Uzaktan Eğitim Öğrencilerinin Akademik Başarıları, Etkileşim ve Gezinme Örüntülerinin İlişkisel Çözümlenmesi

Abstract

In this research, in the online learning environment, it is aimed; (a) to cluster interactions of learners according to frequency of usage and navigational behaviors of learners according to participation mode, (b) to examine change of academic achievement according to interaction and navigation clusters and (c) to examine the level of predicting the academic achievement of interaction data. The study group consists of 1634 students enrolled in distance education programs. Online courses in distance education programs are conducted through the Moodle. The data consisted of responses to the Personal Information Form and the system interaction log. In data analysis, two stages were followed: “data preprocessing” and “use of clustering and prediction techniques”. As a result of data analysis, it was found that learners with limited interaction, live lesson-oriented interaction and assessment-oriented interaction in the whole system were differentiated according to the registered program and courses and interaction clusters are related to the components used by the instructors in structuring the course. In the context of a course, learners are clustered as users with limited interaction, assesment-oriented, reward-oriented and diverse-intensive interaction. In addition, it was found that academic achievements of reward-oriented and diverse-intensive users are significantly higher than the limited and assessment-oriented users. As a result of the sequential pattern analysis, it was found that the majority of the learners were following the course regularly, some of them were navigated randomly, some of them were assessement-oriented and some of them were discussion-oriented. It was determined that academic achievement did not change significantly according to navigational behaviors. In addition to these, it is determined that the higher interactions with reward, the higher their probability of being successful, although the other interactions are not high. From this point of view it is advisable to apply course design models according to course content, learner characteristics instead of a single course design model in distance education institutions and to focus on how these components can be blended and how stakeholders can use its in LMS.