Using Keystroke Analytics to Improve Pass-Fail Classifiers

Learning analytics offers insights into student behaviour and the potential to detect poor performers before they fail exams. If the activity is primarily online (for example computer programming), a wealth of low-level data can be made available that allows unprecedented accuracy in predicting which students will pass or fail. In this paper, we present a classification system for early detection of poor performers based on student effort data, such as the complexity of the programs they write, and show how it can be improved by the use of low-level keystroke analytics.