The utility of adaptive eLearning data in predicting dental students' learning performance in a blended learning...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Educational Technology
• Dental School Performance

Background:

• Adaptive learning platforms (ALPs) are increasingly used in dental education.
• Understanding student usage patterns within ALPs is crucial for optimizing learning outcomes.
• The impact of specific ALP engagement metrics on academic performance requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relationship between dental students' usage patterns in an adaptive learning platform (ALP) and their final examination performance.
• To identify specific ALP-related indicators that predict learning outcomes.
• To determine the relative contribution of ALP usage versus traditional academic metrics in explaining student success.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective collection of usage data from an ALP and academic records (GPA, pre- and post-test scores) from 115 second-year dental students.
• Analysis using correlation coefficients and linear regression to assess the impact of ALP variables and demographic/academic data on post-test scores.
• Comparison of predictive power between ALP-specific metrics and established academic indicators.

Main Results:

• Initially, ALP variables like activity improvement, timely completed objectives, and revisions positively predicted post-test scores (R²=0.296).
• However, the number of total activities negatively correlated with performance.
• The addition of gender, GPA, and pre-test scores significantly increased the explained variance (R²=0.689), with cumulative GPA and pre-test scores emerging as the strongest predictors.

Conclusions:

• Adaptive learning platform (ALP) usage data offers insights into student learning behaviors.
• While ALP engagement is relevant, traditional academic metrics like cumulative GPA and pre-test scores are more powerful predictors of dental student success.
• Contextual analysis of ALP data is recommended for future intervention studies.