A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Learning Analytics for Blended Learning

  2020. Nina Bergdahl (et al.). International journal of learning analytics and artificial intelligence for education 2 (2), 46-79

  Article

  Learning Analytics (LA) approaches in Blended Learning (BL) research is becoming an established field. In the light of previous critiqued toward LA for not being grounded in theory, the General Data Protection and a renewed focus on individuals’ integrity, this review aims to explore the use of theories, the methodological and analytic approaches in educational settings, along with surveying ethical and legal considerations. The review also maps and explores the outcomes and discusses the pitfalls and potentials currently seen in the field. Journal articles and conference papers were identified through systematic search across relevant databases. 70 papers met the inclusion criteria: they applied LA within a BL setting, were peer-reviewed, full-papers, and if they were in English. The results reveal that the use of theoretical and methodological approaches was disperse, we identified approaches of BL not included in categories of BL in existing BL literature and suggest these may be referred to as hybrid blended learning, that ethical considerations and legal requirements have often been overlooked. We highlight critical issues that contribute to raise awareness and inform alignment for future research to ameliorate diffuse applications within the field of LA.

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• Machine learning-based EEG signals classification model for epileptic seizure detection

  2021. Aayesha (et al.). Multimedia tools and applications 80, 17849-17877

  Article

  The detection of epileptic seizures by classifying electroencephalography (EEG) signals into ictal and interictal classes is a demanding challenge, because it identifies the seizure and seizure-free states of an epileptic patient. In previous works, several machine learning-based strategies were introduced to investigate and interpret EEG signals for the purpose of their accurate classification. However, non-linear and non-stationary characteristics of EEG signals make it complicated to get complete information about these dynamic biomedical signals. In order to address this issue, this paper focuses on extracting the most discriminating and distinguishing features of seizure EEG recordings to develop an approach that employs both fuzzy-based and traditional machine learning algorithms for epileptic seizure detection. The proposed framework classifies unknown EEG signal segments into ictal and interictal classes. The model is validated using empirical evaluation on two benchmark datasets, namely the Bonn and Children's Hospital of Boston-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CHB-MIT) datasets. The obtained results show that in both cases, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Fuzzy Rough Nearest Neighbor (FRNN) give the highest classification accuracy scores, with improved sensitivity and specificity percentages.

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• Generation of Automatic Data-Driven Feedback to Students Using Explainable Machine Learning

  2021. Muhammad Afzaal (et al.). Artificial Intelligence in Education, 37-42

  Conference

  This paper proposes a novel approach that employs learning analytics techniques combined with explainable machine learning to provide automatic and intelligent actionable feedback that supports students self-regulation of learning in a data-driven manner. Prior studies within the field of learning analytics predict students’ performance and use the prediction status as feedback without explaining the reasons behind the prediction. Our proposed method, which has been developed based on LMS data from a university course, extends this approach by explaining the root causes of the predictions and automatically provides data-driven recommendations for action. The underlying predictive model effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated, with the results demonstrating 90 per cent accuracy.

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• Explainable AI for Data-Driven Feedback and Intelligent Action Recommendations to Support Students Self-Regulation

  2021. Muhammad Afzaal (et al.). Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 4

  Article

  Formative feedback has long been recognised as an effective tool for student learning, and researchers have investigated the subject for decades. However, the actual implementation of formative feedback practices is associated with significant challenges because it is highly time-consuming for teachers to analyse students’ behaviours and to formulate and deliver effective feedback and action recommendations to support students’ regulation of learning. This paper proposes a novel approach that employs learning analytics techniques combined with explainable machine learning to provide automatic and intelligent feedback and action recommendations that support student’s self-regulation in a data-driven manner, aiming to improve their performance in courses. Prior studies within the field of learning analytics have predicted students’ performance and have used the prediction status as feedback without explaining the reasons behind the prediction. Our proposed method, which has been developed based on LMS data from a university course, extends this approach by explaining the root causes of the predictions and by automatically providing data-driven intelligent recommendations for action. Based on the proposed explainable machine learning-based approach, a dashboard that provides data-driven feedback and intelligent course action recommendations to students is developed, tested and evaluated. Based on such an evaluation, we identify and discuss the utility and limitations of the developed dashboard. According to the findings of the conducted evaluation, the dashboard improved students’ learning outcomes, assisted them in self-regulation and had a positive effect on their motivation.

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• Catching Group Criteria Semantic Information When Forming Collaborative Learning Groups

  2021. Yongchao Wu (et al.). Technology-Enhanced Learning for a Free, Safe, and Sustainable World, 16-27

  Conference

  Collaborative learning has grown more popular as a form of instruction in recent decades, with a significant number of studies demonstrating its benefits from many perspectives of theory and methodology. However, it has also been demonstrated that effective collaborative learning does not occur spontaneously without orchestrating collaborative learning groups according to the provision of favourable group criteria. Researchers have investigated different foundations and strategies to form such groups. However, the group criteria semantic information, which is essential for classifying groups, has not been explored. To capture the group criteria semantic information, we propose a novel Natural Language Processing (NLP) approach, namely using pre-trained word embedding. Through our approach, we could automatically form homogeneous and heterogeneous collaborative learning groups based on student’s knowledge levels expressed in assessments. Experiments utilising a dataset from a university programming course are used to assess the performance of the proposed approach.

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• Automatic and Intelligent Recommendations to Support Students’ Self-Regulation

  2021. Muhammad Afzaal (et al.). International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT),, 336-338

  Conference

  In this paper, we propose a counterfactual explanations-based approach to provide an automatic and intelligent recommendation that supports student's self-regulation of learning in a data-driven manner, aiming to improve their performance in courses. Existing work under the fields of learning analytics and AI in education predict students' performance and use the prediction outcome as feedback without explaining the reasons behind the prediction. Our proposed approach developed an algorithm that explains the root causes behind student's performance decline and generates data-driven recommendations for action. The effectiveness of the proposed predictive model that constitutes the intelligent recommendations is evaluated, with results demonstrating high accuracy.

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• An Ensemble Approach for Question-Level Knowledge Tracing

  2021. Aayesha Aayesha (et al.). Artificial Intelligence in Education, 433-437

  Conference

  Knowledge tracing—where a machine models the students’ knowledge as they interact with coursework—is a well-established area in the field of Artificial Intelligence in Education. In this paper, an ensemble approach is proposed that addresses existing limitations in question-centric knowledge tracing and achieves the goal of predicting future question correctness. The proposed approach consists of two models; one is Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) built by incorporating all relevant key features engineered from the data. The second model is a Multiheaded-Self-Attention Knowledge Tracing model (MSAKT) that extracts historical student knowledge of future question by calculating their contextual similarity with previously attempted questions. The proposed model’s effectiveness is evaluated by conducting experiments on a big Kaggle dataset achieving an Area Under ROC Curve (AUC) score of 0.84 with 84% accuracy using 10fold cross-validation.

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• A Word Embeddings Based Clustering Approach for Collaborative Learning Group Formation

  2021. Yongchao Wu (et al.). Artificial Intelligence in Education, 395-400

  Conference

  Today, collaborative learning has become quite central as a method for learning, and over the past decades, a large number of studies have demonstrated the benefits from various theoretical and methodological perspectives. This study proposes a novel approach that utilises Natural Language Processing(NLP) methods, particularly pre-trained word embeddings, to automatically create homogeneous or heterogeneous groups of students in terms of knowledge and knowledge gaps expressed in assessments. The two different ways of creating groups serve two different pedagogical purposes: (1) homogeneous group formation based on students’ knowledge can support and make teachers’ pedagogical activities such as feedback provision more time efficient, and (2) the heterogeneous groups can support and enhance collaborative learning. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach through experiments with a dataset from a university course in programming didactics.

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• Fuzzy-Based Automatic Epileptic Seizure Detection Framework

  2022. Aayesh (et al.). Computers, materials & continua 70 (3), 5601-5630

  Article

  Detection of epileptic seizures on the basis of Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings is a challenging task due to the complex, non-stationary and non-linear nature of these biomedical signals. In the existing literature, a number of automatic epileptic seizure detection methods have been proposed that extract useful features from EEG segments and classify them using machine learning algorithms. Some characterizing features of epileptic and non-epileptic EEG signals overlap; therefore, it requires that analysis of signals must be performed from diverse perspectives. Few studies analyzed these signals in diverse domains to identify distinguishing characteristics of epileptic EEG signals. To pose the challenge mentioned above, in this paper, a fuzzy-based epileptic seizure detection model is proposed that incorporates a novel feature extraction and selection method along with fuzzy classifiers. The proposed work extracts pattern features along with time-domain, frequency domain, and non-linear analysis of signals. It applies a feature selection strategy on extracted features to get more discriminating features that build fuzzy machine learning classifiers for the detection of epileptic seizures. The empirical evaluation of the proposed model was conducted on the benchmark Bonn EEG dataset. It shows significant accuracy of 98% to 100% for normal vs. ictal classification cases while for three class classification of normal vs. inter-ictal vs. ictal accuracy reaches to above 97.5%. The obtained results for ten classification cases (including normal, seizure or ictal, and seizure-free or inter-ictal classes) prove the superior performance of proposed work as compared to other state-of-the-art counterparts.

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Show all publications by Muhammad Afzaal at Stockholm University