Learning analytics and collaborative groups of learners in distance education: a systematic mapping study

Abstract

Advances in information and communication technologies have contributed to the increasing use of virtual learning environments as support tools in teaching and learning processes. Virtual platforms generate a large volume of educational data, and the analysis of this data allows useful information discoveries to improve learning and assist institutions in reducing disqualifications and dropouts in distance education courses. This article presents the results of a systematic mapping study aiming to identify how educational data mining, learning analytics, and collaborative groups have been applied in distance education environments. Articles were searched from 2010 to June 2020, initially resulting in 55,832 works. The selection of 51 articles for complete reading in order to answer the research questions considered a group of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Main results indicated that 53% of articles (27/51) offered intelligent services in the field of distance education, 47% (24/51) applied methods and analysis techniques in distance education environments, 21% (11/51) applied methods and analysis techniques focused on virtual learning environments logs, and 5% (3/51) presented intelligent collaborative services for identification and creation of groups. This article also identified research interest clusters with highlights for the terms recommendation systems, data analysis, e-learning, educational data mining, e-learning platform and learning management system.

Facial Recognition System to Detect Student Emotions and Cheating in Distance Learning

“…This is in addition to the lack of a recognizable system to detect cheating attempts by students during online tests and quiz sessions. These issues have also been suggested in earlier research as significant obstacles to distance learning [12,13]. Online proctoring or invigilating has been a topic of much debate since its increased use during the COVID-19 pandemic for students' exams [3,14,15].…”

Vulnerabilities of Mobile Applications Used in Distance Learning Environment

“…The principal elements and advantages of Distance education environment are presented in Figure 1. In (da Silva, et. al, 2022) distance learning environments is presented as an effective and beneficial instrument for students, as long as they are properly designed and well implemented.…”

Learning and Well-Being in Educational Practices with Children and Adolescents Undergoing Cancer Treatment

“…Future work will explore the use of Context Histories to organize the data produced during the workshops, allowing the use of these data to include intelligence in patient care environments. In this sense, the project will explore advanced data analysis strategies, such as pattern analysis [62], context prediction [63], learning analytics [64,65], and similarity analysis [66,67]. These strategies for handling context histories will be applied in the analysis of project data, mainly enabling prediction, personalization and content recommendation to improve the user experience.…”