TY - JOUR
T1 - Predicting Students' GPA and Developing Intervention Strategies Based on Self-Regulatory Learning Behaviors
AU - Zollanvari, Amin
AU - Kizilirmak, Refik Caglar
AU - Kho, Yau Hee
AU - Hernandez-Torrano, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 IEEE.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/8/25
Y1 - 2017/8/25
N2 - Predicting students' grades has emerged as a major area of investigation in education due to the desire to identify the underlying factors that influence academic performance. Because of limited success in predicting the grade point average (GPA), most of the prior research has focused on predicting grades in a specific set of classes based on students' prior performances. The issues associated with data-driven models of GPA prediction are further amplified by a small sample size and a relatively large dimensionality of observations in an experiment. In this paper, we utilize the state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to construct and validate a predictive model of GPA solely based on a set of self-regulatory learning behaviors determined in a relatively small-sample experiment. We quantify the predictability of each constituents of the constructed model and discuss its relevance. Ultimately, the goal of grade prediction in similar experiments is to use the constructed models for the design of intervention strategies aimed at helping students at risk of academic failure. In this regard, we lay the mathematical groundwork for defining and detecting probably helpful interventions using a probabilistic predictive model of GPA. We demonstrate the application of this framework by defining basic interventions and detecting those interventions that are probably helpful to students with a low GPA. The use of self-regulatory behaviors is warranted, because the proposed interventions can be easily practiced by students.
AB - Predicting students' grades has emerged as a major area of investigation in education due to the desire to identify the underlying factors that influence academic performance. Because of limited success in predicting the grade point average (GPA), most of the prior research has focused on predicting grades in a specific set of classes based on students' prior performances. The issues associated with data-driven models of GPA prediction are further amplified by a small sample size and a relatively large dimensionality of observations in an experiment. In this paper, we utilize the state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to construct and validate a predictive model of GPA solely based on a set of self-regulatory learning behaviors determined in a relatively small-sample experiment. We quantify the predictability of each constituents of the constructed model and discuss its relevance. Ultimately, the goal of grade prediction in similar experiments is to use the constructed models for the design of intervention strategies aimed at helping students at risk of academic failure. In this regard, we lay the mathematical groundwork for defining and detecting probably helpful interventions using a probabilistic predictive model of GPA. We demonstrate the application of this framework by defining basic interventions and detecting those interventions that are probably helpful to students with a low GPA. The use of self-regulatory behaviors is warranted, because the proposed interventions can be easily practiced by students.
KW - GPA
KW - classification
KW - intervention
KW - prediction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028721492&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85028721492&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2740980
DO - 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2740980
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85028721492
VL - 5
SP - 23792
EP - 23802
JO - IEEE Access
JF - IEEE Access
SN - 2169-3536
M1 - 8016571
ER -