Prediction of student performance at polytechnic using machine learning approach

Abstract

Educational data mining (EDM) is a strategic technique for exploring data in educational environments to gain a deeper understanding of education. One of the goals of EDM is to predict things related to students in the future which can be done using a machine learning approach. In this paper, a regression model is developed to predict student performance in the first semester and the waiting period for graduate employment using machine learning approach based on informatics management (MI) and non-informatics management (non-MI) student data. Four regression models are compared for predicting student performance in the first semester and waiting period for graduate employment, including support vector regression (SVR), random forest regression (RFR), AdaBoost regression (ABR), and XGBoost regression. Based on the experiment, prediction of students' performance in the first semester, the highest R2 result produced by SVR model by value of 0.58 for MI and by RFR by value of 0.34 for non-MI. While, waiting period for graduate employment prediction, the highest R2 result produced by AdaBoost regression by value of 0.44 for MI and SVR by value of 0.39 for non-MI.