High dropout rate exists universally in massive open online courses (MOOCs) due to the separation of teachers and learners in space and time. Dropout prediction using the machine learning method is an extremely important prerequisite to identify potential at-risk learners to improve learning. It has attracted much attention and there have emerged…

Since the advent of massive open online courses (MOOC), it has been the focus of educators and learners around the world, however the high dropout rate of MOOC has had a serious negative impact on its popularity and promotion. How to effectively predict students' dropout status in MOOC for early intervention has become a hot topic in MOOC…

Dropout refers to the phenomenon of students leaving school before completing their degree or program of study. Dropout is a major concern for educational institutions, as it affects not only the students themselves but also the institutions' reputation and funding. Dropout can occur for a variety of reasons, including academic, financial,…

Many educational institutions are using predictive models to leverage actionable insights using student data and drive student success. A common task has been predicting students at risk of dropping out for the necessary interventions to be made. However, issues of discrimination by these predictive models based on protected attributes of students…

We propose a novel approach to address the issue of college student attrition by developing a hybrid model that combines a structural neural network with a piecewise exponential model. This hybrid model not only shows the potential to robustly identify students who are at high risk of dropout, but also provides insights into which factors are most…

Course dropout is a concern in online higher education, mainly in first-year courses when different factors negatively influence the learners' engagement leading to an unsuccessful outcome or even dropping out from the university. The early identification of such potential at-risk learners is the key to intervening and trying to help them before…

An estimated 1,400 colleges and universities nationwide have invested in predictive analytics technology to identify which students are at risk of failing courses or dropping out, with spending estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. How accurate and stable are those predictions? The authors put six predictive models to the test to gain…

Tackling early leaving from education and training (ELET) is one of the headline targets for education policy in the European Union. Although ELET rates have been decreasing in most member states, male, socially disadvantaged and immigrant students remain overrepresented in ELET figures. Moreover, students in vocational tracks and students who…