Mapping academic outcomes to student routines using machine learning: a data-driven approach

Abstract

In today’s environment, students often struggle with time management and dealing with emotions like frustration and anxiety, which may have an adverse impact on their academic achievement. This research aims to enhance time management and educational support for college students by leveraging demographic characteristics and performance in specific assignments to develop a predictive model for academic performance. The study evaluates various regression algorithms to identify the most accurate method for predicting students’ semester grade point average (SGPA) based on their activities. This predictive model aims to optimize students’ learning experiences and mitigate challenges such as frustration and anxiety. The findings highlight the potential of personalized educational assistance in improving student learning outcomes. Various machine learning algorithms, including decision trees, support vector regression (SVR), ridge regression, lasso regression, XGBoost, and gradient boosting, were implemented in Python for this study. Results show that XGBoost achieved the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.39 with a 60:40 data split ratio, outperforming other algorithms, while decision trees exhibited the highest RMSE. The findings emphasize the potential of personalized educational assistance to improve learning outcomes by helping students adjust study habits to address weaknesses and reduce anxiety. Future studies can explore integrating real-time data and additional features such as emotional wellbeing and extracurricular activities to further improve the model’s predictive capabilities.