Computing and Information Systems - Research Publications

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Dusting for fingerprints: Revealing patterns of online students’ behaviour

Armas Cervantes, A ; Abedin, E ; Taymouri, F ( 2023-09-01)

Hybrid learning strategies combine face-to-face instruction with online components. These hybrid environments rely heavily on online Learning Management Systems (LMSs) that serve as central hubs for learning materials. Depending on the adopted instructional strategy, students may be expected to complete certain tasks in the LMS. For instance, when adopting a flipped classroom strategy, students must watch videos, read material or complete quizzes prior the classroom time. Then, during classroom time, students focus on performing hands-on exercises. Students consistently engaging in the adopted strategy is key, as failing to do so can decrease the effectiveness of the adopted strategy. This paper presents an approach to monitor the changes of students’ behaviour over time. Using variants analysis, the method analyses data captured in an LMS and finds significant differences between time windows (e.g., two academic weeks). This can inform educators about changes in students’ engagement in the instructional strategy (e.g., students not completing some tasks). To showcase our method, we analyse a semester’s worth of data for a master’s subject implementing flipped classroom strategy.