Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards
Automated Insightful Drill-Down Recommendations for
Learning Analytics Dashboards
Dr Hassan	Khosravi
h.khosravi@uq.edu.au
Professor	Marta	Indulska
m.indulska@uq.edu.au
Shiva	Shabaninejad
s.shabaninejad@uq.edu.au
Dr Aneesha Bakharia
a.bakharia1@uq.edu.au
Dr Pedro	Isaias
pedroisaias@gmail.com
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 2
Overarching	Research	Question	Under	Investigation
q Given	the	existing	challenges	in	algorithmic	bias	and	predictive	models,	can	
we	use	AI	to	guide	data	exploration	while	still	reserving	judgement	about	
interpreting	student	learning	to	instructors?
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 3
Educational	Data	and	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards
Source:	http://flc.learningspaces.alaska.edu/?p=4425
The	increasing	use	of	technology	in	education	
enables	universities	to	collect	rich	data	on	learners.
Learning	Analytics	Dashboards	(LADs)	have	emerged	
as	a	field	to	help	make	sense	of	data	on	learners
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 4
Learning	Analytics	Dashboards
LADs	are	defined	as	a	tool	that	aggregates	the	data	about	learner(s),	learning	process(es)	
and/or	learning	context(s)	captured	from	digital	educational	systems	into	one	or	multiple	
visualizations	(Schwendimann,	2017).
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 5
The	Educational	Data	Revolution
As	the	volume,	velocity,	and	variety	and	veracity	of	learner	data	
increases,	making	sense	of	Learner	data	becomes	more	challenging
Source:	https://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/infographic/four-vs-big-data
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	DashboardsDevelopment	and	Adoption	of	an	Adaptive	Learning	System
Manual	and	Smart	Drill	Downs
Finding	Insights	in	LADs
Application
Conclusion	and	Future	Work
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(Aid)	Recommendations
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 7
Finding	Insights	In	LADs
Predictive	LADs
q Provide	automatic	decision-making.	
q e.g.,	label	students	based	on	their	estimate	
of	success.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 8
Finding	Insights	In	LADs
Exploratory	LADs
q Allow	users	to	navigate	through	multi-
dimensional	data	sets.	
q Relies	on	user’s	judgement	for	understanding	
and	interpreting	the	results.
Curiosity	Driven	Exploration
q Can	be	used	to	answer	specific	questions	
q e.g.	‘how	do	new	students	that	have	failed	the	
midterm	compared	to	other	students’)	
Operations	in	Online	Analytical	Processing	(OLAP)
Source::https://senturus.com/blog/reporting-multidimensional-olap-data-sources/
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 9
Finding	Insights	In	LADs
Exploratory	LADs
q Allow	users	to	navigate	through	multi-
dimensional	data	sets.	
q Relies	on	user’s	judgement	for	understanding	
and	interpreting	the	results.
Operations	in	Online	Analytical	Processing	(OLAP)
Source::https://senturus.com/blog/reporting-multidimensional-olap-data-sources/
Data	Driven	Exploration
q Finding	insightful	features	for	drill-downs
q e.g.	‘Identify	the	student	attributes	of	
students	that	have	failed	the	midterm”.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	DashboardsDevelopment	and	Adoption	of	an	Adaptive	Learning	System 3
Finding	Insights	in	LADs
Application
Conclusion	and	Future	Work
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(Aid)	Recommendations
Manual	and	Smart	Drill	Downs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 11
All	Possible	Drill-down	ActionsSample	Students	Dataset	
Finding	Insightful	Features
Student
#
Residential	
Status
Video	
Engagement
Assessment	
Score
S1 Domestic High High
S2 Domestic High High
S3 Domestic High High
S4 Domestic High High
S5 Domestic High High
S6 Domestic High Mid
S7 Domestic Low Low
S8 Domestic Low Low
S9 Domestic Low Low
S10 International High Low
…
Target
Insightful	drill-downs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 12
Challenges	With	Manual	Drill	Downs
qToo	many	drill-down	choices
qLack	of	insightful	results
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 13
Challenges	With	Manual	Drill	Downs	
qDrill-down	fallacies:	incorrect	reasoning	for	a	deviation
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 14
Smart	Drill-down	Approaches
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	DashboardsDevelopment	and	Adoption	of	an	Adaptive	Learning	System 3
Finding	Insights	in	LADs
Application
Conclusion	and	Future	Work
Manual	and	Smart	Drill	Downs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(Aid)	Recommendations
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 16
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(AID)	Recommendations
q Given	the	existing	challenges	in	algorithmic	bias	and	predictive	models,	can	
we	use	AI	to	guide	data	exploration	while	still	reserving	judgement	about	
interpreting	student	learning	to	instructors?
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 17
Aim	and	Problem	Statement
qAim:	Automatically	recommend	insightful	drill-downs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 18
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(AID)	Recommendations
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 19
Approach
q AID	process	steps:
1. A	decision	tree	classification	method	to	
examine	the	insightfulness	of	a	set	of	
promising	drill-down	paths	
2. KL-divergence	to	rank	and	select	the	highest	
ranked	path
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	DashboardsDevelopment	and	Adoption	of	an	Adaptive	Learning	System
Finding	Insights	in	LADs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(Aid)	Recommendations
Conclusion	and	Future	Work
Manual	and	Smart	Drill	Downs
Application
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 21
The	Course	Insights	Platform
• Course	Insights	is	a	LAD	
that	provides	filterable	
and	comparative	
visualisations
• Course	Insights	aims	to	
provide	actionable	
insights	for	teachers	by	
linking	data	from	several	
sources
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 22
Insights:	Manual	Drill-downs
Aim:	To	study	how	manual	drill-downs	are	used	in	LADs.
Research	Questions
• RQ1	How	complex	are	the	manual	drill-downs	applied	by	users?
• RQ2.	Which	manual	drill-downs	are	commonly	applied?
Data	set:		356	manual	drilldown	actions	performed	by	71	teaching	staff	members	
who	were	involved	in	teaching	courses	that	used	Course	Insights	at	The	University	of	
Queensland	in	2019.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 23
Insights:	Manual	Drill-downs	– Results
RQ1	How	complex	are	the	manual	drill-downs	applied	by	users?
Results:	84%	of	drill-downs	were	performed	on	a	single	attribute	and	the	average	
number	of	attributes	for	each	drill-down	was	1.35	± 0.55
RQ2	Which	manual	drill-downs	are	commonly	applied?
Mostly	used	to	
investigate	simple	
curiosity	driven	
questions.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 24
Insightful	Drill-Downs	in	Action	– Case	Study
Location:	The	University	of	Queensland	(UQ)
Course:	Calculus	and	linear	algebra	
Number	of	students:	875	
Selected	attributes:	{Brand	New,		click-stream,	
Gender,	Program,	Residential	Status}
Target	Feature:	Final	exam
Possible	drill	down	actions:	1728
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 25
Insightful	Drill-Downs	in	Action	– Case	Study
Main	Findings
1. AID	can	generate	insightful	(high	significance	score)	drill-down	recommendations	
instantly.
2. The	average	length	of	a	drill-down	action	is	not	a	good	indicator	of	its	insightfulness.	
3. 𝛼 plays	a	very	important	role	in	the	quality	of	the	generated	recommendations.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	DashboardsDevelopment	and	Adoption	of	an	Adaptive	Learning	System 3
Finding	Insights	in	LADs
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(Aid)	Recommendations
Application
Manual	and	Smart	Drill	Downs
Conclusion	and	Future	Work
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 27
Conclusion
Automated	Insightful	Drill-down	(AID):	Guiding	data	
exploration	while	still	reserving	judgement	to	
instructors.
Insights	gained	from	an	application	of	AID	in	a	real	life	
data	set.	
Challenges	in	getting	insights	from	students	data	in	
learning	analytics	dashboards	(LADs)
Filtering	students’	data	provides	a	potential	solution.	
But	it	is	time	consuming	and	error	prone.
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 28
Future Work
• Extend	AID	to	suggest	promising	values	of	𝛼
• Partner	with	academics	to	investigate:
• criteria	for	determining	insightfulness	
• best	ways	to	present	recommendations
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards 29
Future	Work
performed
From	recommendations	to	weekly	actionable	Insights
To	be	included	in	the	JLA extension	submission
Automated	Insightful	Drill-Down	Recommendations	for	Learning	Analytics	Dashboards
Automated Insightful Drill-Down Recommendations for
Learning Analytics Dashboards
Dr Hassan	Khosravi
h.khosravi@uq.edu.au
Professor	Marta	Indulska
m.indulska@uq.edu.au
Shiva	Shabaninejad
s.shabaninejad@uq.edu.au
Dr Aneesha Bakharia
a.bakharia1@uq.edu.au
Dr Pedro	Isaias
pedroisaias@gmail.com

Automated Insightful Drill-Down Recommendations for Learning Analytics Dashboards