Automated programming assessment systems are useful tools to track the learning progress of students automatically and thereby reduce the workload of educators. They can also be used to gain insights into how students learn, making it easier to formulate strategies aimed at enhancing learning performance. Rather than functional code which is always inspected, code quality remains an essential aspect to which not many educators consider when designing an automated programming assessment system. In this study, we applied data mining techniques to analyze the results of an automated assessment system to reveal unexpressed patterns in code quality improvement that are predictive of final achievements in the course. Cluster analysis is first utilized to categorize students according to their learning behavior and outcomes. Cluster profile analysis is then leveraged to highlight actionable factors that could affect their final grades. Finally, the same factors are employed to construct a classification model by which to make early predictions of the students' final results. Our empirical results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme in providing valuable insights into the learning behaviors of students in novice programming courses, especially in code quality assurance, which could be used to enhance programming performance at the university level. INDEX TERMS automated programming assessment system, code quality, educational data mining, early learning achievement detection, programming education
Since the concept of Industry 4.0 emerged, an increasing number of major manufacturers have incorporated relevant technologies to monitor machinery and schedule processes so as to increase yield and optimize production. However, most machinery monitoring technologies are far too expensive for small- and medium-sized enterprises. Furthermore, the production processes at small- and medium-sized enterprises are simpler and can thus be optimized without excessively complex scheduling systems. This study therefore proposed the use of cheaper add-on sensors for monitoring machinery and integrated them with an algorithm that can more swiftly produce results that meet multiple objectives. The proposed algorithm is meant to extend the capabilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises in monitoring machinery and scheduling processes, thereby enabling them to contend on an equal footing with larger competitors. Finally, we performed an experiment at an actual spring enterprise to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.
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