An application framework for mining online learning processes through event-logs
Business Process Management Journal
ISSN: 1463-7154
Article publication date: 31 October 2018
Issue publication date: 19 August 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Learning management systems (LMS) provide detailed information about the processes through event-logs. Process and related data-mining approaches can reveal valuable information from these files to help teachers and executives to monitor and manage their online learning processes. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current direction of the literature on educational data mining, and an application framework to analyze the educational data provided by the Moodle LMS.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a framework to provide a decision support through the approaches existing in process and data-mining fields for analyzing the event-log data gathered from LMS platforms. In this framework, latent class analysis (LCA) and sequential pattern mining approaches were used to understand the general patterns; heuristic and fuzzy approaches were performed for process mining to obtain the workflows and statistics; finally, social-network analysis was conducted to discover the collaborations.
Findings
The analyses conducted in the study give clues for the process performance of the course during a semester by indicating exceptional situations, clarifying the activity flows, understanding the main process flow and revealing the students’ interactions. Findings also show that using the preliminary data analyses before process mining steps is also beneficial to understand the general pattern and expose the irregular ones.
Originality/value
The study highlights the benefits of analyzing event-log files of LMSs to improve the quality of online educational processes through a case study based on Moodle event-logs. The application framework covers preliminary analyses such as LCA before the use of process mining algorithms to reveal the exceptional situations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. The authors would like to thank Dr Sabri Erdem and Research Assistant Ayhan Fuat Celik for their valuable contribution to our study by sharing the Moodle log file of the course they manage.
Citation
Özdağoğlu, G., Öztaş, G.Z. and Çağliyangil, M. (2019), "An application framework for mining online learning processes through event-logs", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 860-886. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-10-2017-0279
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited