An investigation of students behavior in discussion forums using Educational Data Mining

Abstract

Discussion forums are an important feature in the Distance Education courses, supporting learning and facilitating interaction between students and teachers. This work aims to investigate behavioral aspects of students in virtual learning environments using Educational Data Mining. It is proposed to use the K-Means clustering technique as a way to identify students with common patterns of behavior based on their interactions in the forums. This work achieves good results from the application of clustering technique for this particular issue.