Combining Two Models to Improve the Prediction Performance for Identifying At-Risk Students: A Case Study

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Research on Teaching With Technology

Abstract

This study proposes an analytic approach which combines two predictive models (the predictive model of successful students and the predictive model of at-risk students) to enhance prediction performance for use under the constraints of limited data collection. A case study was conducted to examine the effects of the model combination approach. Eight variables were collected from a data warehouse and the Learning Management System. The best model was selected based on the lowest misclassification rate in the validation dataset. The confusion matrix compares the model’s performance with the following parameters: accuracy, misclassification, and sensitivity. The results show the new combination approach can capture more at-risk students than the singular predictive model, and is only suitable for the ensemble predictive algorithms.

Authors

• Jui-Long Hung, Boise State University

• Brett E. Shelton, Boise State University