Comparison of Clustering Algorithms for Learning Analytics with Educational Datasets

Learning Analytics is becoming a key tool for the analysis and improvement of digital education processes, and its potential benefit grows with the size of the student cohorts generating data. In the context of Open Education, the potentially massive student cohorts and the global audience represent a great opportunity for significant analyses and breakthroughs in the field of learning analytics. However, these potentially huge datasets require proper analysis techniques, and different algorithms, tools and approaches may perform better in this specific context. In this work, we compare different clustering algorithms using an educational dataset. We start by identifying the most relevant algorithms in Learning Analytics and benchmark them to determine, according to internal validation and stability measurements, which algorithms perform better. We analyzed seven algorithms, and determined that K-means and PAM were the best performers among partition algorithms, and DIANA was the best performer among hierarchical algorithms

ResNet18 Supported Inspection of Tuberculosis in Chest Radiographs With Integrated Deep, LBP, and DWT Features

The lung is a vital organ in human physiology and disease in lung causes various health issues. The acute disease in lung is a medical emergency and hence several methods are developed and implemented to detect the lung abnormality. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the common lung disease and premature diagnosis and treatment is necessary to cure the disease with appropriate medication. Clinical level assessment of TB is commonly performed with chest radiographs (X-ray) and the recorded images are then examined to identify TB and its harshness. This research proposes a TB detection framework using integrated optimal deep and handcrafted features. The different stages of this work include (i) X-ray collection and processing, (ii) Pretrained Deep-Learning (PDL) scheme-based feature mining, (iii) Feature extraction with Local Binary Pattern (LBP) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), (iv) Feature optimization with Firefly-Algorithm, (v) Feature ranking and serial concatenation, and (vi) Classification by means of a 5-fold cross confirmation. The result of this study validates that, the ResNet18 scheme helps to achieve a better accuracy with SoftMax (95.2%) classifier and Decision Tree Classifier (99%) with deep and concatenated features, respectively. Further, overall performance of Decision Tree is better compared to other classifiers

El impacto del diseño de actividades en el plagio de Internet en educación superior

El objetivo de este trabajo es comprender mejor la naturaleza del plagio en la Educación Superior. Analizamos una serie de actividades en un curso on-line de nivel universitario, con el objetivo de encontrar qué tareas llevan más naturalmente al plagio. Este análisis concluye que las actividades que tienen una menor tasa de plagio son actividades que fomentan la participación, la originalidad y la creatividad. Posteriormente, reformulamos la tarea que presenta la mayor tasa de plagio, teniendo en cuenta las conclusiones del análisis anterior y tratando de mantener su esfuerzo relativo y el impacto educativo. A continuación, comparamos las actividades del nuevo diseño con las originales para medir si el rediseño conlleva una reducción significativa del plagio. Los resultados son claros y muestran una caída significativa en los porcentajes de plagio. Además, se realizó una validación adicional en la que se analizó la actividad con la segunda tasa de plagio más alta, encontrando que los grupos eran comparables y mostraban actitudes de plagio similares en otros ejercicios que no habían sido rediseñados. Este estudio muestra que es posible reducir la incidencia de plagio mediante el diseño de actividades de tal manera que los estudiantes se sientan motivados para proponer sus propias ideas utilizando la información disponible en Internet como vehículo para sus soluciones en lugar de como soluciones en sí mismasIn this work we aim to gain a better understanding of the nature of plagiarism in Higher Education. We analyse a set of different activities in an online university-level course, aiming to understand which tasks lead more naturally to plagiarism. This analysis concludes that the activities that have a lower rate of plagiarism are activities that encourage involvement, originality and creativity. Subsequently, we reformulate the task that presented the highest rate of plagiarism, taking into account the conclusions of the previous analysis and trying to maintain their relative effort and educational impact. We then compare the newly designed activities with their original counterparts to measure whether there is a significant reduction in plagiarism. The results are clear and show a significant drop in the percentages of plagiarism. In addition, we performed an additional validation to ensure that both groups were, in fact, comparable. We found that both groups displayed similar plagiarism attitudes in other exercises that were not reformulated. This study shows that it is possible to reduce the incidence of plagiarism by designing activities in such a way that prompts students to propose their own ideas using information available on the Internet as a vehicle for their solutions rather than as solutions in themselve

The Impact of Activity Design in Internet Plagiarism in Higher Education = El impacto del diseño de actividades en el plagio de Internet en educación superior

In this work we aim to gain a better understanding of the nature of plagiarism in Higher Education. We analyse a set of different activities in an online university-level course, aiming to understand which tasks lead more naturally to plagiarism. This analysis concludes that the activities that have a lower rate of plagiarism are activities that encourage involvement, originality and creativity. Subsequently, we reformulate the task that presented the highest rate of plagiarism, taking into account the conclusions of the previous analysis and trying to maintain their relative effort and educational impact. We then compare the newly designed activities with their original counterparts to measure whether there is a significant reduction in plagiarism. The results are clear and show a significant drop in the percentages of plagiarism. In addition, we performed an additional validation to ensure that both groups were, in fact comparable. We found that both groups displayed similar plagiarism attitudes in other exercises that were not reformulated. This study shows that it is possible to reduce the incidence of plagiarism by designing activities in such a way that prompts students to propose their own ideas using information available on the Internet as a vehicle for their solutions rather than as solutions in themselves

Introduction: Intelligent Learning Assessment in Serious Games

There is a consensus that Serious Games (SGs) have a potential as a tool for education, and the conversation is no longer about whether it makes sense to use SGs in education, but how to exploit their potential to become a revolution is to become effective in the evaluation of the learning progress of the player. The aim of this special issue is to presents some recent in the field of assessment of learning

User Assessment in Serious Games and Technology-Enhanced Learning

1 Department of Naval, Electric, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Genoa, Via all'Opera Pia 11/a, 16145 Genoa, Italy 2 Faculty of Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Canada L1H 7K4 3Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA 4 Faculty of Computer Science, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spai

15th International Symposium on Information and Communication Technologies in Education (SINTICE)

It is our great pleasure to serve as guest editors for this special issue of the IEEE RITA journal, which holds a fine selection of the most relevant papers presented at SINTICE 2013, the fifteenth international symposium in educational technology held in Madrid in September 2013. The two papers included in this special issue are representative of the high quality observed during all the conference

Assessment in and of serious games: an overview

There is a consensus that serious games have a significant potential as a tool for instruction. However, their effectiveness in terms of learning outcomes is still understudied mainly due to the complexity involved in assessing intangible measures. A systematic approach—based on established principles and guidelines—is necessary to enhance the design of serious games, and many studies lack a rigorous assessment. An important aspect in the evaluation of serious games, like other educational tools, is user performance assessment. This is an important area of exploration because serious games are intended to evaluate the learning progress as well as the outcomes. This also emphasizes the importance of providing appropriate feedback to the player. Moreover, performance assessment enables adaptivity and personalization to meet individual needs in various aspects, such as learning styles, information provision rates, feedback, and so forth. This paper first reviews related literature regarding the educational effectiveness of serious games. It then discusses how to assess the learning impact of serious games and methods for competence and skill assessment. Finally, it suggests two major directions for future research: characterization of the player's activity and better integration of assessment in games

Cognitive Evaluation of Examinees by Dynamic Question Set Generation based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

Educational data mining (EDM) is an emerging topic in recent years steered by data mining and machine learning techniques to enhance students’ overall learning experience and academic progress. In recent years EDM techniques are frequently used to improve assessment systems but the evaluation procedure is majorly marks driven. Developing an evaluation system to distinguish candidates, based on their ability to answer cognitively difficult questions is a challenging task. In this study, a unique methodology is proposed to dynamically rank the candidates to develop an outcome-based online examination system that will properly evaluate a candidate’s cognitive competencies. The questions are segmented into different cognitive groups based on classical Bloom’s educational taxonomy. The Jenks Natural Breaks Optimization technique is used here to segment the questions and as a result, distinct question clusters based on different cognitive levels are obtained. Students are evaluated with different questions from these cognitive groups and ranking is done for individual candidates considering both the marks of the questions and his/her ability to solve questions from different difficulty levels

ASPECTS OF SERIOUS GAMES CURRICULUM INTEGRATION - A TWO-FOLDED APPROACH

Over the years, there have been numerous definitions of curriculum integration,where the curriculum is interwoven, connected, thematic, interdisciplinary multidisciplinary, correlated, linked and holistic.[1] Curriculum integration is based on both philosophy and practicality, drawing together knowledge, skills, attitudes and values from within or across subject areas to develop a more powerful understanding of key information. Curriculum integration is best done when components of the curriculum are connected and related in meaningful ways by both students and teachers. With the large uptake of SGs in education nowadays, one must consider SGs curriculum integration an issue at large since effectiveness of SGs use in training and education is getting more and more proponents. This paper looks at SGs curriculum integration issues from two perspectives- of the teacher connecting the content of the game and the learning outcomes into the whole educational context on the one hand, and of the researcher who sees the connection between the pedagogical state-of-art in SG and what realia can offer, on the other. By drawing on the experience of three teams of researchers and educators from Romania, Italy and Spain, based on common activities conducted by same partners and others in the Games and Learning Alliance (GaLA), an EC-funded Network of Excellence on SGs, joint perspectives over curriculum integration will be presented, with a view to sharing the experience in order to give guidelines for future extension of SGs into education and training, into well built curricula. The situations presented of SGs curriculum integration in the three different educational contexts are to showcase the framework for building a SGs curriculum design , the way SGs are effective for instruction, to present forms of integrating a SG into curriculum- how,where, how long, and showcase trans- and inter-disciplinarity within SG curriculum integration. A set of guidelines will be just a quick overview on what both practitioners, researchers and policy makers should consider for the near future in terms of SG curriculum integration, to enhance a lage-scale uptake of SGs into all levels of education and training, to better respond the 21st Century student and current social needs. All the statements and observations will be outspoken based on genuine results of the experiments and longterm practice of the authors in the realm of SGs integration into the training programs