Knowledge Tracing (KT) models predicting student performance in intelligent tutoring systems have been successfully deployed in several educational domains. However, their usage in open-ended programming problems poses multiple challenges due to the complexity of the programming code and a complex interplay between syntax and logic requirements…

Predictive analytics is widely used in various domains, including education, to inform decision-making and improve outcomes. However, many predictive models are proprietary and inaccessible for evaluation or modification by researchers and practitioners, limiting their accountability and ethical design. Moreover, predictive models are often opaque…

This paper develops a spreadsheet simulation methodology for teaching simulation and performance analysis of priority queues with multiple servers, without resorting to macros, add-ins, or array formula. The approach is made possible by a "single overtaking" simplifying assumption under which any lower-priority customer may be passed in…

While large language models (LLMs) continue to grow in scale and gain new zero-shot capabilities, their performance for languages beyond English increasingly lags behind. This gap is due to the "curse of multilinguality," where multilingual language models perform worse on individual languages than a monolingual model trained on that…

This study innovates English network teaching by applying a refined Association Rule Mining (ARM) algorithm. It integrates an "interest" parameter into ARM, dynamically adapting content to individual learners' profiles, improving engagement and outcomes. Controlled experiments, spanning diverse online platforms, validate the ARM model's…

In this paper, we develop a mixed stochastic approximation expectation-maximization (MSAEM) algorithm coupled with a Gibbs sampler to compute the marginalized maximum a posteriori estimate (MMAPE) of a confirmatory multidimensional four-parameter normal ogive (M4PNO) model. The proposed MSAEM algorithm not only has the computational advantages of…

In this paper, we develop a mixed stochastic approximation expectation-maximization (MSAEM) algorithm coupled with a Gibbs sampler to compute the marginalized maximum a posteriori estimate (MMAPE) of a confirmatory multidimensional four-parameter normal ogive (M4PNO) model. The proposed MSAEM algorithm not only has the computational advantages of…

Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) is a probabilistic model of a learner's state of mastery for a knowledge component. The learner's state is a "hidden" binary variable updated based on the correctness of the learner's responses to questions corresponding to that knowledge component. The parameters used for this update are inferred/learned…

We review common situations in Bayesian latent variable models where the prior distribution that a researcher specifies differs from the prior distribution used during estimation. These situations can arise from the positive definite requirement on correlation matrices, from sign indeterminacy of factor loadings, and from order constraints on…

The research in this dissertation consists of two parts: An active learning algorithm for hierarchical labels and an embedding-based retrieval algorithm. In the first part, we present a new approach for learning hierarchically decomposable concepts. The approach learns a high-level classifier (e.g., location vs. non-location) by separately…

The world's move to a global economy has an impact on the high rate of student academic failure. Higher education, as the affected party, is considered crucial in reducing student academic failure. This study aims to construct a prediction (predictive model) that can forecast students' time to graduation in developing countries such as Indonesia,…

The essence of human intelligence lies in its ability to learn continuously, accumulating past knowledge to aid in future learning and problem-solving endeavors. In contrast, the current machine learning paradigm often operates in isolation, lacking the capacity for continual learning and adaptation. This deficiency becomes apparent in the face of…

In this study, we introduced a cross-classified multidimensional nominal response model (CC-MNRM) to account for various response styles (RS) in the presence of cross-classified data. The proposed model allows slopes to vary across items and can explore impacts of observed covariates on latent constructs. We applied a recently developed variant of…

Whether machine learning algorithms effectively predict college students' course outcomes using learning management system data is unknown. Identifying students who will have a poor outcome can help institutions plan future budgets and allocate resources to create interventions for underachieving students. Therefore, knowing the effectiveness of…

Interpreting a seemingly simple function word like "or," "behind," or "more" can require logical, numerical, and relational reasoning. How are such words learned by children? Prior acquisition theories have often relied on positing a foundation of innate knowledge. Yet recent neural-network-based visual question…