mediante un mecanismo adecuado, la identificación correcta del alumnado cuando realiza sus actividades on-line con el objetivo de disminuir el número de engaños que se producen en estos sistemas. Si bien es cierto que los actuales sistemas virtuales de aprendizaje incluyen herra­mientas para la autenticación de los usuarios, estas herramientas solo verifican la identidad del usuario en el momento de inicio de sesión, normalmente, a través de un nombre de usuario y una contraseña, pero esta autenticación no garantiza que quien ha iniciado la sesión sea quien dice ser. Ante este problema, el uso de un software de autenticación facial en las activida­des en línea que tiene que hacer el alumnado puede permitir identificar y prevenir a aquellos que intentan engañar al sistema. Este trabajo propone un mecanismo o técnica que permita garantizar el ingreso de estudiantes legítimos en plataformas de teleaprendizaje durante todo el proceso de aprendizaje, es decir, garantiza que el alumnado sea realmente quien dice ser por medio de un software de reconoci­miento facial llamado Smowl