Student Engagement Level in an e-Learning Environment: Clustering Using K-means

E-learning platforms and processes face several challenges, among which is the idea of personalizing the e-learning experience and to keep students motivated and engaged. This work is part of a larger study that aims to tackle these two challenges using a variety of machine learning techniques. To that end, this paper proposes the use of k-means algorithm to cluster students based on 12 engagement metrics divided into two categories: interaction-related and effort-related. Quantitative analysis is performed to identify the students that are not engaged who may need help. Three different clustering models are considered: two-level, three-level, and five-level. The considered dataset is the students’ event log of a second-year undergraduate Science course from a North American university that was given in a blended format. The event log is transformed using MATLAB to generate a new dataset representing the considered metrics. Experimental results’ analysis shows that among the considered interaction-related and effort-related metrics, the number of logins and the average duration to submit assignments are the most representative of the students’ engagement level. Furthermore, using the silhouette coefficient as a performance metric, it is shown that the two-level model offers the best performance in terms of cluster separation. However, the three-level model has a similar performance while better identifying students with low engagement levels.