IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems

Published by IADIS (International Association for Development of the Information Society) • ISSN (Online): 1646-3692 • ISSN (Print): 1646-3692
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Comparative Performance Analysis of Clustering Techniques in Educational Data Mining

Kyle DeFreitas. University of the West Indies *
St Augustine *
Trinidad Researcher *
Tobago Researcher *
* Margaret Bernard. University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (Portugal)
* Margaret Bernard. University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (Portugal)
* Margaret Bernard. University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (Portugal)
* Margaret Bernard. University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (Portugal)

Abstract

Clustering analysis provides a useful way to group objects without having previous knowledge about the data being analysed. In this paper, we first survey the research done on clustering analysis in education and identify the algorithms used. We t hen present a case -based experiment to show the relative performance of clustering algorithms with Learning Management System log data. We compare partition-based (K-Means), density-based (DBSCAN) and hierarchical (BIRCH) methods to determine which technique is the most appropriate for performing clustering analysis within the LMS. We conclude by showing that partition-based methods produce the highest Silhouette Coefficient values and the better distribution amongst the clusters. The BIRCH algorithm also performs fairly well and can act as a good starting point to find cluster groups in new datasets as the algorithm does not required that the number of clusters be specified a priori.

Keywords

Clustering Educational Data Mining Learning Management Systems Web Usage Mining Moodle
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Declarations & Ethics

Funding: This research received academic dissemination support through ESCAP / JournalsHub publishing programs.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no competing financial or institutional interests.
Peer Review: Double-blind peer reviewed by international subject specialists.
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
How to Cite This Article
APA / MLA / BibTeX
Indies, et al. (2015). Comparative Performance Analysis of Clustering Techniques in Educational Data Mining. IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.33965/ijcsis_2015_v10i2_06
Indies, et al. "Comparative Performance Analysis of Clustering Techniques in Educational Data Mining." IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems, vol. 10, no. 2, 2015. https://doi.org/10.33965/ijcsis_2015_v10i2_06
Indies, et al. "Comparative Performance Analysis of Clustering Techniques in Educational Data Mining." IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems 10, no. 2 (2015). https://doi.org/10.33965/ijcsis_2015_v10i2_06