@article{9546766,

title = {Analysis of Students’ Behavior Through User Clustering in Online Learning Settings, Based on Self Organizing Maps Neural Networks},

author = {Maria Soledad Delgado and Federico Morán and José Carlos San José and Daniel Burgos},

doi = {10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3115024},

issn = {2169-3536 },

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

urldate = {2021-01-01},

journal = {IEEE Access},

volume = {9},

pages = {132592-132608},

abstract = {An accurate analysis of user behaviour in online learning environments is a useful means of early follow up of students, so that they can be better supported to improve their performance and achieve the expected competences. However, that task becomes challenging due to the massive data that learning management systems store and categories. With the COVID-19 pandemic still on-going, face-to-face learning settings have migrate into online and blended ones, meaning an increase of online students and teachers in need for a tailored and effective support to their needs. A novel unsupervised clustering technique based on the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) artificial neural network model is used in this research to analyse 1,709,189 records of online students enrolled from 2015 to 2019 at Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), a fully online Higher Education institution. SOM performs a precise and diverse user clustering based on those records. Results highlight that specific clusters are linked to the intake average profile at the university, with a clear relation between user interaction and a higher performance. Further, results show that, out of a targeted desk research compared to the analysis in this paper, face-to-face and online settings are connected through the methodological approach beyond the technology-based environment, which presents a similar behaviour in both contexts},

keywords = {Data Analysis, eLearning, Neural Networks, Self-organizing map, Unsupervised},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Rico-Vleaf-2011,

title = {A Programming Experience of High School Students by Means of Virtual Worlds},

author = {Xavier Alamán and David Camacho and Mariano Rico and Gonzalo Martínez and Estrella Pulido},

url = {http://arantxa.ii.uam.es/~dcamacho/papers/rico-vleaf.pdf},

issn = {0949-149X/91},

year  = {2011},

date = {2011-07-01},

urldate = {2011-07-01},

journal = {International Journal of Engineering Education, Special Issue on Methods and Cases in Computing Education},

volume = {27},

number = {1},

pages = {52-60},

publisher = {Tempus Publications},

keywords = {Computer-based Education, eLearning, opensim, Programming Courses, Virtual World},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}