Session-Based Time-Window Identification in Virtual Learning Environments

Abstract

Students organize and manage their own learning time, choosing when, what, and how to study due to the flexibility of online learning. Each person has unique learning habits that define their behaviours and distinguish them from others. To investigate the temporal behaviour of students in online learning environments, we seek to identify suitable time-windows that could be used to investigate their temporal behaviour. First, we present a novel perspective for identifying different types of sessions based on individual needs. The majority of previous works address this issue by establishing an arbitrary session timeout threshold. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for determining the optimal threshold for a given session. Second, we use data-driven methods to support investigators in determining time-windows based on the identified sessions. To this end, we developed a visual tool that assists data scientists and researchers to determine the optimal settings for session identification and locating suitable time-windows.