Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study

Student performance prediction is a critical research challenge in the field of educational data mining. To address this issue, various machine learning methods have been employed with significant success, including instance-based algorithms, decision trees, neural networks, and ensemble methods, am...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria Tsiakmaki, Georgios Kostopoulos, Sotiris Kotsiantis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Knowledge
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9585/4/4/28
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850035635795001344
author Maria Tsiakmaki
Georgios Kostopoulos
Sotiris Kotsiantis
author_facet Maria Tsiakmaki
Georgios Kostopoulos
Sotiris Kotsiantis
author_sort Maria Tsiakmaki
collection DOAJ
description Student performance prediction is a critical research challenge in the field of educational data mining. To address this issue, various machine learning methods have been employed with significant success, including instance-based algorithms, decision trees, neural networks, and ensemble methods, among others. In this study, we introduce an innovative approach that leverages the Regularized Greedy Forest (RGF) algorithm within an active learning framework to enhance student performance prediction. Active learning is a powerful paradigm that utilizes both labeled and unlabeled data, while RGF serves as an effective decision forest learning algorithm acting as the base learner. This synergy aims to improve the predictive performance of the model while minimizing the labeling effort, making the approach both efficient and scalable. Moreover, applying the active learning framework for predicting student performance focuses on the early and accurate identification of students at risk of failure. This enables targeted interventions and personalized learning strategies to support low-performing students and improve their outcomes. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of our proposed approach as it outperforms well-established supervised methods using a limited pool of labeled examples, achieving an accuracy of 81.60%.
format Article
id doaj-art-833861ca55554fd1a61487ff51e3cd7f
institution DOAJ
issn 2673-9585
language English
publishDate 2024-10-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Knowledge
spelling doaj-art-833861ca55554fd1a61487ff51e3cd7f2025-08-20T02:57:26ZengMDPI AGKnowledge2673-95852024-10-014454355610.3390/knowledge4040028Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case StudyMaria Tsiakmaki0Georgios Kostopoulos1Sotiris Kotsiantis2Educational Software Development Laboratory (ESDLab), Department of Mathematics, University of Patras, 265 04 Rio, GreeceSchool of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, 263 31 Patras, GreeceEducational Software Development Laboratory (ESDLab), Department of Mathematics, University of Patras, 265 04 Rio, GreeceStudent performance prediction is a critical research challenge in the field of educational data mining. To address this issue, various machine learning methods have been employed with significant success, including instance-based algorithms, decision trees, neural networks, and ensemble methods, among others. In this study, we introduce an innovative approach that leverages the Regularized Greedy Forest (RGF) algorithm within an active learning framework to enhance student performance prediction. Active learning is a powerful paradigm that utilizes both labeled and unlabeled data, while RGF serves as an effective decision forest learning algorithm acting as the base learner. This synergy aims to improve the predictive performance of the model while minimizing the labeling effort, making the approach both efficient and scalable. Moreover, applying the active learning framework for predicting student performance focuses on the early and accurate identification of students at risk of failure. This enables targeted interventions and personalized learning strategies to support low-performing students and improve their outcomes. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of our proposed approach as it outperforms well-established supervised methods using a limited pool of labeled examples, achieving an accuracy of 81.60%.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9585/4/4/28educational data miningactive learningpool-based scenariomargin sampling strategyboostingregularized greedy forest algorithm
spellingShingle Maria Tsiakmaki
Georgios Kostopoulos
Sotiris Kotsiantis
Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
Knowledge
educational data mining
active learning
pool-based scenario
margin sampling strategy
boosting
regularized greedy forest algorithm
title Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
title_full Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
title_fullStr Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
title_short Exploiting the Regularized Greedy Forest Algorithm Through Active Learning for Predicting Student Grades: A Case Study
title_sort exploiting the regularized greedy forest algorithm through active learning for predicting student grades a case study
topic educational data mining
active learning
pool-based scenario
margin sampling strategy
boosting
regularized greedy forest algorithm
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9585/4/4/28
work_keys_str_mv AT mariatsiakmaki exploitingtheregularizedgreedyforestalgorithmthroughactivelearningforpredictingstudentgradesacasestudy
AT georgioskostopoulos exploitingtheregularizedgreedyforestalgorithmthroughactivelearningforpredictingstudentgradesacasestudy
AT sotiriskotsiantis exploitingtheregularizedgreedyforestalgorithmthroughactivelearningforpredictingstudentgradesacasestudy