Computational Intelligence in Digital Pedagogy

Intelligent Systems Reference Library 197
Arpan Deyasi · Soumen Mukherjee ·

Anirban Mukherjee ·
Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee ·
Arindam Mondal Editors
Computational
Intelligence
in Digital
Pedagogy
Intelligent Systems Reference Library
Volume 197
Series Editors
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Lakhmi C. Jain, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, Centre for
Artificial Intelligence, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia;
KES International, Shoreham-by-Sea, UK;
Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK
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Arpan Deyasi Soumen Mukherjee
• •
Anirban Mukherjee Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee

• •
Arindam Mondal
Editors
Computational Intelligence
in Digital Pedagogy
123
Editors
Arpan Deyasi Soumen Mukherjee
Department of Electronics Department of Computer Application
and Communication Engineering RCC Institute of Information Technology
RCC Institute of Information Technology Kolkata, India
Kolkata, India
Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee
Anirban Mukherjee Department of Computer Science
Department of Information Technology and Engineering
RCC Institute of Information Technology RCC Institute of Information Technology
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India
Arindam Mondal
Department of Computer Application
RCC Institute of Information Technology
Kolkata, India
ISSN 1868-4394 ISSN 1868-4408 (electronic)

Intelligent Systems Reference Library
ISBN 978-981-15-8743-6 ISBN 978-981-15-8744-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
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Singapore
Anirban Mukherjee dedicates to
his mother Sunanda, wife Attreyee and son
Ritam
Arpan Deyasi dedicates to

The teachers who ignites the passion for
teaching
Soumen Mukherjee dedicates to

his father, mother, wife Koyal and
eight-year-old son Aarush
Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee dedicates to

his parents, Sandhya and Mrityunjoy
Bhattacharjee,
for always being there with him
Arindam Mondal dedicates to

his mother, wife and son for always loving
and supporting him
Foreword
“If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the
mountain,” Francis Bacon writes in his essays in the year 1625. Quoting this, Swami
Vivekananda introduces Maharaja of Mysore to a new idea in a letter written to him
in the year 1894 that “If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go
to him.” Not leaving at that Vivekananda also suggests a technique though rudi-
mentary yet befitting its time. In the wake of Digital Revolution, taking the education
to the doorstep of one and all with ease is a dream coming true for every
educationalist.
Education with adroit promptness has at all times incorporated the then-
emerging technologies in appropriate measure for its promotion and propagation.
We are now in the era of data science, during which time it has become both trend
and trade for a mass of apparently insignificant data to be subjected to the lens of
algorithmic scrutiny in the hope of revealing meaningful insights into the past,
present and/or future. The seemingly unobjective targets that have suffered so long
with subjective bias are now, with improved precision, being rendered as estimable
and thereby actionable metric. Such a reality is presented before us by a plethora of
tools and techniques that have been developed over a period of time under the
umbrella of soft computing which in its ever-evolving state is being broadly
addressed as computational intelligence.
Computational intelligence has found application in every line of business that
can promise to quantify facts and figures. Digital pedagogy being one such has been
chosen as the theme of this compilation in which a lot of practitioners and
researchers in the field of education have contributed their thought-provoking
articles, their findings that can change the way we are practicing pedagogy, and
their suggestions for the improvement of practices in vogue keeping intact the
principle and philosophy of pedagogy. The time is opportune for such a publication
to reach the eager educator to benefit.
vii
viii Foreword
I am sure that this much-awaited compilation will be widely received by edu-

cators at large and that it ushers in its trail a demand and compulsion to produce
another comprehensive sequel under this theme.
Swami Dhyanagamyananda
Head
Department of Computer Science
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda
Educational and Research Institute
Belur, Howrah, India
Preface
In modern science and engineering, didactics is primarily shaped and conceptual-

ized by introduction of technology, where information-based teaching is integrated
with experimental, computational and self-learning methodologies for producing
better learning outcome. Among the different pedagogic methods, active learning,
flipped learning, blended learning and adaptive learning are now the choices of
researchers and practitioners with encouraging flexibility and scope offered by the
digital media and technology. With the continuous development of new computing
technologies like machine learning, deep learning, big data, data science along with
the growing computing capacities of intelligent machines, new scopes and chal-
lenges are opening up for teaching–learning in higher education segment, precisely
in engineering or technical education.
With national and international regulatory guideline of measurable program
outcome, course outcome and program educational objectives in an ecosystem of
outcome-based technical education (OBTE), it is now a challenge for the higher
education institutes, administrators, educators and teaching staffs to continuously
measure, monitor, analyze and redefine the outcomes and its parameters. Here
comes the importance of digital pedagogy aided by computational intelligence.
Intelligent capturing, analysis and interpretation of large amount of primary and
secondary data lead to predictive outcome and also suggest necessary modifications
in the rubrics and target outcomes. Evaluation being a major part of pedagogy,
intelligent assessment of subjective and objective responses can be developed in
online/offline mode that will necessitate imminent change in pedagogic strategies
from the traditional ones to digital-based strategies; the later should include inter-
active teaching dashboard, online interactive course content (MOOC) with
embedded assessment and polling mechanism, response-sensitive intelligent
tutoring, etc.
Good use of AI across digital pedagogic platforms can make teaching–learning
more independent of human factor (teacher/student quality), time and place and at
the same time more impactful and enjoyable for the learners. Providing access to
the digital media and learning tools (even to the extent of mobile apps) to the
students would allow them to keep pace with innovations in learning technologies,
ix
x Preface
learn according to their own pace and understanding level and have instantaneous
feedback and evaluation.
This book is a collection of fourteen chapters that depict some of the very recent
unpublished research works, survey and case studies in the field of digital pedagogy
and some very intriguing discussions, thoughts and analysis of perceived changes in
the pedagogic strategies in technical education system. Examples of pedagogical
possibilities that are both new and currently practiced across a range of teaching
contexts are featured in the book. The chapters have been carefully selected out of
several submissions following a rigorous review, revision and editing process. It is
indeed encouraging for the editors to bring out this collection under Springer Nature
edited series Intelligent Systems Reference Library (ISRL), and the book is expected
to evoke interest of researchers of different backgrounds owing to its cross-platform
characteristics. An overview of the chapters of the book is given as follows:
The chapter titled Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-oriented Teaching–Learning
Method based on Critical Thinking discusses at length a new pedagogical concept
known as authentic learning which is an instructional learning strategy based on
development of tangible prototypes through project-oriented activities. This strat-
egy helps the learners develop solutions of real-world problems following agile
methodology. The authors have shown the efficacy of the method by experimenting
it with a group of learners and also compared the results with flipped learning
method in technical pedagogy domain.
In the chapter titled A Set of Empirical Models to Evaluate E-learning Websites
and their Comparison, design of an e-learning software evaluator has been pro-
posed that will not only evaluate but also rank the different e-learning educational
websites that are frequently referred by students and researchers. Students very
often face problems in selecting an appropriate e-learning platform as they might
not be well informed about the quality of the online courses and the e-learning
software. The authors have proposed analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and
Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
The chapter titled Multimedia-based Learning Tools and Its Scope, Applications
for Virtual Learning Environment depicts the impact of multimedia-based inter-
active teaching material in the understanding of the content. The authors have
shown with statistical analysis how multimedia and image processing tools are
inevitable in web-based learning systems for online interactive self-learning which
may well turn out to be the basic mode of learning for the future generation.
In modern teaching–learning as well as in academic administration, social media
is gradually gaining in importance for its versatility of information dissemination
and opinion exchange. In the chapter titled Social Network Analysis in Education: A
Study, the authors have reported their unique research on how to detect useful data
from massive databases of educational data in social media by applying some data
mining algorithm. Such data is extracted to understand and measure the perfor-
mance of student and is also helpful to study students’ thinking pattern, weakness,
focus, etc. For the academic administrators, such media-data mining technique
helps them take important decisions by detecting a trend of opinion.
Preface xi
In the chapter titled Personalization in Education using Recommendation

System: An Overview, the authors have presented the concept and benefit of
e-learning recommender system, the primary aim of which is to assist users
searching for e-learning content of their choice to cope with data overload of large
pool of available materials. The authors have discussed five categories of basic
recommender systems presently in practice and also compared pros and cons of
some of the existing systems. Finally, while outlining few challenges of recom-
mendation engine like gray-sheep problem, cold start problem, etc., a new rec-
ommendation framework has been proposed in this chapter which is expected to
cope with some of these challenges.
The authors of the chapter titled Automation of Attainment Calculation in
Outcome-Based Technical Education (OBTE) targeted an intelligent system to
determine the attainment of outcome of a course automatically based on the clas-
sified student data and course rubrics. In view of national and international edu-
cation policy, OBTE is fast becoming a mandatory standard. In this automated
processing, huge academic data for calculation of attainment can help reduce
manual involvement and ensure quality of information generated. A machine
learning approach has been adopted to design the prototype system.
The chapter titled Quality Issues in Teaching–Learning Process deals with the
quality issues mainly in the field of technical education system which is gradually
transforming from traditional system to digital system but still facing the challenges
of VUCA, i.e., volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of LT process. In
the context of digital pedagogy, the author discusses different ICT-based LT
methodology including flipped teaching, collaborative learning, active learning and
presented through a case study how digital pedagogy can promote independent
learning among students.
There has been a paradigm shift in the scope and pedagogy of English language
teaching in technical education domain in last ten years or so with introduction of
language laboratory in the technical institutions in India. The learners are facilitated
to master the fundamental English communication skills through digital pedagogy
techniques aided by multimedia-infused visual, aural, audio-visual and verbal
communication devices. The author presents the findings of an interesting research
on the justification, advantage and future scope of trending pedagogy specific to
English language laboratory in the chapter titled Digital English Language
Laboratory: Roles, Challenges and Scopes for the Future Development in India.
The chapter titled Overview and Future Scope of SWAYAM in the World of
MOOCS: A Comparative Study with Reference to Major International MOOCS
presents a comparative study of SWAYAM, an online digital resource platform
sponsored and developed by MHRD, Govt. of India, with respect to other inter-
national MOOCS to understand the future viability, sustainability and further scope
of the same as SWAYAM is a benchmark standard of digital pedagogy in India.
The study analyzes the effectiveness of SWAYAM courses on certain parameters
and also proposes how intelligent tutoring features like augmented reality, simu-
lated environment, virtual assistant and predictive guidance can be embedded in the
xii Preface
SWAYAM courses to make it more user-friendly and effective for personalized

learning experience.
Blending of Traditional System and Digital Pedagogy: An Indian Perspective is
another chapter that presents a study on changing scenario of teaching–learning in
India and explores blending of digitized facilities in traditional system. At first, it
gives a brief survey on blended learning. Then it presents two teaching–learning
models incorporating digital technology—one is the Intelligent School Network for
Research (ISNR) and the other is the Intelligent Feedback System for Classrooms
(IFSC). It shows how formative assessment of learners can be done using intelligent
data analysis.
In the chapter titled Application of Internet of Things in Digital Pedagogy, a
novel application of IoT in digital pedagogy is presented by the authors. It describes
how learners can access resources in a smart learning environment using IoT
applications in their mobiles. A system is proposed that enables students to connect
and interact with the augmented objects in their learning space to collect infor-
mation which in turn improves their collaborative learning outcome. The system is
validated by a experiment using control group and experimental group of students
of engineering.
The authors of the chapter titled An Innovative Step for Enhancement in Students
Result and Teaching–Learning Process Using Educational Technology have
clearly explained the formative and summative assessment techniques of traditional
pedagogy in higher education domain and in this context highlighted the possible
application of AI and machine learning techniques in student’s result analysis.
Finally, the authors have presented statistical results of a case study that compared
the learning outcomes of a traditional classroom and online digital classroom of
computer science and engineering.
Digital Pedagogical Paradigm in Language Lab-based English Teaching for
Higher Technical Education is another chapter of the book that deals with smart
teaching of communicative English. It presents a digital pedagogical model that
specifies how to handle digital language laboratory to develop communicative
competence of UG engineering students. The authors elaborate how instead of using
digital language laboratory as an alternative of smart classroom, specific strategies,
dynamic lesson plans, interactive assessment techniques and software/hardware
tools and facilities should be adopted or availed by English language teachers so as
to fulfill the learning outcomes as per global accreditation norms.
In the chapter titled A Novel Outcome Evaluation Model Blended with
Computational Intelligence and Digital Pedagogy for UG Engineering Education,
a novel model is proposed which exhibits the importance of computational intel-
ligence applied over input academic data of a higher education institution so as to
achieve the benchmark criteria in program outcome. Novelty of the proposed model
also lies in the fact that it considers any change of pedagogical techniques for
benefit of the students, if necessary. The authors have indicated use of different soft
computing, machine learning techniques including SVM, ANN, text mining, fuzzy
logic, clustering and classification in different phase of data analysis to get the
desired output.
Preface xiii
The book does not claim to cover all possible applications of computational
intelligence in educational technology but serves as an valuable pointer to the vast
opportunity that exists in leveraging technological advancements in disseminating
knowledge and skill to the digital age students and most seamlessly integrate digital
pedagogy strategies in the day-to-day teaching–learning process so as to make it
more effortless and enjoyable. The research works or ideas presented in the book
are scalable in future and might become more relevant and valuable in near future
when the AI wave is going to hit the higher education sector in an overwhelming
manner.
It is needless to mention that the effort of the editors to bring out this volume
would not have been successful without the valuable contribution and cooperation
rendered by the authors. The editors take this opportunity to express their thanks to
Springer Nature, to provide the scope to edit such a concise and quality volume on a
theme on which not many titles are available. The editors would also like to express
their heartfelt thanks to Mr. Maniarasan Gandhi, the Project Coordinator, and Mr.
Aninda Bose, Senior Editor, Springer, for their encouragement and support right
from the proposal phase. We are overwhelmed to receive the blessings of Swami
Dhyanagamyananda, Head, Department of Computer Science, Ramakrishna
Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Belur, through his illu-
minating Foreword that speaks about the relevance of this compilation. Last but not
least, the editors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the reviewers who have
shared their valuable expertise and time in meticulously reviewing the chapters
included or excluded in this volume.
We sincerely hope that the proposed book would come to the benefit of
researchers and administrators in education sectors. Since the book contains several
methodologies of teaching and assessment using digital platform, it is likely to help
the faculty members in colleges and also the teachers of schools to implement it in
their day-to-day academics. Towards outcome-based course planning and assess-
ment, this book can also be useful as it provides important pointers to application of
soft computing techniques in data analysis and interpretation.
We invite any suggestion and criticism of this treatise from the readers with an
open mind. This will help us to better shape the future volumes of this title. We also
invite innovative research ideas or proposals or case study report or pointers to new
avenues in pedagogy domain that can be explored. You can mail your ideas to the
School of Digital Pedagogy, RCCIIT, Kolkata (at sdp.rcciit@gmail.com)—an ini-
tiative of the editors to foster research and practice in intelligent educational
technology.
Kolkata, India Arpan Deyasi

Soumen Mukherjee
Anirban Mukherjee
Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee
Arindam Mondal
Contents
1 Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented Teaching–Learning

Method Based on Critical Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 1
Arpan Deyasi, Swapan Bhattacharyya, Pampa Debnath,
and Angsuman Sarkar
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Comparative Studies Between Pedagogic Principles . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Procedure of Authentic Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Incorporation of Statistical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Results and Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5.1 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5.2 Quality Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 A Set of Empirical Models to Evaluate E-learning Web Sites
and Their Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21
Soumili Dey, Suchandra Datta, Anal Acharya, and Debabrata Datta
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 Proposed Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3.1 Parameters Considered for Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.2 Proposed Model Using PCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.3 Proposed Model Using AHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4.1 Results Using PCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.4.2 Results Using AHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.4.3 Comparison Between the Proposed Methodologies . . . . 41
2.5 Conclusion and Future Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
xv
xvi Contents
3 Multimedia-Based Learning Tools and Its Scope, Applications

for Virtual Learning Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
S. N. Kumar, A. Lenin Fred, Parasuraman Padmanabhan,
Balazs Gulyas, Charles Dyson, R. Melba Kani, and H. Ajay Kumar
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48
3.2 Features and Challenges in Multimedia-Based
Learning Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3 Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4 Social Network Analysis in Education: A Study . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 65
Poulomi Samanta, Dhrubasish Sarkar, Dipak K. Kole,
and Premananda Jana
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 66
4.2 Basic Terms and Concepts Associated with Social Network
Analysis in Education Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.3 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3.1 Data Mining in Educational Data and Application . . . . 76
4.4 Application of SNA in Education: Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.5 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.6 Conclusion and Future Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5 Personalization in Education Using Recommendation System:
An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 85
Subhra Samir Kundu, Dhrubasish Sarkar, Premananda Jana,
and Dipak K. Kole
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.2 Basic Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2.1 E-learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2.2 Integrated Classroom Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2.3 Recommendation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.2.4 Collaborative Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.2.5 Content Based Recommendation System . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.2.6 Hybrid Recommendation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.3 Overview of Recommendation System in E-learning
Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.4 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.5 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.6 Proposed Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.7 Conclusion and Future Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Contents xvii
6 Automation of Attainment Calculation in Outcome-Based

Technical Education (OBTE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Nikita Gupta and Arijit Ghosal
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.2 Previous Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.3 Proposed Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.3.1 Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.3.2 Description of the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
6.4 Case Study of CO, PO, and PSO Attainment Using Rubrics
for a Set of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.4.1 Generation of CO–PO, CO–PSO, Course–PO,
and Course–PSO Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.4.2 Generation of Course–PO and Course–PSO Mapping
at Program Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.4.3 Measuring Course Outcomes Attained Through
University Examination (External Assessment) . . . . . . . 125
Internal Examinations, Assignments, etc.
(Internal Assessment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.4.5 Course Outcome Direct Attainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.4.6 Course Outcome Indirect Attainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.4.7 Total PO and PSO Attainment in Program Level . . . . . 129
6.5 Comparative Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
7 Quality Issues in Teaching–Learning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Habiba Hussain
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
7.2 Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.3 VUCA and Quality in the LT Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.4 Characteristics of Quality Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
7.5 Teaching Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7.6 Case in Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.7 Quality Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
7.8 Quality Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7.9 Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7.10 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
xviii Contents
8 Digital English Language Laboratory: Roles, Challenges

and Scopes for the Future Development in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Anwesha Basu
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
8.1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
8.1.2 Novelty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
8.2 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
8.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
8.4 Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
8.4.1 Personality Types and Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
8.4.2 Impact of Gender and Cultural Differences on
Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
8.4.3 Learning English as a Second Language: The Role
of the Digital Language Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8.4.4 Difference Between a Traditional Language
Laboratory and a Digital Language Laboratory . . . . . . 156
8.4.5 Roles of a Digital Language Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . 156
8.5 A Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
8.5.1 Language Laboratory at RCC Institute of Information
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
8.5.2 The Survey Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.5.3 Data Collection and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.5.4 Challenges of the Digital Language Laboratory
in India and Probable Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . 163
8.6 Scope for the Future Development of Digital English
Language Laboratory: Role of Artificial Intelligence . . . . . . . . . 164
8.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
9 Overview and Future Scope of SWAYAM in the World of
MOOCS: A Comparative Study with Reference to Major
International MOOCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Madhu Agarwal Agnihotri and Arkajyoti Pandit
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
9.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
9.3 Research Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
9.4 Need for Comparison of Swayam with Major MOOCS . . . . . . . 172
9.5 An Overview of Swayam in 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
9.6 Research Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
9.7 Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
9.8 Rationale for Choosing Each Parameter and Its Contributing
Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
9.9 Analysis and Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
9.9.1 Numerical Analysis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Contents xix
9.9.2 Theoretical Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

9.9.3 Graphical Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
9.9.4 Summary Table and Graph for Horizontal Summation
Analysis of Parameters Discussed in Table 9.4 . . . . . . . 191
9.10 Application of Computational Intelligence in MOOCS . . . . . . . 196
9.10.1 Stage I—Learner Enrolment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.10.2 Stage II—Proposed Model for Learning Process
in MOOCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.11 Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
9.12 Future Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
9.13 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
10 Blending of Traditional System and Digital Pedagogy: An Indian
Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Ishita De Ghosh and Satrajit Ghosh
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
10.2 Blending of Traditional System and Digital Pedagogy:
An Indian Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
10.2.1 Digital Pedagogy Initiatives in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
10.2.2 Computational Intelligence: Applications in
Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
10.3 Nurturing Innovation Using Digital Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
10.3.1 Proposed Model 1: Intelligent School Network for
Research (ISNR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
10.3.2 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.3.3 Benefits of ISNR Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.4 Computational Intelligence for Formative Assessment . . . . . . . . 212
10.4.1 Proposed Model 2: Intelligent Feedback System for
Classrooms (IFSC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
10.4.2 Benefits of IFSC Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.5.1 Contribution of the Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
10.5.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
11 Application of Internet of Things in Digital Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . 219
Monu Bhagat, Dilip Kumar, and Sushma M. Balgi
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
11.2 Motivation and Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
11.3 Literature Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
11.4 Advantages of IoT in Education [6, 7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
11.4.1 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
11.4.2 Personalized Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
xx Contents
11.4.3 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

11.4.4 Interactive Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
11.4.5 Increasing Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
11.5 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
11.6 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
11.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
12 An Innovative Step for Enhancement in Student Results
and Teaching–Learning Process Using Educational
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Sudhanshu S. Gonge, Ratnashil N. Khobragade, Vilas M. Thakare,
Vivek S. Deshpande, and Manikrao L. Dhore
12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
12.1.1 Formative Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
12.1.2 Summative Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
12.2 Literature Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
12.3 Artificial Intelligence in Education Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
12.4 Role of Computational Intelligence in Result Analysis . . . . . . . 240
12.4.1 Supervised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.4.2 Unsupervised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.4.3 Reinforcement Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.4.4 Ensemble Learning Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.5 Fundamentals of Teachers’ Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
12.5.1 Teaching Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
12.5.2 Teaching Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
12.5.3 Teaching Relationship with Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
12.5.4 Reflection with Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
12.6 Statistical T-Test Analysis of CSE Students
for Outcome-Based Teaching–Learning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
12.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
13 Digital Pedagogical Paradigm in Language Lab-Based English
Teaching for Higher Technical Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Sadhan Kumar Dey and Alice Dey
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
13.2 Language Lab-Based English Teaching Across Time
and Clime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
13.3 Digital Lesson Plan for Lab-Based English Teaching . . . . . . . . 255
13.4 Pedagogical Progress of English Teaching Across
the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
13.5 Teaching English for Technical Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Contents xxi
13.6 Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Strategies in Operation . . . . . . . 266

13.7 Adapting Digital Pedagogy in Technical Education . . . . . . . . . . 270
13.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
14 A Novel Outcome Evaluation Model Blended with Computational
Intelligence and Digital Pedagogy for UG Engineering
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Arpan Deyasi, Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee, and Soumen Mukherjee
14.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
14.1.1 Digital Pedagogy: Significance in Present Education
Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
14.1.2 Outcome-Based Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
14.1.3 Role of Computational Intelligence in Output
Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
14.1.4 Why Outcome Measurement Is Important in Today’s
Perspective? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
14.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
14.2.1 Related Works on Digital Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
14.2.2 Related Works on Computational Intelligence
Applied to Digital Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
14.3 Measurement of Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
14.3.1 Relation Between PO, PSO, CO, PEO for Outcome
Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
14.3.2 Relevant Parameters Required for Estimation . . . . . . . . 286
14.3.3 Role of C.I. for Outcome Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
14.4 Application of Model for Institute-Level Accreditation . . . . . . . 287
14.5 Setting Guideline for Future TLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
14.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
14.7 Future Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
About the Editors
Arpan Deyasi is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of

Electronics and Communication Engineering in RCC Institute of Information
Technology, Kolkata, India. He has 13 years of professional experience in aca-
demics and industry. He received B.Sc. (Hons.), B.Tech., M.Tech. degree from the
University of Calcutta. He is working in the area of semiconductor nanostructure
and semiconductor photonics, and also on pedagogic principles. He has published
more than 150 peer-reviewed research papers including book chapters, and a few
edited volumes under the banner of CRC Press, IGI Global, etc. His major teaching
subjects are solid state device, electromagnetics, photonics and pedagogical studies
in P.G. courses. He is reviewer of a few journals of repute and some prestigious
conferences in India and abroad. He has delivered a few talks and conducted
hands-on sessions on nanolelectronics, photonics and electromagnetics in various
FDP’s, workshops and seminars. He is the Editor of various conference proceedings
and edited volumes. He is a member of IEEE Electron Device Society, IE(I), OSI,
IETE, ISTE, ACM, etc.
Soumen Mukherjee did his B.Sc. (Physics Honours) from Calcutta University,
MCA from Kalyani University and ME in Information Technology from West
Bengal University of Technology. He is the silver medallist in the ME course of the
University. He has done his Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from
the Institute of Management Technology, Center of Distance Learning, Ghaziabad.
He is now working as an Assistant Professor in RCC Institute of Information
Technology, Kolkata. He has more than 17 years of teaching experience in the field
of Computer Science and Application. He has over 40 research papers published in
different national and international journals, conferences and 9 book chapters in
different books by international publishers. He has contributed to over 20 inter-
nationally acclaimed books in the field of Computer Science and Engineering and
edited 3 book volumes. He got best paper awards in international conferences. His
research fields are image processing, machine learning and pedagogy. He is a life
member of several institutions like IETE, CSI, ISTE and FOSET.
xxiii
xxiv About the Editors
Dr. Anirban Mukherjee did his Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1994 from
Jadavpur University, Kolkata and a professional Diploma in Operations
Management (PGDOM) in 1998 from IGNOU. He completed his Ph.D. from
Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, in 2014.
He is currently Professor in the Department of Information Technology at RCC
Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata, India. He has more than 20 years of
teaching experience and 6 years of industry experience. His research interest
includes computer graphics, computational intelligence, optimization, pattern
recognition and engineering pedagogy. He has co-authored two UG engineering
textbooks and more than 18 textbooks on Computer Graphics/Multimedia for
distance learning courses BBA/MBA/BCA/MCA of different universities across
India. Besides authoring several papers and chapters published in journals/
conferences and books, he is the Co-Editor of six edited books. He is a member
of the editorial review board of the International Journal of Ambient Computing
and Intelligence (IJACI) and Fellow of IEI and life member of CSI.
Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee did his graduation from University of Calcutta,

Master of Computer Application (MCA) from University of Kalyani and M.Tech
from West Bengal University of Technology. He is now working as an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, RCC Institute of
Information Technology, Kolkata, India. He is teaching core and electives courses
in undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the field of Computer Science for
last 18 years. He has published many research papers in different national and
international journal and conferences. He has edited 2 books and contributed to
over 20 internationally acclaimed books in the field of computer science and
engineering. He has 4 book chapters in book volumes of international publishers.
His studies continue in the areas of soft and evolutionary computing, object
oriented technology.
Dr. Arindam Mondal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer

Application, RCC Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata, India. He com-
pleted his doctorate degree in science from Jadavpur University in the year 2017.
He has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers in reputed national & international
journals and conferences and also edited proceedings of international IEEE con-
ferences. His current research interests include heavy ion physics, image process-
ing, pattern recognition and pedagogy. He is presently working on an authored
textbook in Computer Graphics and Multimedia.
Chapter 1
Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented
Teaching–Learning Method Based
on Critical Thinking
Arpan Deyasi, Swapan Bhattacharyya, Pampa Debnath,

and Angsuman Sarkar
Abstract Authentic learning is a typical organized and systematic learning strategy

which helps the learners to develop solutions in real-world problems guided by
proper instructional approaches. Development of tangible prototypes is the primary
target that can be achieved through instructional learning begins form classroom and
laboratory sessions, which ultimately blossoms through project-oriented activities,
following agile methodology. Results obtained after implementing the proposed tech-
nique over more than hundred learners depict that proper metacognition of learned
concepts along with implementation of thinking skills through project-oriented activ-
ities can improve the potentiality of students in future industry/academia sectors.
Results are also partially dependent with availability of infrastructural resources and
socio-humanitarian factors, but a far better compared to the data obtained when
flipped learning method is invoked. Learning outcome speaks clearly in favor of
implementing the technique in a wider domain and student community, precisely in
engineering teaching–learning method.
Keywords Traditional approach · Transfer of learning · Authentic learning ·

Pedagogy · Critical thinking · Project-oriented analysis
A. Deyasi (B) · P. Debnath

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, RCC Institute of Information
Technology, Kolkata 700015, India
e-mail: deyasi_arpan@yahoo.co.in
S. Bhattacharyya
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Siliguri Institute of Technology,
Darjeeling 734009, India
e-mail: swapanbhattacharyya@ieee.org
A. Sarkar
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Kalyani Govt. Engineering College,
Kalyani 741235, India
e-mail: angsumansarkar@ieee.org
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1

A. Deyasi et al. (eds.), Computational Intelligence in Digital Pedagogy,
Intelligent Systems Reference Library 197,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_1
2 A. Deyasi et al.
1.1 Introduction
In Indian academic structure, college holds the transition phase between student
and professional. The transition phase is significant in terms of both academic and
industry perspective. It gives the flavor of real-life applications in prototype format
where mode of learning becomes changes compared to school life. In general, tradi-
tional learning systems are till days followed in most of the undergraduate level insti-
tutions which follows the input–output-based system, i.e., the traditional pedagogical
approach. Students are considered as passive learner which does not give the flavor
of profound mastery through assimilation of content, but a superficial idea thanks to
the total marks-oriented evaluation process. This type of education is alternatively
called as content-driven education which basically follows a linear learning model
and is not at all suitable to meet the demand of the present century, as per the reports
published by Washington accord. Though curriculum has revised by different expert
bodies in different levels of education of different subjects, but owing to the adap-
tation of same process, outcome remains almost indifferent. However, changes are
slowly incorporating in this so-called process-driven education system by adopting
outcome-based method, precisely in the technological education sector where appli-
cation of the knowledge learned in the lecture theater speaks about quality of the
learners [1–3]. Henceforth, in this chapter, our discussion will be mostly limited in
the engineering education, and the impact of outcome-based method [4] compared
to the conservative method.
Several methods are already discussed and published by different educationists
in the last few years for incorporating the outcome-based system, and works are also
extended in medical domain also where real-time work deals with life of human and
animals [5]. Among the methods, flipped leaning [6], active learning [7], authentic
learning [8] and blended learning [9] are the choice of teachers because of their
novelties. Among them, a little bit focus is nowadays shifted into authentic learning
where all the students are engaged in problem-solving irrespective of dimensions
with the help of critical thinking. The problems are selected in such a way that only
textbooks and conventional working formulae are not at all sufficient to reach the
conclusion. It has also given some comfort zone to the teachers as it is completely
structured in terms of providing instructions, and all the end results are properly
collected in an organized fashion into portfolios. It is a mapping of classroom with
the real world through the problem-oriented assignments, but completely controlled
by instructions. Therefore, this type of learning can be considered as a series of well
thought-out activities.
Concept of authentic learning is not very old; actually, it evolves with changing
approaches of instructions inside the classroom [10]. Simultaneously, different cogni-
tive processes are also discussed [11] for the sake of various learning methods. Basi-
cally, authentic pedagogy helps the learners to solve equivalent real-life problems in
the four walls of classroom under instructional mode which is a shift of paradigm
[12] from the well-known marks-oriented approach. The prototypes developed can
be made a demonstrable product which helps a similarity analysis with the actual
1 Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented Teaching–Learning Method … 3
product available or required in the demand situation. Role of teacher is converted

from dictator to facilitator, also to become a project manager. Learning can be made
from environment, but not in a whimsical fashion, but under the structured guidance.
In authentic learning (AL), not only concepts are utilized, but the knowledge
is blended with the practical experience to ultimately produce a feasible outcome.
The design or the prototypes may not always be experimental, but simulation works
are equally accepted provided it is made under the environmental constraints. In this
context, student’s perspective becomes critically important [13] for successful imple-
mentation of the method. Different ways of support are also provided to the learner
to achieve the goal, which can be shared with local as well as maybe with global
community. Careful approach is made from teacher’s point of view to implement
optimal learning which is effectively utilized to produce meaningful tasks through
regular practice and that involves multi-sensory activities.
Not only outcome is mattered, but quality of the method to achieve it becomes
critically important and meaningful. The process should be ethical as per the norms
and that is checked. Through several unit level tests and assignments, a productive
skill set is generated by reiterative manner [14] within a pre-defined timeline. In this
context, it is the demand of teacher from learner side that he/she should introduce
the self-aggravated inquest methods to make the product, useful for at last a specific
community.
A learner-side approach is different from the traditional approach in the form
of role reversal. In the earlier age, authoritative figure is considered as teacher and
students are forced to play the passive role. However, in all modern pedagogical
methods, prominence is given to the learner as well in AL also [15]. Here, the
concept of authority is lost, and a shared mode of responsibility is invoked for both
the parties. Learning is given predominance over teaching. This happens as instructor
is converted to facilitator, so learners are forced to take additional burden coming out
from the passive shell. Role of the facilitator is more complex as all the learners do
not possess the equivalent background, equal interests of all the subjects and equal
foundation at the school level. Therefore, form the faculty’s point of view, a deeper
understanding is required. In active learning, teacher cannot impose restrictions [16],
but in authentic learning, restrictions are transported in a submissive way through
instructions of doing work. It is a sort of negotiation type of work. Each single
module of a particular course in any academic currculum that can be described in the
classroom should have blended with authentic experience [17], the way the students
can be familiar and quickly adopted. This is the objective of meaningful learning,
where knowledge can be transferred from ceremonial education to practice. Help
can only be provided from the facilitator side when it is desired.
The learning environment should be facilitative for AL, i.e., it should be supportive
for all category of students as far as practicable where reflective questions are given
weight. In order to do that, tasks should be organized in a careful manner where
critical hypothetical situations are incorporated. This will permit the learners to
think and to respond. The first is important in terms of cognitive skill, whereas
the second one supports psychomotor action. A transfer between these two skills
required organized debate and dialogue. Task should not be conventional, rather
4 A. Deyasi et al.
challenging, and performance should be assessed both in formative and summative

manner. Henceforth, in such situation, learner will take responsibility of learning [18]
with the facilitation. Here comes the importance of modern teaching pedagogies,
where authentic learning becomes vital due to its structured format. Critical thinking
helps to take on the role of professionals with the proper transferability of knowledge.
The tools and study materials are not exactly in the textbook format, but web-based
contents are given more acceptance than the traditional resources of knowledge. In
this context, one point can be emphasized that the role of textbook remains the same
and may never be replaced, but accessing multiple data through browsing becomes
a rather adopted method simultaneously which helps to solve real-life equivalent
problems. Role of collaborative work in this context [19] becomes important to
develop the process of critical thinking in the multidisciplinary environment.
In this present chapter, sample survey is carried out on few students where
authentic pedagogy is implemented. Results are shown as is available on a few
subjects and also compared with the data obtained using flipped learning technology.
Though the set of students on which the modified curriculum are imposed are different
than the students who have undergone the conventional teaching methodology, they
belong to the same curriculum, and the same set of courses are considered. At the
end, project-based work is invoked through instructional guidance, and results clearly
support this pedagogic technique. Statistical analysis has been performed to test the
null hypothesis, and result in certain cases speaks in favor of the choice of peda-
gogic method. The work has similarity with the management information system
(MIS) using agile methodology and therefore established the need of this dyadic in
present-day technical curriculum.
1.2 Comparative Studies Between Pedagogic Principles
Till date, a group of academicians proposed in favor of implementation of flipped

learning replacing traditional input–output-based system owing to its uniqueness
of giving learners more space, as well as it is a learner-centric approach [20, 21].
Flipped learning involves creating a classroom at home where a learner can proceed
in h(is/er) own pace at own time [6], and the assignments are solved in the next
day class. This is a reverse classroom strategy and is obviously gaining attention and
popularity among students [22] in various countries, as well as parts of Indian educa-
tional institutions also. However, it is heavily dependent on the availability of digital
resources and also of continuous communication along with infrastructural demand.
Web-based learning environment is the need of present generation for students [23],
and therefore, flipped learning becomes the choicest pedagogical technique nowa-
days. However, recent study shows that the technique generates poor results for a
few subjects compared to that obtained from traditional teaching–learning approach
[24], whereas for other subjects, it generates comparatively better result. A deeper
inspection reveals that for physics or mathematics-oriented subjects in engineering
education, flipped learning is miserably failure [44].
Implementation of active learning, as an alternative of flipped learning, is more

feasible due to the requirement of less number of infrastructural resources. It does not
require continuous uninterrupted Internet connections in the student’s home and is a
more systematic and pragmatic approach [25]. In this methodology, students practice
complex group problems through Think-Pair-Share mode [26], and outcome is finally
justified by project-based learning [27]. Project work gets the maximum importance
where all the learning of theoretical and laboratory classes are tested, and its impact
is measured by human performance and behavior [28]. Noticeable differences in
terms of outcome at every major and minor aspect are observed [24]. From present
Indian context, implementation of active learning is much financially justified than
flipped learning methodology.
A combination of the abovementioned learning technologies is called blended
learning, where focus is made on removal of mental barrier between learners and
facilitators [24]. Lecture classes are converted into assignment-based, and emphasis
is given on discussion forum [29, 30]. Findings after application of this methodology
are also available in different literatures for graduate and undergraduate level of
students [22, 25, 31, 32]. Results on Indian students are also reported very recently
[24].
Authentic learning is very close to blended learning with very little disparity. It
is primarily dependent on instructional guideline, and systematic progress is made.
Proper instructional approach is applied on different set of learners, and measurable
differences are recorded for its further use. Active learning is basically a subclass of
authentic learning, which is project-oriented, but that has to be performed within the
given instructions. This constraint is far practicable, but it is found that it produces
comparatively better results than other pedagogical procedures returned. In this tech-
nique, the instructor has the opportunity to tune the performance and therefore gets
some indication of student understanding of the material presented during the lecture
itself. In the next section, a comparative study is presented between two different sets
of students where flipped learning pedagogy and authentic learning technique are
independently applied. Both the sets of students are from undergraduate technical
level, and different types of courses are taken for the experiment purpose. Results
and corresponding methodology become critically important, whenever applied to a
large database in real world.
1.3 Procedure of Authentic Learning
Education of students either in school level or in degree courses is a really complex

and difficult task which has to be performed relentlessly by teachers within a pre-
defined time frame. Highly skilled and qualified teachers provide explicit instructions
to train the students, as per the demand of the educational institutions and also of
society. Professionals are bit more mature, and therefore, they can adopt various
ways of learning [33] to develop skill, attitude and knowledge (information). The
age of science and technology serves the data to all classes of people more easily,
6 A. Deyasi et al.
and therefore, representing new information is not essential, but representing in the
new mode becomes vital. The importance of right pedagogical approaches comes
here and plays a vital role in shaping and nurturing young minds. Learners can get
their required meta-cognitive and procedural knowledge about the outside world
form the teaching–learning process and be measured as outcome of the course [33].
Professional courses are nowadays designed in such a way that it can develop the
logical thinking process based on the accumulated concepts, and these concepts,
whenever utilized for the benefit of mankind, may be termed as practical education.
At that point, need of the education is succeeded. School level courses deal with
natural science and elementary science, but these learning are mostly devoid of prac-
tical aspects, though curriculum is design for learner-centric perspective. Teaching–
learning for these elementary science levels consists of classroom lecture, discus-
sions, tutorials, laboratory classes, projects, seminars and field works. The pedagogic
principle adopted at this juncture becomes the key player for outcome measurement.
The most popular teaching method is the lecture method where instructor can
simulate and create interest among learners, and the people on the other side of the
table can express their opinions or can create it. This is basically utilized to promote
the learning. Through proper instruction, it can impart meaningful information and
thereby develop critical thinking [34]. This method is popular in all the places across
world, and it will remain popular as expected [35]. Through this method, a large
number of audiences can be set into a particular tune, thereby saving time and helps
to save financial crunch. Existing academic limitations can be overcome by lecture.
However, different learners need different methods of inputs and time consumption
also, and therefore, tutorials can play a vital role. This tutorial method deals with
small no. of group size, so this is a suitable addition with the lectures [36]. A proper
combination of lecture and tutorial can clear the concepts and prepare the learner for
the next level, i.e., for implementation.
Lecturing is the choicest method in a large size class, and scarcity of human
resources makes the demand. However, once the phase is over, hands-on experience
plays the vital role, which is termed as laboratory class. Also in semester system,
this method is the most suitable to cover a large size audience [34]. In the laboratory
sessions, where implementation and design have the sole objectives, learners can get
the space and infrastructural opportunities so that the learned concepts can take shape.
Now this procedure looks almost similar to active learning [37]. However, a small
difference exists between these two. Activity learning consists of different activities
performed immediately after theoretical learning [29]. However, role of instruc-
tional guideline is not a major factor in the activity guideline is not a major factor
is the activity guideline [38]. But in case of authentic learning, laboratory classes
are based on instructional guideline initially. The implementation phase consists of
design-oriented problem, i.e., the project-based activities have the flexibility, where
outcome is the only fundamental criterion. The varieties of activities are not primary
in authentic learning, but care is taken in such a way that optimal number of activities
is enough to learn and assimilate the concepts learned in theoretical classes. Group
discussions and seminar presentations are the two popular activities for literature-
type courses, where proper instructional guideline makes the learner to understand
the real-world problems better.
Project-based activity is the implementation phase where learner can be accom-
modated with real-world problems and will try to solve that [39]. Activities that must
be followed are designed specifically for students to use it at home and in the society
for promoting knowledge and can be used in many places and in solving different
environmental complications. However, choice of problem is partially controlled at
the initial phase through instructional guideline. So the term ‘authentic’ is justified,
and more precisely, the development life cycle of the project almost follows the
agile methodology [40]. This completes the total procedure of authentic learning,
quite contrary to flipped learning, and almost similar to activity learning. In the
next section, vis-a-vis comparative study is performed between different pedagogic
procedures.
1.4 Incorporation of Statistical Analysis
For authentication of the findings obtained through different pedagogical techniques,

we have introduced a few statistical analyses. A few related works are already
published in various literatures where multiple linear regression methods are invoked
[41, 42]. It is considered as one of the major statistical techniques for predicting
student’s performance and therefore can safely be chosen for understanding the
impact of pedagogy on learning outcome. Also the quality parameters at the end
play a pivotal role in selecting the right mode of pedagogy where significance value
becomes critically important. Under this situation, t-test can be considered as a
tool for performance measurement. A few works are reported earlier involving t-
test [43]. Therefore, we have also incorporated his method. Results of both the
methods are summarized properly in the next section along with the detailed tables
obtained. Important findings are properly highlighted, and significance of the results
is discussed. Key features from the analysis are critically mentioned in the conclu-
sion section with an overall comparative study between two pedagogic principles,
and pros and cons of both of them are mentioned.
1.5 Results and Discussions
Two different sets of students are considered for performance analysis in consecutive
two years. One group is subjected to flipped learning, whereas other group is under-
gone authentic learning technique. All the learning subjects are kept same under
the same curriculum so that comparison can be justified. Results are also compared
with the data obtained from active learning technique, wherever possible. Also the
8 A. Deyasi et al.
feedback data are compared as the effectiveness of teaching, which can be utilized
to monitor the progress and the modification of applied technique in the next cycle.
1.5.1 Performance
The first analysis tarts with the performance of students in the first year of UG course,
and data are taken consecutively for two years. Comparative study is performed
with the students’ undergone flipped learning techniques. Table 1.1 deals with the
attendance for flipped learning, whereas Table 1.2 consists of the data for authentic
learning. Significant positive changes are given in blue color, whereas negative
changes are indicated by red color (above 70%).
A closer inspection between two tables shows that flipped learning technique
becomes effective in humanities discipline or where mathematical/physical appli-
cation is less. It is also successful for programming-oriented papers. However,
for physics and electronics engg-related papers, flipped learning failed miserably.
This statement can more be justified once we will move toward the result analysis.
Henceforth, flipped learning methodology can be applied from case-to-case basis.
Once the performance is obtained, we have carried regression analysis on the
available dataset to analyze the effect of both the pedagogic principles on their grades
in classes for specific subjects. The summarized results obtained after regression
analysis are organized in Table 1.3 and Table 1.4, respectively. /result is computed
Table 1.1 Performance for the papers when flipped learning is invoked
Chemistry Physics Mathemati English Programmi Basic Mechanics
cs language for ng electronics
communicat language engg
ion
201 201 201 201 201 201 2016 2017 201 201 201 201 201 201
6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7
Abo 9.47 13.2 57.4 32.1 57.1 13.5 7.28 23.1 8.04 30.1 55.4 30.2 55.3 29.1
ve 8 9 8 1 9 2 9 8 2 2
90%
80 – 19.4 24.5 25.0 21.4 26.4 33.3 7.9 35.3 17.0 29.5 27.2 20.4 26.3 18.0
89% 7 2 9 6 1 3 4 9 8 3 2 8 8
70 – 29.4 22.1 13.9 18.3 11.2 9.56 29.7 35.2 25.1 20.1 14.5 17.9 12.3 15.8
79% 7 9 4 9 3 7 3 2 2 8 4 5
60 – 9.47 18.2 3.14 10.3 0.5 20.7 45.5 4.32 35.1 8.25 2.02 11.2 3.57 16.3
69% 8 4 3 8 8 1
belo 25.7 21.3 0.33 17.1 0.1 21.2 3.33 0.35 14.3 4.93 0.45 18.9 0.65 18.7
w 9 2 6 7 7 9
60%
Table 1.2 Performance for the papers when authentic learning is invoked
Chemistry Physics Mathemati English Programmi Basic Mechanics
cs language for ng electronics
communicat language engg
ion
201 201 201 201 201 201 2016 2017 201 201 201 201 201 201
6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7
Abo 46.3 58.2 35.7 47.2 45.1 23.5 15.2 13.5 9.04 4.12 33.5 42.5 45.2 48.1
ve 2 5 8 4 2 9 3 4 7 7 1 2
90%
80 – 23.1 26.2 20.7 25.3 32.1 33.3 9.52 11.2 21.6 22.3 28.7 35.1 25.3 28.8
89% 1 4 2 3 3 5 4 6 6 7
70 – 19.9 7.14 15.7 9.65 8.58 19.5 26.3 24.3 27.1 26.1 20.1 8.9 14.3 9.25
79% 8 4 6 8 4 8 7 4 2
60 – 4.2 3.25 14.5 7.58 3.21 10.7 34.8 28.5 30.2 38.2 4.89 7.41 2.34 6.3
69% 1 7 8
belo 2.1 2.65 5.47 3.7 2.3 11.2 5.8 9.78 4.89 3.73 7.54 2.43 7.12 1.34
w
60%
Table 1.3 Summary of the data obtained after regression analysis for flipped learning
Chemistry Physics Mathemat English Program Basic Mechanics
Performance ics language ming electronic
parameters for language s engg
communicat
ion
P-value 0.17133 0.037712 0.040468 0.841592 0.391982 0.038087 0.051898
R-Value 0.516544 0.808944 0.01331 0.015559 0.24914 0.807736 0.766049
Table 1.4 Summary of the data obtained after regression analysis for authentic learning
Chemistry Physics Mathemat English Program Basic Mechanics
Performance ics language ming electronic
parameters for language s engg
communicat
ion
P-value 0.014467 0.007663 0.120221 0.00133 0.005146 0.029309 0.00546
R-Value 0.897102 0.932131 0.607378 0.978673 0.947784 0.837428 0.945704
for all the seven subjects as given in the tables, and three most significant factors are
evaluated. Those are [i] Significance-F, R-value and P-value.
From the above analysis, it is found that if we incorporate flipped learning, grade is
severely deteriorated in physics, mathematics, basic electronics engg and mechanics,
which is established from the P-value. This is one significant determination form
10 A. Deyasi et al.
regression analysis, satisfied the dataset shown in Table 1.1. For physics and elec-
tronics, this is predicted and previously also reported for another different dataset
[24]; here, the same is observed from the R-value. Henceforth, flipped learning
model is not applicable to the analytical subjects, but can surely be applicable for
programming language, English and chemistry.
Consequently, if we adopt authentic learning method, it is found that except the
mathematics, it provides significant improvement for all other subjects and nega-
tive impact on programming language (combined with Table 1.2). Henceforth, for
computer language teaching, flipped learning is the most suitable technique, whereas
for core science and engineering papers, authentic learning pedagogy proves its
supremacy. A few tables obtained from regression analysis are given below for both
the pedagogical techniques (Tables 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8).
After performance evaluation of the first year of students, we have computed
the attendance variation w.r.t the year 2015. Corresponding variations of result and
placements are also tabulated. Data are shown in tabular format in Table 1.9.
From the analysis, it is found that flipped learning is not the best alternative
considering different socioeconomic scenario of learners, but in some cases, it works
fine. But authentic learning, when proper instructional guidance is provided, works
better for all the sections of people. Corresponding outcome is reflected in results
and placement scenario.
1.5.2 Quality Analysis
Next we have carried out comparative analysis of feedback for both the cases and
compared with existing data. Results are shown in Table 1.10. Graphical representa-
tion of the data is given in Fig. 1.1, separately for three classes. It may be presumed
that different reference levels are considered for making the classes. Figure 1.1a
represents the ‘delighted’ students, Fig. 1.1b speaks for ‘confused’ students, and
Fig. 1.1c indicates data for ‘boring’ students.
Now the authenticity of the result can be analyzed by t-test. So we have performed
t-test for all three datasets, and results are summarized in Table 1.11. From the results,
both t-stat and P-value are obtained.
Henceforth, it is justified from the t-test that authentic learning is enjoyable for
students across all subjects compared to flipped learning (dataset is taken consid-
ering the overall experience). This pedagogy can significantly improve the quality
of students by engaging more students and can be justified from the P-value for
delighted students as well as from the P-value of boring students. Since P-value indi-
cates significant changes, henceforth it is significant or both increment and reduction.
A few tables from the t-test are given below (Tables 1.12, 1.13 and 1.14):
Table 1.5 Regression analysis for performance in programming language under flipped learning
Summary output
Regression statistics
Multiple R 0.492326349
R-square 0.242385234
Adjusted R-square −0.010153022
Standard error 10.54058215
Observations 5
ANOVA
Df SS MS F Significance-F
Regression 1 106.63706 106.63706 0.9597961 0.399485126
Residual 3 333.31162 111.10387
Total 4 439.94868
Coefficients Standard error t-stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%
Intercept 28.15521775 9.6000771 2.9328116 0.0608623 58.70 6948 58.70694765
1 Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented Teaching–Learning Method …
−2.39651215 −2.3965122
X variable 1 −0.440495578 0.4496267 −0.9796918 0.3994851 −1.871408304 0.9904171 −1.8714083 0.990417149
11
12
Table 1.6 Regression analysis for performance in basic electronics engineering under flipped learning
Summary output
Multiple R 0.8987412
R-square 0.8077357
Adjusted R-square 0.7436476
Observations 5
ANOVA
Regression 1 1653.6849 1653.6849 12.603518 0.0380868
Residual 3 393.6246 131.2082
Total 4 2047.3095
Intercept −38.927389 17.355486 −2.2429444 0.110659 −94.160291 16.305512 −94.160291 16.305512
X variable 1 2.9753052 0.838 0803 3.550 1433 0.038 0868 0.3081596 5.6424508 0.3081596 5.6424508
A. Deyasi et al.
Table 1.7 Regression analysis for performance in physics under authentic learning
Summary output
Multiple R 0.965469
R-square 0.932131
Observations 5
ANOVA
Regression 1 463.068 463.068 41.20283 0.007663
Residual 3 33.71623 11.23874
Total 4 496.7843
Intercept 7.233332 2.301503 3.142874 0.051549 14.55774 14.55774
1 Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented Teaching–Learning Method …
−0.09108 −0.09108
X variable 1 0.59933 0.093369 6.418943 0.007663 0.302188 0.896472 0.302188 0.896472
13
14
Table 1.8 Regression analysis for performance in chemistry under authentic learning
Summary output
Multiple R 0.947155
R-square 0.897102
Observations 5
ANOVA
Regression 1 1138.158 1138.158 26.15511 0.014467
Residual 3 130.5471 43.5157
Total 4 1268.705
Intercept 5.263826 4.008107 1.313295 0.280498 −7.49176 18.01941 −7.49176 18.01941
X variable 1 0.711672 0.139156 5.114206 0.014467 0.268816 1.154528 0.268816 1.154528
A. Deyasi et al.
Table 1.9 Comparative study of attendance, result and placement attributes

Attribute 2015 2016 (For 2017 (For 2016 (For 2017 (For
authentic/active authentic/active flipped flipped
learning [24]) learning [24]) learning) learning)
Student’s 30 44 52 52 49
attendance
(Grade = 5)
Student’s result 43 60 75 58 53
(Grade = 10)
Student’s 75 88 89 80 78
placement
(Grade = 10)
Table 1.10 Comparative analysis of student’s feedback under flipped mode

Parameters Flipped learning [24] Authentic learning
Delighted Confused Boring Delighted Confused Boring
Quality of 76 9 11 85 10 4
content
Delivery 74 14 10 88 6 5
Clarification of 69 15 12 76 13 9
concepts
Teaching the 73 13 12 79 13 7
subject matter
Overall 71 14 12 76 15 6
experience
1.6 Conclusion
Data suggest that both authentic learning and flipped learning are excellent pedagog-
ical techniques for improvement of performance. However, different socioeconomic
and environmental conditions are responsible for its effective implementation. From
the statistical analysis, it is found out that significance performance improvement is
done when authentic learning is invoked for science as well as for core engineering
papers, whereas humanities and computer engineering learning can be boosted if
flipped learning is considered. Therefore, authentic learning gets the preference and
that enhances the active participation of students, justified from the t-test results.
Apart from statistical data, it may be considered that infrastructural requirement
for flipped learning technique is a source of major concern and that is why authentic
learning or active learning becomes popular irrespective of sections and categories.
Different aspects are considered for learner’s feedback where appreciation is better
received for authentic learning. Though these data on which preliminary investigation
is carried out, can’t provide conclusive results, and therefore a large dataset is required
for a prolonged period for further conclusion, a reflection can be obtained from the
16 A. Deyasi et al.
Fig. 1.1 a Bar diagram for ‘delighted’ students. b Bar diagram for ‘confused’ students. c Bar
diagram for ‘boring’ students
Fig. 1.1 (continued)
Table 1.11 Results obtained from t-test for the data given in Table 1.10
t-stat P-value
Delighted -2.62448 0.039349
Confused 1.1163113 0.306989
Boring 4.800266 0.003
Table 1.12 t-test result for

76 85
‘delighted’ students
Mean 71.75 79.75
Variance 4.9166667 32.25
Observations 4 4
Pooled variance 18.583333
Hypothesized mean difference 0
Df 6
t-stat. −2.624479
P(T ≤ t) one-tail 0.0196747
t Critical one-tail 1.9431803
P(T ≤ t) two-tail 0.0393494
t Critical two-tail 2.4469118
18 A. Deyasi et al.

9 10
‘confused’ students
Mean 14 11.75
Variance 0.6666667 15.5833333
Observations 4 4
Df 6
t-stat. 1.1163126
P(T ≤ t) one-tail 0.1534943
P(T ≤ t) two-tail 0.3069886

11 4
‘boring’ students
Mean 11.5 6.75
Variance 1 2.91666667
Observations 4 4
Df 6
t-stat 4.800266
P(T ≤ t) one-tail 0.0015
P(T ≤ t) two-tail 0.0029999
findings as represented in this chapter. Only first year of engineering students is

considered for evaluation purpose, and implementation in higher-order classes is
required for further verification and validation.
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Chapter 2
A Set of Empirical Models to Evaluate
E-learning Web Sites and Their
Comparison
Soumili Dey, Suchandra Datta, Anal Acharya, and Debabrata Datta
Abstract With the advancement of network technologies, Internet users including

students and researchers have switched to online learning options or simply e-learning
modules due to wide range of advantages. Many educational Web sites have come up
with various online courses or e-learning software to facilitate e-learning. However,
without proper guidance, students might face problems in selecting an appropriate
e-learning platform as they might not be well informed about the quality of the e-
learning software. Such a well-designed evaluator of e-learning software would not
only help to find the best-fit e-learning software, but also to resolve information
overloading problem. Hence, evaluating and recommending appropriate e-learning
software becomes a vital concern. In this research work, an e-learning software
evaluator has been designed not only for evaluating but also ranking the e-learning
educational Web sites. This article uses analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and
principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate e-learning software. The results of
these were then compared parametrically.
Keywords MCDM · AHP · PCA · E-learning evaluator
2.1 Introduction
The exponential growth of computer networks resulting in the birth of the ubiquitous
World Wide Web has led to the growth and expansion of e-learning. E-learning refers
to acquiring knowledge or skill pertaining to a particular topic from materials acces-
sible through some communication networks, notably the Internet and viewed on
some electronic devices. E-learning radically changes traditional learning scenarios
in the sense that everyone has access to information irrespective of previous formal
education, independent of location, cost-effective solution to learning and flexibility
of accessing the material. Using this method of learning, it is possible for students
S. Dey · S. Datta · A. Acharya · D. Datta (B)

Department of Computer Science, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, India
e-mail: debabrata.datta@sxccal.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_2
22 S. Dey et al.
to obtain more exposure, to be taught by industry experts who can share their expe-
riences in addition to the course topics, to learn from professors in some of the most
premiere institutions in the world and in general to be able to keep oneself up to
date with the latest breakthroughs in varied fields. The lack of infrastructure for
many students, particularly those in the information technology sector, is solved by
online courses offering virtual laboratories or access to expensive hardware needed
for computationally expensive tasks. By utilizing the concept of resource sharing
via the cloud, it is possible to provide a personalized learning experience for each
and every student. There is no limit to the number of online sites which promise to
offer useful courses. It is of practical interest to students and teachers alike if it is
possible to establish a quality framework from beforehand against which existing
and upcoming sites will be compared in order to understand at a glance which sites
offer the best courses and services. Further the huge amount of data available online
pertaining to students online course activities suggests the use of educational data
mining (EDM) in this context.
Educational data mining is a rather new application of data mining and knowl-
edge discovery in databases (KDD) field which focuses in mining useful patterns
and discovering useful knowledge from the educational information systems, such as
student admissions and registration systems, course management systems (moodle,
blackboard, etc.), and any other systems dealing with students at different levels of
education, from schools to colleges and universities [1]. Thus, it deals with auto-
matic extraction of potentially useful information and interesting patterns from large
amounts of data. KDD is not only used to learn the model for learning process or
student modeling but also to evaluate and improve e-learning systems by discov-
ering useful learning information from learning portfolios [2]. Researchers in this
field focus on discovering useful knowledge either to help the educational institutes
manage their students better or to help students manage their education and deliver-
ables better and enhance their performance. Analyzing students’ data and information
to classify students, or to create decision trees or association rules for making better
decisions or enhancing student’s performance is an interesting field of research,
which mainly focuses on analyzing and understanding students’ educational data
that indicates their educational performance and generates specific rules, classifi-
cations, and predictions to help students in their future educational performance.
Knowledge Discovery in Database or data mining for short thus refers to extracting
or “mining” knowledge from exponential amounts of data. Data mining techniques
are used to operate on large volumes of data to discover hidden meaningful patterns
and relationships helpful in decision making. While data mining and knowledge
discovery in database are frequently treated as synonyms, data mining is actually
part of the knowledge discovery process [3]. Educational data mining is facilitated
with Web-based educational systems which provide a huge amount of information
that is easily accessible and can be obtained in numerous methods including using
automated scripts. Web-based educational systems which are adaptive and intelli-
gent can provide individually richer learning environments. These systems try to
offer learners personalized education by building a model of the individual’s goals,
2 A Set of Empirical Models to Evaluate E-learning Web Sites … 23
preferences, and knowledge [2]. These intelligent systems which provide person-
alized evaluation of several educational Web sites use the concept of multi-criteria
decision making (MCDM). One such MCDM method is AHP or analytical hierar-
chical process. The evaluating software takes multiple criteria into consideration and
provides precise decisions to the Internet users to select desired Web sites.
To select a proper educational Web site from a list of several educational Web site,
the evaluating software has to inherently involve more than one criterion. MCDM
refers to methods for decision making in realistic and common scenarios in which
the presence of multiple and conflicting criteria (that is multiple attributes or objec-
tives) must be taken into consideration. MCDM may be used to select or generate a
‘best alternative,’ from a finite set of existing alternatives [4]. However, it can never
find a unique solution to a problem as it considers the decision maker’s discretion
in making preferences. Hence, several solutions exist for a single problem which
makes decision maker’s preferences unique to differentiate between solutions. In the
evaluation process, the evaluating software will require a manual interface with the
user. The user would quantify weights of the criteria to help the evaluator to compare
and select the most suitable set of criteria for each evaluated Web site. This manual
interface which is almost precise form of quantified the weights of the criteria is the
pairwise matrix of analytical hierarchical process (AHP).
The application of multi-dimensional model such as MCDM has found its applica-
tion in almost every field due to its capability to solve complex and difficult problems
in real life. Earlier the traditional model assumed that the criteria are independently
and hierarchically structured; however, in reality, problems are often characterized
by interdependent criteria and dimensions and may even exhibit feedback-like effects
[5]. Hence, to take a more informed and better decision, MCDM helps structuring
complex problems well by considering multiple and conflicting criteria.
The rest of the paper is divided into sections which are organized as follow:
Section 2.2 outlines the various prior works which has been done in this field
by numerous researchers. Section 2.3 is a brief discussion on the two proposed
methodologies, the working formula, and how it has been applied for our purposes.
Sections 2.4 and 2.5, respectively, deal with the implementation details and the
obtained results. Finally, Sect. 2.5 concludes with the required discussion.
2.2 Related Work
Previous works performed in this field are extensively studied and presented as
follows. We note the methodologies used, the parameters considered in most cases,
and base our work accordingly. First, we consider important works related to MCDM.
MCDM has found its application in many fields which are mainly problems related
to the measurement, design, evaluation, ranking, selection, and improvement of
organizational initiatives. However, MCDM or the multiple criteria decision-making
methods which generally include solving decision making problem by considering
24 S. Dey et al.
multiple criterion can also solve real-life problem which are characterized by inter-
dependent criteria exhibiting feedback-like effects. A new hybrid dynamic multiple-
criteria decision making (HDMCDM) was proposed to solve interdependent and
feedback situations in field of economics and business. It improves interrelationships
among criteria to achieve aspiration levels. Some techniques are offered to integrate
performance in super-additive/non-additive value function situation. A comprehen-
sive study on how gaining knowledge has changed in this digital age shows that infor-
mation and communication technology has provided with a new improved frame-
work for teaching and learning purpose [6]. It highlights the use of digital media
like journals, Web sites, blogs, educational videos that are of use to teachers and
students alike, facilitated with infrastructure to support online learning. It focuses on
the numerous initiatives taken to introduce good quality online educational programs
at higher education levels, thus bringing in a need to rank the numerous sites to help
new learners to choose sites that would help them to learn effectively.
Adequate digital access and how it affects the learning capability of the students
should also be quantified [7]. The paper investigated the performance gains of
students from digital pedagogy. The findings are to be focused on, so that teachers can
facilitate the process while avoiding any pitfalls. The study found that the creation
of material as understood by students and made available on digital platform greatly
enhanced their learning procedure. It formulated four important principles, namely
knowledge comes from research and practice, achievement issues addressed by
digital pedagogy, evaluating the effectiveness of innovations improves practice and
attention to systemic change.
AHP has been studied extensively and is used in almost every application related
with MCDM. It has been seen that instead of using AHP alone, it has been used with
combined mathematical tools such as mathematical programming, quality function
deployment (QFD), meta-heuristics, SWOT analysis, and data envelopment analysis
(DEA) and was proved to be better. The analysis of application of integrated AHP
has answered three questions: which integrated AHP was more widely used, which
area the integrated AHP were prevalently applied to, and was there any inadequacy
of the approaches. If such inadequacy existed, then what were the possible improve-
ments and future works. AHP had also found its application in enhancing strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The SWOT analysis is a
generally used tool which examines strengths and weaknesses of organization or
industry together with opportunities and threats of the marketplace environment.
AHP approach achieves pairwise comparisons among factors or criteria in order
to prioritize them at each level of the hierarchy using the eigenvalue calculation.
AHP is mainly used for prioritizing and comparing the SWOT factors [8]. AHP
has also been applicable in economic, social, political, and technological areas.
AHP is not only useful in decision making but also in planning, conflict resolu-
tion, and forecasting. The main mathematical models on which economics has based
its quantitative thinking up to now are utility theory which uses interval scales and
linear programming. The axiomatic foundation of utility theory uses gambles or
lotteries to elicit judgments about utilities from decision makers. However, AHP
offers economists a substantially different approach to deal with economic problems
through ratio scales. AHP offers psychologists, sociologists, and political scien-
tists the methodology that they have sought for some time to quantify and derive
measurements for intangibles. AHP also helped providing people in the physical and
engineering sciences with a quantitative method to link hard measurement to human
values. In such a process, one needs to interpret what the measurements mean.
The applicability of PCA as a ranking tool has been investigated in numerous
research papers over the years. PCA has been used to rank World Universities,
and the results are compared to QS world ranking results [9]. Performance indica-
tors are selected depending on the QS World University rankings, covering aspects
of research, teaching, employability, and internationalization. The variables are
academic reputation as measured through a global survey, employer reputation,
student-to-faculty ratio, citations-per-faculty, international faculty ratio, and interna-
tional student ratio. QS World University rankings are the publication of the rankings
of world universities by Quaquarelli Symonds. It is the only international ranking
that has received International Ranking Expert Group approval.
In contrast to QSWUR which assigns weights to the selected variables on an indi-
vidual basis, PCA strives to assign weights as a whole depending on their collective
contribution. It essentially investigates the correlation between the variables. These
values were standardized by converting the numerical value of the ranks to corre-
sponding percentages. The principal components are calculated, and sum of each
principal component multiplied with its variability gives the final value of the rank.
The higher the value of the rank, the better is the rank. There is some difference
between the ranks given by PCA and those given by QS. The discrepancy arises due
to the fact that PCA extracts the principal components at first, thereby establishing a
relative scale of weights which is not predetermined.
PCA has also been used for ranking sports related data, namely player ranking for
cricket players [10]. The batting variables used are runs, batting average, batting strike
rate, fours, sixes, and a new variable that was constructed combining the number of
centuries with the number of fifties in an innings. The histograms for the variables
were investigated, and a matrix plot of the variables revealed some correlations
between the variables. High values of the variables mark the better performance of a
player with respect to only that variable, but their joint contribution to performance
is to be calculated. A similar treatment is made of the batting variables. Players are
ranked then using the usual method for PCA, and a discrepancy with the ranking
obtained from Ramakrishnan method is noted. It maybe attributed to the fact that
PCA takes into consideration more variables than the other method.
In [11], further applications of PCA are investigated but in a different context.
An attempt is made to propose an information quality framework for ranking e-
learning sites, but PCA is used to rank or find the relative importance between the
factors under consideration. Using linear regression, the relative importance of each
dimension inside the quality factors is calculated. To measure the reliability of the
research results, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha is considered where the minimum
accepted value can be extended to 0.6 [12, 13]. To further improve the reliability,
data items which showed very little corrected correlation were removed. The results
show that there are three information quality factors in e-learning systems since the
26 S. Dey et al.
point of inflexion of the scree plot is at three. Contextual and representation quality
factors are measuring the same aspects from user’s point of view. The final frame-
work has 14 quality dimensions grouped under three factors: intrinsic with relative
importance score of 41.157% of the overall quality; contextual representation with
a score of 33.851%, and accessibility with a score of 24.992%. Under the intrinsic
factor heading, objectivity is the most important dimension. Contextual representa-
tion factor saw reputation as the highest relative importance, and accessibility and
response time saw almost the same relative importance within accessibility factor
with scores 29.693% and 29.888%, respectively. The resulting framework will be
used for comprehensive indication of information quality in e-learning systems.
PCA based Web page ranking can be combined with linear regression [14]. Sepa-
rate linear regression models might be used with further extension to probabilistic
clustering based on EM algorithm. Clustering means grouping similar items together
without well-defined labels on the items to distinguish between the data or well-
defined markers that would highlight which data are similar to each other. This is
done in search engines to group Web pages together based on similar content. Depen-
dencies between similar Web pages are exploited using PCA and linear regression.
PageRank makes predictions based on URL features which do not always perform
well since the extracted features may be having high correlation with the subject of
the site but do not in any way give us any assurance of the soundness of the material
or the authority of that site. A different approach is identifying a small portion of
the Web graph in the event of a few link changes, changing only that small vicinity,
perform PageRank on the reduced graph and then transfer changes to the original
graph. This approach involves the overhead of continuous monitoring of the Web
graph to keep tabs on any link modification.
2.3 Proposed Model
To evaluate the quality of the e-learning experience offered by Web sites, certain
parameters are considered which take into consideration various fields of assessment
such as the duration of the course, the price of contents, the rate of learning, and so
on. These parameters are selected after careful examination of Wang and Strong’s
data quality framework, one of the most comprehensive, popular, remarkable, and
cited data quality framework, established by Richard Wang and Diana Strong in
1996 [15]. Their framework was designed empirically by asking users to give their
viewpoint about the relevance of the information quality dimensions to capture the
most important aspects of data quality to the data consumer [11]. Domain experts
propose different sets of criteria for evaluation which may not be identical [4].
2.3.1 Parameters Considered for Evaluation
Based on the decomposition of quality dimensions into groups, the parameters chosen
for consideration are as follows:
1. Intrinsic data quality: This refers to the quality dimensions like correctness and
accuracy the course contents originating from the data itself, independent of the
user’s point of view, preference or understanding.
(a) Correctness and accuracy of the course contents: The content should be
updated frequently to minimize chances of outdated information prevailing.
It should include recent breakthroughs in corresponding areas of study.
For example, for technical courses like programming languages or Web
frameworks, the latest features introduced should be mentioned, properly
highlighting deprecated ones with reference to the documentation.
2. Contextual data quality: Focuses on information quality with respect to the
context of the task at hand. In this group, the quality dimensions are subjective
preferences of the user. Unlike the first group, data quality dimensions cannot
be assessed without considering the users viewpoint about their use of provided
information. The dimensions considered are:
(a) Teaching expertise of the instructor: The manner of teaching should be such
that students without prior knowledge of the subject at hand would be able to
grasp the basic concepts in a reasonable amount of time while enjoying the
learning process. It is necessary to provide intuitive understanding instead
of just outlining the theoretical concepts. For example, the intuition behind
gradient descent algorithm should be provided rather than simply listing the
equation. Usage of different media, video or otherwise should be properly
employed in order to provide a wholesome learning experience.
(b) Average time duration of the courses: Courses with different time durations
would appeal differently to different users subject to their current situation
in life. Students with regular college or school course work would prefer
courses of shorter time duration, which would allow them to complete school
and college work parallel to the online course. The duration of courses should
justify the content, courses with little content, but extended duration due to
redundancy would be unlikely to attract new students.
(c) Number of assignments provided per course: Sufficient number of well-
thought-out assignments tests the soundness of the knowledge acquired
by the students and their underlying ability to apply it in practical, real-
world applications. The assignments must be appropriately checked online.
Student progress maybe temporarily inhibited till the assignments are
completed satisfactorily.
(d) Price versus the quality: The course expense should not be prohibitively
huge to attract a larger number of people to enroll for the course. It should
be affordable. The quality of the course should be proportional to the price.
28 S. Dey et al.
3. Representational information quality: This refers to the representation of infor-

mation within the systems. How the information is represented affects the user’s
experience of e-learning.
(a) Usability of the software: The software should be such that users with
no prior experience or formal introduction of using such sites would be
able to do so intuitively. The software should be such that it can be learnt,
understood, and operated without hassle.
(b) Maintainability of the software: Usage of proper object-oriented paradigms
to facilitate addition of new functionalities without disturbing the existing
setup. Scalability and adaptability with new technologies are key features
to be considered.
(c) Lucidity of explanation of tests: The answers to the assignments should be
explained in depth keeping in mind the difficulty level of the learner. Tests
also should be carefully constructed with emphasis on the application of the
learned items in real-world situations.
4. Accessibility information quality: Refers to the quality aspects concerned into
accessing distributed information.
(a) Response time to the users: This time should be sufficiently less to allow
for a smooth learning experience without the learners becoming impatient
of long waits.
(b) Web page design encouraging easy access: A Web page design with proper
UI/UX features to allow students unfamiliar with such digital learning to
intuitive navigate around the site, links to forum, course material, assign-
ments submissions, and the like. It should be properly responsive to scale
well on a variety of devices allowing access to course materials from
different platforms.
(c) Provision for offline usage by downloading the course contents
5. Other factors: Factors which we introduce for a comprehensive evaluation of
e-learning sites which focuses on user satisfaction, user experience, and how
personalized an experience the Web site is capable of offering
(a) Existence of active discussion forum: Discussion forums help students who
are all learning the same course to interact and work together to clarify doubts
and discuss assignments. When questions are encouraged and answered
in a reasonable duration of time, students feel encouraged to further their
progress with the course. Discussing the subjects taught with other students
around the world offers richer experience learning from others with varied
experience and research backgrounds.
(b) Provision for an active student teacher interaction: This is imperative for
doubt clearing, keeping up-to-date with latest trends, learning about future
scope and expansion, and attending seminars and useful workshops.
(c) Existence of courses with different difficulty levels for beginners
(d) Enjoyment and satisfaction in finishing the course
(e) Certification: The existence of certificates given at end of the course would
encourage certain students.
(f) Provision for controlling the learning rate: Courses where students learn
at their own pace are preferred over ones where strict classroom times are
enforced.
College graduate students were consulted to fill out a survey form. It had partici-
pants who enrolled for and had completed online courses from at least one e-learning
platform if not more.
Of all the participants, 50% are men and 50% women. Two questionnaires were
created; one consisted of a set of scoring 16 parameters for each Web site with 10
being the best score and 1 being the least desirable score. The other set consisted
of asking users for pairwise comparison and preference of one parameter over the
other, example comparing the Web site’s pricing of a course to the quality of content
of the same. The first set is used for implementing PCA, and the second set is used
for AHP.
2.3.2 Proposed Model Using PCA
PCA or principal component analysis is a method that is commonly used for dimen-
sionality reduction of a dataset, that is, when given a large number of variables which
exhibit some form of correlation with each other, PCA will reduce those variables to
a new set of variables called principal components which are not correlated [16].
Dimensionality reduction is done either by feature extraction or by means of
feature elimination. When employing feature elimination, we simply do not consider
those variables whose exclusion will not affect the model’s ability to rank, but
when feature extraction is employed, it essentially creates new independent variables
ordered by how well they predict the dependent variable and these new variables are
our principal components. The intuition is that this method helps to identify a set of
uncorrelated variables which forms the basis in a new subspace. Each vector of the
original dataset can now be expressed as a vector in the new subspace by some linear
combination of the basis and vector’s existing values. Typically, the new subspace is
of dimension k, whereas the original vectors of the dataset are n dimensional and k
< n. Projections should maximize the variability of data which in turn captures the
uniqueness of the data, and projections are made in those directions where the data
is most spread out. Variance is the most common measure of the spread of a set of
points given as
m

− 2
Var(x) = sx2 = (1/(m − 1)) xi − x (1)
i=1
where x i is the ith member of the matrix, x̄ is the mean of the terms, m is the total
number of terms in the matrix, and sx2 is the variance.
30 S. Dey et al.
Covariance is calculated as follows

1
m
Cov xi x j = (xki − x¯i )(xk j − x̄ j ) (2)
m − 1 i=1
where x̄ j is the mean of terms for xj , and x ki is the kth term of vector x i .
Essentially, PCA involves calculating how the variables relate to each other and
quantifying it via a matrix. Two important properties are isolated the directions of
the data and the magnitude in those directions. PCA only focuses on those direc-
tions which are most important. Next the existing data is tried to be expressed in
these directions, by projecting onto a smaller space the dimensionality of the data is
reduced. For the matrix of independent variables for each column, subtract the mean
of that column from each entry to get a mean of zero. If the importance of features
is independent of the variance of the features, each column entry is divided by that
column’s standard deviation. The resultant matrix is multiplied with the transpose
of the resultant matrix to get the covariance matrix. The covariance matrix is used
when the data are all calculated on the same scale, and the correlation matrix is used
when the scales are different. Standardizing each of the variables to zero mean and
unit standard deviation is same as using the correlation matrix. For our purposes, all
the variables are on the same scale, each taking values from one to ten, so explicit
standardization is not needed.
Given a random vector X = (X 1 , X 2 , … X p )t consisting of p random variables,
having covariance matrix and eigenvalue–eigenvector pairs (λ1 , e1 ), (λ2 , e2 ), …
(λp , ep ) where λ1 ≥ λ2 ≥ … ≥ λp ≥ 0. The ith principal component L i is as follows
L i = ei1 X 1 + ei2 X 2 + … + eip X p for i = 1,2,…, p where ei1 is the eigenvector for
ith Eigen value. This presents principal components as linear combinations of the
original random variables.
Further, it can be shown that [17]:
1. Yi = ai1 X 1 + ai2 X 2 + · · · + ai p X p (3)
is any other linear combination of these original variables, then for the first
principal component,
Var(L 1 ) = λ1 ≥ Var(Yi ) (4)
From these, it is observed that the principal components L i can be used to capture
the important signals aggregately contained in the original variables X 1 , X 2 ,…, X p .
2. Cov(L i , L i ) = 0 (5)
for i not equal to j. Observed that this may be done without redundancy.
3.

p Var(X i ) = p Var(L i ) (6)
i=1 i=1
hence providing a means of identifying the contribution of each principal

component since the total variance is

Var(X 1 ) + Var(X 2 ) + · · · + Var X p = Var(L 1 )

+ Var(L 2 ) + · · · + Var L p = λ1 + λ2 + · · · + λ p (7)
Prior to application of PCA, certain tests need to conducted namely Bartlett’s test
and KMO test to find out whether the data collected is suitable for factor analysis.
KMO and Bartlett’s test of sphericity is a measure of sampling adequacy that is
recommended to check the variable ratio for the analysis being conducted. In most
academic and business studies, KMO and Bartlett’s test play an important role for
accepting the sample adequacy. It is a statistic that indicates the proportion of variance
in the variables that might be caused by underlying factors. While the KMO or Kaiser-
Mayer-Olkintestranges from 0 to 1, the world-over accepted index is over 0.6. A value
closer to one is desirable, and values below 0.5 are inadequate for PCA.
⎛ ⎞

KMO j = ri2j ⎝ ri2j + ai2∗j ⎠ (8)
i= j i= j i= j
where r ij is the correlation between i and j and aij 2* is the anti-correlation image.
KMO values between 0.5 and 0.7 are considered average, between 0.7 and 0.8
are considered good, whereas values between 0.8 and 0.9 is very good, and values
above 0.9 are excellent [17]. If the measure of sample adequacy obtained is less than
0.5, then the variables whose measure of sample adequacy is less will be discarded,
and the KMO test performed again till the desired value is obtained after one or more
successive discarding of variables. The diagonal element of the anti-image correlation
matrix gives the KMO values for individual variables. These values should be greater
than 0.50 for all variables.
Bartlett’s test of sphericity relates to the significance of the study and thereby
shows the validity and suitability of the responses collected to the problem being
addressed through the study. For factor analysis to be recommended suitable, the
Bartlett’s test of sphericity must be less than 0.05. Bartlett test evaluates the pres-
ence of correlation between the variables. It checks whether the observed variables
correlate at all using the observed correlation matrix against an identity matrix. If
the test is statistically insignificant, then factor analysis cannot be employed. It tests
the hypothesis that the correlation matrix is an identity matrix in which case the
32 S. Dey et al.
variables are uncorrelated and hence unsuited for factor analysis. So if the p-value
is zero, then the test is statistically significant.
Comrey and Lee [18] provided the following scale of sample size adequacy:
50—very poor, 100—poor, 200—fair, 300—good, 500—very good, and 1000 or
more—excellent.
Let each row of the original dataset corresponding to a set of values input by one
user be represented as X = (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , …, x 16 )t since we have 16 parameters. The
correlation matrix for the input dataset is calculated. From the correlation matrix,
16 eigenvalues are obtained. The variance of each eigenvalue specifies how much
of the total variance is captured in each principal component. The first principal
component will be the one with the highest value of the variance. Variance means
here summative or total variance. For dimensionality reduction, it is imperative to
include those principal components which have the highest values of the variance.
The variability of the eigenvalues is calculated as λi /λi .
To determine how many of the principal components should be considered as a
minimum, the scree plot is constructed with the eigenvalue as the dependent variable
and the principal component number as the independent variable. The elbow in the
plot is noted, and the abscissa of the point beyond which there is no appreciable
change in the variability is noted. For our case, we can consider as many as principal
components. Using the eigenvalues, the corresponding eigenvectors are constructed.
The principal components are calculated as follows: The first principal component
is
L 1 = e11 ∗ x1 + e12 ∗ x2 + e13 ∗ x3 + · · · + e116 ∗ x16 (9)
where X is a column vector and each eigenvector is a row vector.

The second principal component is calculated as follows:
L 2 = e21 ∗ x1 + e22 ∗ x2 + e23 ∗ x3 + · · · + e216 ∗ x16 (10)
The nth principal component is calculated as follows:
L n= en1 ∗ x1 + en2 ∗ x2 + en3 ∗ x3 + · · · + en16 ∗ x16 (11)
The 16 principal components thus obtained can be summed up as the total rank
using
Rank = L ∗1 percentage of variation of L 1

+ L ∗2 percentage of variation of L 2 + · · · + L ∗n percentage of variation of L n
(12)
2.3.3 Proposed Model Using AHP
AHP or analytical hierarchical process is one of the MCDM or multi-criteria decision-

making methods that were developed by Thomas L. Satty. A complicated problem
is decomposed into a multilevel hierarchical structure with respect to the objective,
criteria, and alternatives and hence expressing the general decision operation. Pair-
wise comparisons are performed to derive relative importance of the variable in each
level of the hierarchy and/or appraise the alternatives in the lowest level of the hier-
archy in order to make the best decision among alternatives. When subjectivity exists
and where a problem can solved by organizing the decision criteria and the subcri-
terion in a hierarchical way, AHP becomes an effective decision-making method
[19].
The three main operations in AHP, includes hierarchy construction, priority anal-
ysis, and consistency verification. The hierarchy construction step involves breaking
down complex multiple criteria decision problems into its component parts of
which every possible attributes are arranged into multiple hierarchical levels [20].
The priority analysis step involves a construction of several pairwise comparison
matrixes. The pairwise comparison matrix is a manual interface with users or the
decision makers which contains almost precise form of quantified weights of the
comparisons of the criteria in a pairwise fashion. Since the comparisons are carried
out through personal or subjective judgments, some degree of inconsistency may
arise while constructing the comparison matrixes. To guarantee the judgments are
consistent, the final operation called consistency verification is regarded as one of
the most advantages of the AHP. It is incorporated in order to measure the degree of
consistency among the pairwise comparisons by computing the consistency ratio. If
the consistency ratio exceeds a certain limit, then decision makers should review and
revise the pairwise comparisons. Once all pairwise comparisons are carried out at
every level, and are proved to be consistent, the judgments can then be synthesized to
find out the priority ranking of each criterion and its attributes. The ranking procedure
would enable the users to choose the most appropriate e-learning software.
AHP is used to determine relative priorities on absolute scales from both discrete
and continuous paired comparisons in multilevel hierarchic structures. The prioritiza-
tion mechanism is accomplished by assigning a number from a comparison scale (see
Table 2.1) developed by Saaty [21] to represent the relative importance of the criteria.
Pairwise comparisons matrices of these factors provide the means for calculation of
importance [19] (Table 2.2).
In the proposed model, we break down the complex multi-criteria decision-making
problem into a hierarchy of interrelated decision elements. Here, selecting the appro-
priate alternatives or educational Web site is the decision to be made, and multiple
criteria are the parameters considered for selecting the Web site (Fig. 2.1).
In the next step, we create the pairwise comparison matrix which comprises of
the comparisons of the criteria and the available alternatives. The construction of the
matrix is done by determining the relative importance of the criteria. In each level,
the criteria are compared pairwise according to their levels of influence and based
34 S. Dey et al.
Table 2.1 Parameters considered for evaluation

CRITERIA SUBCRITERIA EXPLANATION
Intrinsic data Correctness and The content should be updated frequently to minimize chances of outdated
quality accuracy of the course information prevailing.
contents
Contextual data Teaching expertise of The students without prior knowledge of the subject should be able to enjoy
quality the instructor learning in less time.
Average course Courses with different time durations would appeal differently to different
duration users.
Number of assignments Sufficient number of assignments tests the soundness of the knowledge
provided per course acquired by the students their ability to apply it in practical, real-world
applications.
Price versus the quality It should be affordable. The quality of the course should be proportional to
the price.
Representational Usability of the The software should be such that it can be learnt, understood and operated
information quality software without hassle.
Maintainability of the Usage of object oriented paradigms to facilitate addition of new
software functionalities.
Lucidity of explanation The answers to the assignments should be explained in depth.
of tests
Accessibility Response time to the This time should be less to allow for a smooth learning experience.
information quality users
Web page design A web page design with proper UI/UX features to allow students unfamiliar
encouraging easy with such digital learning.
access
Availability of offline There must be a provision for offline usage by downloading the course
version contents
Other factors Existence of active Discussion forums help students who are all learning the same course to
discussion forum interact and work together to clarify doubts and discuss assignments.
Provision for an active This is imperative for doubt clearing, keeping up-to-date with latest trends,
student teacher learning about future scope and expansion, attending seminars and useful
interaction workshops.
Different difficulty There must be different difficulty levels of the course for beginners
levels
Enjoyment and Learners must enjoy while learning and find satisfaction in finishing the
satisfaction course.
Certification The certificates given at end of the course would encourage certain students.
Provision for Courses where students learn at their own pace are preferred over ones where
controlling the learning strict classroom times are enforced.
rate
Table 2.2 Pairwise comparison scale [19]

Intensity of importance Explanation
1 Two criterion contribute equally to the objective
3 Experience and judgment slightly favor one over another
5 Experience and judgment strongly favor one over another
7 Criterion is strongly favored and its dominance is demonstrated in
practice
9 Importance of one over another affirmed on the highest possible
order
2, 4, 6, 8 Used to represent compromise between the priorities listed above
Fig. 2.1 Hierarchical model used in AHP
on the specified criteria in the higher level. In AHP, multiple pairwise comparisons
are based on a standardized comparison scale of nine levels [19].
Let C = {C j | j = 1, 2, …, n} be the set of criteria, where n is the number of criteria.
Let A be the pairwise comparison matrix of size n × n in which every element aij
(i, j = 1, 2, 3, …, n) is the weights of the criteria. This pairwise comparison can be
shown by a square and reciprocal matrix.
Each entry aij of the matrix A represents the importance of the criterion i relative
to criterion j. If aij > 1, then the criterion i is more important than criterion j, while if
aij < 1, then the criterion i is less important than the criterion j. If two criteria have the
same importance, then the entry aij is 1. The entries aij and aji satisfy the following
constraint:
ai j .a ji = 1 (13)
Obviously, ajj = 1 for all j.

Once the matrix A is built, it is possible to derive from A the normalized pairwise
comparison matrix Anorm by making equal to 1 the sum of the entries on each column,
i.e., each entry ajk of the matrix Anorm is computed as
a jk
a jk = n (14)
l=1 alk
Finally, the criteria weight vector w or the priority vector (that is an m-dimensional
column vector) is built by averaging the entries on each row of Anorm , i.e.,
n
a jl
wj = l=1
(15)
n
36 S. Dey et al.
For a matrix A, aij denotes the entry in the ith row and the jth column of A. For a
vector v, vi denotes the ith element of v.
Here,

n
wj = 1 (16)
j=1
The priority vector for the criteria and the subcriteria is first evaluated by
computing the pairwise comparison of the criteria with respect to the goal. Each
criterion has been pairwise compared to each other, and each of the subcriteria has
been pairwise compared to each other to obtain the priority vectors. Hence, separate
comparison table has been obtained. One table is the pairwise comparison of the
major criteria, and the other tables are pairwise comparison of the subcriteria. The
priorities obtained are the local priorities for each of the pairwise comparison matrix.
The summation of the local priority vectors result to 1.000. Now, we are to find the
global priority for each of the subcriteria, so that summation of all the global priori-
ties through the hierarchy will add up to 1.000. If we have the criteria c1, c2, c3, and
c1 has the subcriteria c11, c12, c13, and c14, then the global priorities for c11, c12,
c13, c14, c2, and c3 will add up to 1. If a criterion does not have subcriteria, then the
local priority becomes the global priority. Else to obtain the global priority for each
of the subcriteria, the local priority is multiplied with the local priority of the parent
criteria. Next the pairwise comparison is made between each of the alternatives with
respect to the subcriteria and the major criteria (whose subcriteria do not exist), and
their respective local and then global priorities are obtained. This becomes the third
hierarchical level. Adding up all the global criteria for each of the alternative would
contribute to the rank matrix. The alternative which will have the maximum value
is ranked 1. It is to be noted that summation of the values of the rank matrix will be
equal to 1 (Table 2.3).
To check the consistency of the matrix created that is to calculate the consistency
ratio (C.R), a matrix A3 is created by matrix multiplication of Anorm and W matrix.
λmax is obtained by averaging the summation of A3i /W i where i = (1, n) [8]. The
consistency index of a matrix of comparisons is given by C.I. = (λmax − n)/(n − 1).
The consistency ratio (C.R.) is obtained by comparing the C.I. with the appropriate
one of the following set of numbers (See Table 2.4) each of which is an average
random consistency index derived from a sample of randomly generated reciprocal
matrices using the scale 1/9, 1/8… 1… 8, 9. C.R = (C.I/R.I). If C.R is not less than
Table 2.3 Platform and

Operating system Windows 10 64-bit
implementation details
Processor Intel Core i5-8400
RAM 8.00 GB
Python version 3.6.8
Microsoft excel version 2007
Table 2.4 Comparison of the two methods

Parameter under AHP PCA
consideration
Manner of input Explicitly list user preferences Explicitly list user preferences
by specifying how much weight subject to all parameters without
one can place on each parameter any hierarchy so which
at each level of the hierarchy particular parameter is more
which is done by comparing the important is not known at time
criterion pairwise. The of input. If he gives a large
comparisons are expressed in a number for Web design, all we
form of matrix which is almost a know is that that Web site has
precise form of quantifying the satisfying Web design, but we do
weights of the criteria not know whether he believes
that particular parameter to be
more important than others
Interpretation of weights Users specify how much they The user specifies how much he
assigned to parameters prefer a parameter over others at prefers a particular aspect of a
different levels of the hierarchy site without an explicit
independent of Web sites to be comparison with another site. It
evaluated. Hence, first user’s is implied that if he highly
preference of parameters is prefers say, content for one site,
obtained. If parameters have and gives a low score for another
subcriteria, then the user lists site, then he prefers the former
preferences for those. The site over the latter with respect
weights for parameters which to the content. The weights for
are given via a comparison parameters are given by the
matrix are partially filled in by eigenvectors and variance
the user. In the matrix, if the user explained by each of the
gives aij > 1, then we explicitly eigenvalues
know that criterion i is preferred
more than criterion j
Interpretation of Web site When alternatives are listed, User lists preferences in general
preferences from user user explicitly specifies how without parameter wise ranking
much a Web site is preferred
over others with respect to each
and every criteria; hence, this is
more rigorous
Interpretation of output The final values obtained lists The final values obtained after
users preference of one site over multiplying the dataset with
another. The Web site with the eigenvectors lists the relative
maximum value in the rank ranking of sites with the most
matrix is ranked 1. Since the negative score being the best
summation of the values in the Web site among the ones
rank matrix equals to 1, the selected
value multiplied by 100 gives
the preference percentage
(continued)
38 S. Dey et al.
Table 2.4 (continued)

Parameter under AHP PCA
consideration
Number of users verses If we have n number of Web For n numbers of Web sites, we
number of Web site sites, then with this method we have n number of users, and it is
can rank the Web sites according assumed that the users have
to a particular user according to already used the Web sites. Each
the preference of different types user will weight all the criteria
of criteria. Thus, the ranking of for the particular Web site that
Web sites is user specific or the user had used. After
personalized for a particular user processing the weight matrix,
the Web sites will be ranked
according to the unbiased
feedback provided the users.
Thus, the ranking of the Web
sites is general for any user.
These users can be those who do
not have any specifications about
the criteria or do not have much
knowledge how to choose or
which criteria must be given the
maximum preference
Number of question asked A large number of question for Relatively less number of
construction of paired questions are asked
comparisons are asked from the
decision makers
Consistency check Since consistency is checked Does not involve consistency
after construction of every check, it assumes all parameters
pairwise comparison matrix, are correlated and decomposes it
AHP enhances the decision into a set of uncorrelated
makers learning and decision at components
every step
0.10, the problem is studied again and the judgments are revised. The AHP includes
a consistency index for an entire hierarchy. An inconsistency of 10 percent or less
implies that the adjustment is small compared to the actual values of the eigenvector
entries.
2.4 Implementation
For the purpose of data collection, a questionnaire was created to be filled up by the
unbiased students who took part in the survey. Some of the questions are as follows:
Q1. How would you score the price of the courses on the Web site, 10 being very
satisfied and 1 being the least?
Q2. How would you score the content of the courses on the Web site, 10 being very
satisfied and 1 being the least?
Q3. How would you score the average time duration of the courses on the Web site,
10 being very satisfied and 1 being the least?
Such type questions provide sufficient information to perform the calculations
using PCA. For AHP some of the questions formulated are as follows:
Q1. How would you rank the intrinsic data factor with respect to the other factors
with numerical value of the rank having the meanings as listed in Table 2.4?
Q2. How would you rank teaching with duration of the course, assignments, price
vs quality?
Q3. How would you rank Web site A with Web site B subject to usability,
maintainability, and lucidity?
2.4.1 Results Using PCA
The calculation of principal components and eigenvalues is implemented in Python.

It is an elegant, powerfully equipped language in terms of its rich libraries and aston-
ishing simplistic syntax. Major operations for PCA like calculating the percentage
of variance explained by each eigenvalue or calculating the eigenvectors is already
implemented as part of the sklearn library.
It uses singular value decomposition or SVD to project the input to a lower-
dimensional space. For each feature, the data is centered which means a value is
subtracted from data item so as to redefine the zero point for the feature under
consideration (Fig. 2.2).
However, it does not standardize the data. It uses the LAPACK implementation
of the full SVD or a randomized truncated SVD by the method of Halko et al. [22],
depending on the shape of the input data and the number of components to extract.
It is observed that the transformed dataset obtained from PCA using scikit learn is
not the one obtained by manual multiplication of input dataset and eigenvectors. The
reason is that scikit learn library implementation of PCA centers the dataset prior
to application of any mathematical operations. So the dataset is centered to zero
mean before applying PCA. Missing values also need to be checked. The greater the
magnitude of the rank, the better the rank of the Web site compared to others in that
domain as ranked by unbiased students considered in the survey (Fig. 2.3).
In Fig. 2.3, TE stands for teaching expertise, NA stands for number of assign-
ments, STE stands for student–teacher interaction, WPD stands for Web page design,
MS stands for maintainability of the software, REUSR stands for response to user,
ENJOYM stands for learner enjoyment, and LRCNTRL stands for learner controls
pace of study.
The most negative rating gives the best rank. The first Web site has the highest
ratings and numerically least rank of −4.75. If the scoring from the evaluators had
40 S. Dey et al.
Fig. 2.2 Scree plot for eigenvalues
Fig. 2.3 Table containing the dataset
been in reverse like 1 denotes best and 10 denotes worst, then the ranking would
have been in reverse order (Fig. 2.4).
2.4.2 Results Using AHP
The first table constructed is the pairwise comparison matrix of the major criterion
(refer to Sect. 3.3), from which the global priority or the local priority (the w matrix)
of the first level of the hierarchy is obtained. All the pairwise comparison matrices
were consistent as the consistency ratio (C.R.) is less than 0.1. Next three tables
are pairwise comparison matrix of the subcriteria of major criteria c2, c3, and c4.
Fig. 2.4 Ranking of the Web sites
The weight matrixes obtained are local priorities to c2, c3, and c4. The next 17
tables are pairwise comparisons between alternative with respect to subcriteria or a
major criterion whose subcriteria do not exist. This forms the third hierarchical level.
The final table contains the rank of the alternatives. The rank matrix contains value
greater than zero but less than one, and summation of the values is equal to one. The
alternative with the maximum value is ranked 1.
Here, the AHP model tries to rank three Web sites: Web site A, Web site B, and
Web site C according to a user. The user gives personal preference and scales each
criterion according to what he or she thinks is best. The user can be an expert who
can give general views for students seeking advice to choose a Web site (Figs. 2.5,
2.6, 2.7, and 2.8).
2.4.3 Comparison Between the Proposed Methodologies
Our proposed methodologies differ in many respects from the mode of implementa-
tion to the manner of assigning weights to the parameters. Summarized in the table
below are the main differences between the rankings obtained using AHP and PCA.
42 S. Dey et al.
Fig. 2.5 a Pairwise comparison for the first hierarchical level that is among the major criterion.
b Normalized matrix obtained from the pairwise comparison matrix for finding the consistency
index, C.1. = 0.06278 and consistency ratio, C.R. = 0.04213
Fig. 2.6 a Pairwise comparison matrix for the subcriteria of the major criteria c2 of the second
hierarchical level. b Normalized matrix obtained from the pairwise comparison matrix for finding
the consistency index, C.I. = 0.07 and consistency ratio, CR = 0.08
Fig. 2.7 a Pairwise comparison matrix comparing the alternatives for the global criteria c1.
b Normalized matrix obtained from the pairwise comparison matrix for finding the consistency
index, C.I. = 0.037447 and consistency ratio, C.R. = 0.072014
Fig. 2.8 Snapshot of rank matrix calculation. Rank of Web site A is 1 with 75% preference, Web
site B is 2 with 18% preference, and Web site C is 3 with 7% preference
2.5 Conclusion and Future Scope
The ranking methodology of PCA varies drastically from that used in AHP. It offers a
more generalized approach in which a set of Web sites are compared subject to user’s
score of various parameters like time and cost of courses. These scores indirectly
imply how much one user will prefer a Web site compared to another, however, the
implication is not directly obtained as input from the user. In AHP, users rank the Web
sites subject to parameters and explicitly specify how much they prefer one parameter
over another for a set of Web sites. So in PCA, if a user scores duration of a course
from Web site A as a 9 (highly satisfied) in the pairwise comparison matrix, Web
site A will be more preferred compared to the other sites. Considering the fact that
AHP involves taking a larger number of inputs than PCA, we construct some of the
comparison matrix values from those obtained from PCA as described in the previous
example. Since the magnitude of the consistency ratio is acceptable, our hypothesis
stands justified. Using PCA, we first rank Web sites using the correlation between
44 S. Dey et al.
the parameters. Next, we rank the Web sites subject to how much weight each user
assigns to each parameter and how much he prefers one Web site’s attribute over
another Web site’s. Future work maybe done by establishing a system to incorporate
the ranking of both methods (AHP and PCA) into a single value, as PCA ranks one
Web site taking the weights from multiple users and AHP will rank Web sites with
respect to one user. The latter is more user-specific. Further to find out if the ranking
of the Web sites is in accordance with the experience of other users, a group must
be assigned who has not yet used a site and asked for feedback after taking a course
from that site with the different ranks calculated by AHP and PCA. The feedback
for each site is noted and compared with the predicted value of user satisfaction.
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Eur. J. Oper. Res. 186(1), 211–228 (2008)
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to Russian, Portuguese, and Chinese, Revised editions, Paperback (1996, 2000). Pittsburgh,
RWS Publications (1980)
22. Halko, et al.: Stochastic algorithms for constructing approximate matrix decompositions.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/0909.4061.pdf(arXiv:909) (2009)
23. https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/generated/sklearn.decomposition.PCA.html Accessed
07 Oct 10 2019, 10:51PM
24. https://www.dii.unisi.it/~mocenni/Note_AHP.pdf
Chapter 3
Multimedia-Based Learning Tools
and Its Scope, Applications for Virtual
Learning Environment
S. N. Kumar, A. Lenin Fred, Parasuraman Padmanabhan, Balazs Gulyas,

Charles Dyson, R. Melba Kani, and H. Ajay Kumar
Abstract The advancement in technology plays vital role in teaching, learning

and faculty development. Computer-aided learning media is the usage of computer
for presenting the learning materials for better understanding and visualization.
The multimedia-based teaching material comprises of text, audio, video, anima-
tion and graphics. The multimedia-based interactive teaching material provides ease
in understanding and efficient understanding of a course. The multimedia and image
processing-based learning techniques gain importance in web-based learning systems
for online learning. A set of questions are prepared, and response is collected from
faculty and students, and the importance of multimedia-aided tools are analyzed.
Based on the questionnaire generated, response is collected and statistical analysis
is also done. The statistical analysis by t-test reveals the efficiency of multimedia
tools in the teaching and learning process. The web-based learning resources are
presently an optional and supplementary for the users; in future, they will be the
S. N. Kumar (B)
Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally, Kerala, India
e-mail: appu123kumar@gmail.com
A. Lenin Fred · C. Dyson · R. Melba Kani · H. Ajay Kumar
Mar Ephraem College of Engineering and Technology, Elavuvilai, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: leninfred.a@gmail.com
C. Dyson
e-mail: civilerdyson@gmail.com
R. Melba Kani
e-mail: melbakani75@gmail.com
H. Ajay Kumar
e-mail: ajayhakkumar@gmail.com
P. Padmanabhan · B. Gulyas
Cognitive Neuroimaging Centre, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological
University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore
e-mail: ppadmanabhan1@gmail.com
B. Gulyas
e-mail: balazs.gulyas@ntu.edu.sg

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_3
48 S. N. Kumar et al.
main course materials. The role of multimedia-based resource is inevitable in inter-

active teaching and learning. The multimedia-based learning materials help in the
efficient achievement of course objective and accomplishment of course outcome.
The multimedia-based online learning will be the future generation teaching and
learning technique.
Keywords Multimedia · Image processing · Online learning · Technology ·

Web-based learning
3.1 Introduction
Multimedia fosters creativity, self-expression and a sense of ownership by allowing

students to control their materials. Multimedia technology has made it possible to
access information nonlinearly, creating an active learning experience for thought,
reading and interaction [1]. Object-oriented tools support the development and execu-
tion of coordinated multimedia presentations. The components created are the user-
friendly visual synchronization editor and the synchronizer which covers the require-
ments of media object delivery in a heterogeneous environment. Synchronization
editor is used to build multimedia display synchronization and design specifications.
The Global Synchronization Manager monitors the development and transfers the
presentation units from the basic information units to the distributed system [2]. To
a large extent, learning technology initiates what happens in classroom and since
school is so heavily dependent on books. Multimedia learning technology encour-
ages active participation and monitors the pupil [3]. The worldwide use of multi-
media illustrates the concept of electronic audio and video. The homework tasks
are designed to help students make the transition from the overview or demo mode
to the laboratory mode of implementation. The introduction of sophomore course
to discrete-time signal processing illustrates how to teach multimedia through the
interest. The sophomore-level course on discrete-time signal and structures is inspired
to create a more inspiring introductory electrical or computer engineering course than
conventional linear circuits [4]. A multimedia courseware approach is used to conduct
lecture in classroom for engineering. Courseware approach means that multimedia
software will generate the lectures. The courseware product could make lectures
in the classroom more informative and at the same time more enjoyable by student
engagement in classroom discussions. The reaction of students about the multimedia
courseware is positive and very effective [5]. The multimedia-based learning tools
are depicted in Fig. 3.1.
The vital application of web-based learning system is in medical field, where the
3D visualization of anatomical organs and its functionality can be studied. The web-
based learning helps in accessing the contents from anywhere, and even online exams
are also there for certification. The web-based resources can be accessed, reused and
studied even after a course end. The multimedia-based learning gains importance in
school, college education and research. The web-based resources can be accessed
3 Multimedia-Based Learning Tools and Its Scope, Applications … 49
Fig. 3.1 Multimedia-based

learning tools
in mobiles, and hence, the users can access at any time. The electronic textbooks
replace the conventional textbook in the learning process. The mobile applications
also can be created on specific topics. The usage of e-learning for language study is
common nowadays. The interactive multimedia-based mobile applications are used
in learning languages: Interactive multimedia-based mobile applications for learning
Iban language (I-MMAPPS). The Iban language is an indigenous language spoken
by people in Malaysia.
With the digital technologies, creative teaching methods can be easily imple-
mented using computers to gain students interest in the context of image processing.
Computer tutors are meant to capture a great deal, if not all of human tutor feature
including the ability to inductively display mathematics derivations, direct the student
through reasoning process and perform detailed natural-language dialog with the
student. Specific teaching goals can help student to learn effectively and can make
the students study much more efficient [6]. The multimedia projects aim at involving
students in their own learning to improve the teamwork, decision-making and
dynamic problem-solving skills [7].
Compared to traditional teaching methods, the creation of learning tools is partic-
ularly challenging, as expertise from different areas must be implemented and incor-
porated. The promise of computer-aided learning (CAL) lies in its ability to present
knowledge in various ways, depending on the learning material characteristics and
the needs of the learners. Human–computer interaction (HCI) is a dynamic field in
which information flows subtly across different modes of the processing system of
human data. CAL’s advantages and potential are linked to its ability to deliver knowl-
edge reliably, quickly and cheaply [8]. Internet is a knowledge resource and delivers
learning materials more difficult to implement in an easy manner [9].
A randomized controlled trial measures the efficiency of a CD-ROM training

program compared to a lecture that was commonly used in teaching. Objective
measures indicate equivalence in the acquisition of knowledge and significantly
increase computer-based teaching skills [10]. GIS is a technology based on complex
spatial principles that is well adapted for interactive representations and learning.
The training modules are created using Macromedia Manager and are interactively
distributed through the web. A multimedia self-learning approach for enriching
GIS education explores the pedagogical learning issues that surround technological
advancement and module design practical issues. Multimedia-based training design
to sustain a GIS program has the potential to enhance both content and learning
facility [11].
In [12], the merits of computer-assisted learning (CAL) through Internet-based
learning and web-based learning were described in a detailed manner. The new
information technologies make it possible to meet the needs of modern society, so
many higher education institutions around the world are developing and offering
the students new teaching methods and so-called digital teaching. Operation of the
modules of research and evaluation is carried out with the aid of a Petri network.
Petri network helps the tutor to create the way to study so that the student can go
through all the places that are essential to absolve the subject the straight line and
also offer the possibility of more detailed information—the curve lines [13]. A virtual
learning environment (VLE) is a collection of interactive learning tools designed to
improve the learning of a student. The main components of a virtual learning envi-
ronment kit include curriculum mapping, student monitoring, instructor and student
online support, electronic communication and Internet connections to tools outside
the programs [14]. Multimedia learning system can be built with information from
the online databases to turn learning into an active process, where learners can view
interactions over time, engage with complex content and evaluate their knowledge
immediately. Designing high-quality interactive learning multimedia requires devel-
opers to integrate best practices in curriculum, teaching software and communication
with human computers to create a useful and effective online learning experience
for learners, an effort to define and record strategies for producing new and creative
content in educational media [15]. An interactive storytelling Web site has been
developed to investigate how web-based technology can help to overcome obstacles.
It promotes the relevance and educational value of the EFL teaching and learning
platform for digital storytelling. Users can write a new story or edit an existing story
through a web browser. Instructional tool has great potential in solving problem that
teachers usually face while trying to introduce storytelling in a language classroom
[16]. It describes the element of the b-learning model, the implementation issues
and the results of the first module piloting. The online software is an immersive
multimedia environment which houses in one central web platform all the resources
and ICT tools that learners need. The findings reflect the progress of the applied
b-learning system and are in line with the team efforts to create an online immersive
language learning platform for multimedia. The new hope given to the teachers and
students will be more effective in teaching and learning [17].
There is an increasing trend to use software to facilitate and improve student

communication and collaboration. Schoolbook has been developed and used for
neuroradiology, web-based, interactive teaching and learning software. In a LAMP
environment, schoolbook is technically based as a content management system. With
the support of the established framework, the content is created and stored in a
database [18]. A PHP framework specifies the template, and web pages are created
from the program. E-learning offers a variety of teaching and learning resources
in educational, research and economic contexts. Schoolbook provides the economic
advantages of promoting coordination and handling human resources efficiently [19].
Self-regulated Internet or hypermedia learning includes not only strategies of
cognitive learning but also broad and general meta-cognitive strategies. Learners
can process the material at any time and from any location; based on their individual
preferences and strategies provided, an Internet connection is available. Working
interactive learning tasks will help learners to recognize knowledge gaps, correct
errors and independently control the further learning process [20]. The rapid devel-
opment in information technology provides i-maestro, an improved technique for
music training [21]. Educational technology has been developed to provide expert
functional knowledge to surgical trainees outside the operating theater. The relia-
bility of the developed method was evaluated by modifying an existing system that
was tested using surgery, usability and education experts. The performance of the
developed method has been evaluated by surgical trainees who used it to assess a
digital CD-ROM designed to teach basic surgical skills. The growing use of multi-
media in medical education involves the creation of standardized resources to assess
teaching and learning performance [22].
Multimedia anatomical learning resources enable a seamless transition between
traditional learning tools such as textbooks, atlases, models and the cadaver. The
full potential of multimedia-based learning technologies is not yet being used, a
user-centered approach to create more effective learning applications with respect
to the concept of human–computer interaction and educational theory. The classical
textbook could provide the organized details and description of the subject, while a
multimedia tool could provide computer-dependent elements such as 3D models and
deeper material interlinking [23]. Microblogging methods of teaching with cirip.eu
focused on multimedia. It investigates closely how microblogging could lead to the
development of the educational process through teaching methods that are similar
to the student way of thinking. The use of microblogging technology in education
dramatically shifted the focus from knowledge acquisition to achieving the expected
academic target [24]. The developers with a brief digital creation guide focused on
literature review and Delphi methodology for professional educators, designers and
programmers. Multimedia learning allows a degree of interactivity that can improve
both digital text and conventional lecture-based classroom environments and develop
at all educational levels. Multimedia learning projects are not a new phenomenon in
the classroom, but advanced computer technologies allow multimedia projects to be
created with increased interactivity, greater ease and lower cost than ever [25].
Project-based learning experiences of instructor applicants were implemented
easy with the production of digital educational material. The purpose is to assess the
study of teacher candidates with corresponding interactive instructional material in

project-based learning according to their opinion on the skills it offers. The teacher
candidates assessed the questionnaire designed in conjunction with the digital instruc-
tional materials created in problem-based learning [26]. For medical education, the
multimedia learning tools (MMLTs) are used as alternative learning material. A more
relevant question about multimedia learning tools in medical education provides
an enhanced and more efficient method of learning. Multimedia learning tools can
reduce learning time substantially without compromising the retention of informa-
tion in ophthalmology. The MMLTs used in the analysis consist of video outlining
a method for treating an acute visual impairment patient and video exploring how
cataracts are diagnosed and treated [27]. The problem-based learning tool in teaching
is helpful for the teachers for the motivation of the students, and it encourages the
students to solve problems independently and to find solutions. It introduces the new
skills to the students for better understanding of a concept and is helpful in developing
the problem-solving skills and provides a new way of teaching [28]. The e-learning
program was found to be successful for teaching the digital image processing at the
university level. The course when taught using multimedia aids was found to be much
efficient for better understanding of the students [29, 30]. The efficiency of interac-
tive learning tool was analyzed; Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was
employed for analyzing the thinking ability of students after the use of multimedia
tool. Mobile application in interactive multimedia plays a vital role for learning Iban
language. Mobile application in learning allows the learner to learn at any time and at
any place. Mobile application learning tool is beneficial in designing and developing
the spelling, vocabulary and also useful in pronouncing a new word for language
learners. The benefit of Iban language is to develop a positive interest and helpful in
non-native speakers to understand and speak [31]. Multimedia-based online educa-
tion is an efficient way of transferring information. Multimedia-based e-learning
provides students with the ability to use video lecture at any time when delivered
and registered. Interactive digital e-learning aims at developing cost-effectiveness
models and addressing excellent research questions from interactive e-learning to
instructional design apps [32]. The interactive multimedia learning in elementary
education was very effective and innovative. The questionnaire collected from the
students about the multimedia learning tool indicates that ease to use, readability,
proper material content and better media appeal [33].
The interactive communication environment was highlighted in [34], and metalit-
eracy learning was described in detail with its merits and challenges. The article [35]
discusses the issues and challenges of the multimedia teaching aids in the learning
environment. In [36], a detailed analysis has been carried out on the impact of visual
aids in the enhancement of learning technique. The response of teachers for the
usage of multimedia aids in the learning process was analyzed by SPSS software.
The virtual reality and 3D prototyping improve the learning capability of students in
the context of project-based learning [37]. The emerging technologies for learning
such as virtual labs, robotics and computer simulations are described in [38]. The
instruction design strategies for e-learning is discussed in [39], and selection of
appropriate learning strategy based on the requirements is also highlighted in this
work. The types of teaching aids and instruction materials for teachers and students
are discussed in [40]. The impact of video pedagogy for education is highlighted in
[41], video recording, video clubs and video study group’s merits are analyzed, and
interactive video tool such as hyper video is also discussed. Section 3.2 describes the
challenges in multimedia-based learning tools, Sect. 3.3 highlights the results and
discussion that comprises of statistical analysis for the analysis of response collected
from the course instructors and students based on the questionnaire framed, and
finally, conclusion is drawn in Sect. 3.4.
3.2 Features and Challenges in Multimedia-Based

Learning Tools
The multimedia-based learning tools have its own features and challenges. The
features and challenges rely on the perspective of students in learning and on the
perspective of teachers in the teaching process. Some of the features and challenges
are as follows.
1. Training for the development of multimedia tools
The classical teaching aids like blackboard and chart preparation does not
require any specific training. The multimedia-based teaching aids require little
bit training, when it involves the incorporation of audio and animated pictures. A
lot of softwares are there for the development of multimedia-based teaching aids.
The students are easily adaptable to technology; however, an investigation has to
be made regarding the requirement of training in the development of multimedia
tools for course instructors.
2. Selection of teaching aid methodology
The selection of teaching methodology relies on the nature of course and the
intention of course instructor. The courses in general can be classified into three
types: (i) theory, (ii) semi-analytical and (iii) analytical. The traditional methods
of teaching are lecturing, usage of blackboard and power point presentation.
Course instructors have to decide, which teaching aid methodology will be bene-
ficial for better understanding of the course. For analytical courses like mathe-
matics, blackboard teaching is must, and for understanding of some concepts,
multimedia aids are used.
3. Requirement of audio in multimedia teaching aid
The audio requirement in a multimedia teaching is an optional one, and it relies on
the course instructor. The impact of audio in a multimedia presentation is good,
since it creates a virtual teaching environment. The advantage of using audio
in multimedia presentation is that course instructor does not have to take much
effort, and since the recorded audio will be providing the necessary information,
more over the voice modulation will be continuous and an efficient delivery of
course content will be there. Rather than simply using a power point, if audio
is incorporated, it will increase the attention of students. The voice of course
instructor itself can be used in the presentation so that it will improve the clarity
of concept.
4. Requirement of animation in multimedia presentation
The animation is also an optional requirement in the multimedia presentation;
however for some of the courses, it will increase the understanding of students.
The animation in a presentation will generate a real-time exposure of content.
For example, the working of DC motor when shown in animated picture will give
more insight on the working of various components and its properties rather than a
2D image. The 3D effect in animation will further increase the understanding level
of the students. The analytical course contents when explained with animation
will be really beneficial for the students. The practical exposure increases for
the students, when animation is used by the course instructor. For example,
electrical machines are a course in undergraduate electrical engineering; when the
concept of motor or generator working principle is explained with an animation,
it will improve the understanding level of students. Also in medical field, while
explaining the anatomy of human body, animation will be an added advantage
for better understanding.
5. Requirement of interactive sessions
The interactive session in multimedia will increase the attention of students. At
the end of a multimedia presentation, an online quiz will be a testing aid for the
evaluation of session efficiency. The interactive session will create enthusiasm
for students. The issue is the time consumption, when interactive sessions are
used.
6. Challenges in the multimedia presentation
Though multimedia presentation has enough merits, the preparation of a multi-
media presentation requires some skills. Some of the issues in the usage of
multimedia presentation are time consumption in content delivery, when inter-
active sessions are used. The location of classroom should be properly designed
for good visibility and stability in power, and proper network connections also
should be there. The challenges have to be overcome by a course instructor for
an efficient content delivery.
7. Analyzing students and course instructor interest
First one is selection of teaching aid (lecturing, hands-on demo and multimedia
aid). Second one is submission mode of assignment (classical method of writing in
paper, e-assignment submission by email and multimedia-aided submission). Third
one is the writing scheme of examination (classical mode of writing in paper and
web-based online examination).
Based on these criteria, questionnaire is framed and responses are collected. The
statistical analysis is performed for the questionnaire to judge the requirement of
multimedia-based learning tools.
The multimedia aid is a tool; however, course instructors can add motion or
emotion in it to make it more beneficial for the students. In the current scenario,
most of the countries in the world are affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) disease,
and the schools and colleges are closed. The government encourages the development
of online content, online teaching and evaluation. Most of the colleges and universi-
ties in the world are now engaged in the design and development of multimedia aids
for the beneficiary of the students. The UNESCO prefers multimedia-based distance
learning solution in the current COVID-19 scenario [42]. The multimedia presen-
tation with the audio of course instructor embedded in it improves the efficiency
of teaching. Online quiz is conducted as a part of multimedia aids to evaluate the
proficiency of students. The Zoom is one of the interactive video conferencing tools
based on artificial intelligence for taking online class. The attendance of students can
be monitored by the course instructor, doubts can be asked and group discussion is
possible, and the class can be recorded for future reference.
The image processing algorithms are used in the creation of 3D animation and also
gain importance in the virtual reality and augmented reality. The hyper video is an
interactive video tool, and the design of multimedia aids relies on image processing
techniques. The virtual reality is blended with the project-based learning for product
development using 3D software [37]. The virtual laboratory enriches the students’
knowledge in a course and provides a real-time exposure. The virtual laboratory
improves the performance of students [41].
3.3 Results and Discussion
The goal of this chapter is to analyze the need and the status of acceptance level
for multimedia aids in teaching and learning. A detailed survey based on the
response from engineering college students and faculty of different branches has
been conducted for the need of multimedia tools in the teaching and learning process.
A questionnaire was prepared, and the response was collected from students and
course instructors. The questionnaire comprises of nominal and ordinal questions.
For nominal questions, Likert scale was used. The statistical analysis was performed
from the response of questionnaire. The questionnaire for course instructor comprises
of 11 questions, and the questionnaire for students also comprises of 11 questions.
The questionnaire for course instructor is depicted in Table 3.1. The questionnaire
for students is depicted in Table 3.2.
The hypothesis formulated for the questions is depicted in Table 3.3. For the statis-
tical analysis, hypothesis formulation is a needy one, and for setting that, relevant
questions from course instructor and students side are taken into account. Out of
11 questions in each case, 8 questions are nominal and 3 are ordinal. For nominal
questions, ranking or weights are assigned and the Likert scale is used. For ordinal
questions also, weights are assigned for analysis. Figure 3.2 depicts the analysis of
questionnaire. For each pair of question, null hypothesis and alternate hypothesis are
formulated.
For statistical analysis, t-test was used. The response was collected from 106
respondents from students and course instructors of engineering college. The students
Table 3.1 Questionnaire for the course instructor

Sl. No. Questionnaire Response
1 As a staff do you need training for the (a) Strongly disagree, (b) disagree, (c)
preparation of multimedia aids for neutral, (d) agree, (e) strong agree
teaching?
2 Is audio required in multimedia (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
aids-based teaching methodology? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
3 What is your opinion about (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
multimedia-based library for learning? good, (e) very good
4 How do you rate multimedia-based aid (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
for an analytical course? good, (e) very good
5 Do the interactive multimedia session (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
are required in class? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
6 What is your opinion regarding mobile (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
app for learning? good, (e) very good
7 Do you think that learning capability is (a) Strongly disagree, (b) disagree, (c)
improved, if the course instructor uses neutral, (d) agree, (e) strong agree
multimedia aid for teaching?
8 Is animation required in multimedia (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
teaching? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
9 Which one of the teaching methodology (a) Lecturing, (b) blackboard and chalk, (c)
creates attention from the students? multimedia tools, (d) role play
10 Which mode of assignment is good for a (a) Conventional writing and submission in
course? paper, (b) e-assignment, (c)
multimedia-aided submission
11 For conducting examination, which one (a) Classical mode (writing in paper), (b)
is preferred well? web-based online examination
and course instructors are from various disciplines like Electrical and Electronics
Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and
Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. For the Questionnaire
Q9, Q10 and Q11, percentage analysis was done, since the questions are nominal.
The t-test results are depicted in Table 3.4.
The t-test was carried out on the nominal questions Q1–Q8. The responses from
the 106 respondents were analyzed based on the hypothesis framed in Table 3.4.
The t-test was found to be successful favoring the alternate hypothesis (Ho). The
t-value and p-value are obtained from the calculation, and for carrying out t-test, free
statistics calculator (https://www.socscistatistics.com) is used. The significance level
of 0.05 was chosen in the t-test, and a smaller p-value represents the strong evidence
against the null hypothesis. The higher value of t indicates that the ‘net’ difference
between the scores for each participant is relatively large and could be evidence that
the intervention variable or the treatment was effective. Here from the t-test results,
it is evident that p-value is high, and hence, null hypothesis is accepted.
Table 3.2 Questionnaire for the students

Sl. No. Questionnaire Response
1 As a student do you need training for (a) Strongly disagree, (b) disagree, (c)
the preparation of multimedia aids? neutral, (d) agree, (e) strong agree
2 Is audio required in multimedia (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
aids-based teaching methodology? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
3 What is your opinion about (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
multimedia-based library for learning? good, (e) very good
4 How do you rate multimedia-based aid (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
for an analytical course? good, (e) very good
5 Do the interactive multimedia session (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
are required in class? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
6 What is your opinion regarding mobile (a) Extremely bad, (b) bad, (c) neutral, (d)
app for learning? good, (e) very good
7 Do you think that learning capability is (a) Strongly disagree, (b) disagree, (c)
improved, if the course instructor uses neutral, (d) agree, (e) strong agree
multimedia aid for teaching?
8 Is animation required in multimedia (a) Strongly not needed, (b) not needed, (c)
teaching? neutral, (d) needed, (e) strong needed
9 Which one of the teaching methodology (a) Lecturing, (b) blackboard and chalk, (c)
creates attention from the students? multimedia tools, (d) role play
10 Which mode of assignment is good for a (a) Conventional writing and submission in
course? paper, (b) e-assignment, (c)
multimedia-aided submission
The t-test result shows that there is a strong agreement in the usage of multimedia
aids for the teaching and learning process. The questions Q9, Q10 and Q11 are ordinal
questions and hence for that percentage wise analysis was performed, depicted in
Figs. 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5.
Fig. 3.3a depicts the percentage analysis response of Q9 corresponding to course
instructor and (b) depicts the percentage analysis response of Q9 corresponding to
students. The response results show that both course instructor and students support
the multimedia aids for teaching.
In Fig. 3.4a depicts the percentage analysis response of Q10 corresponding to
course instructor and (b) depicts the percentage analysis response of Q10 corre-
sponding to students. The response results show that course instructor supports for
assignment submission in convention mode and students supports the multimedia-
aided submission.
Fig. 3.5a depicts the percentage analysis response of Q11 corresponding to course
instructor and (b) depicts the percentage analysis response of Q11 corresponding to
students. The response results shows that both course instructor and students support
for web-based online examination.
The multimedia aids have very good impact in the teaching learning process, and
it has a fruitful outcome [43–45]. Some of the course instructors and students in the
Table 3.3 Hypothesis formulation for the questionnaire

Sl. No. Questionnaire Hypothesis formulation
1 Q1 Ho: There is need for training in the preparation of multimedia aids
among students and course instructor
H1: There is no need for training in the preparation of multimedia aids
among students and course instructor
2 Q2 Ho: There is need for audio in the multimedia aids among students and
course instructor
H1: There is no need for audio in the multimedia aids among students
and course instructor
3 Q3 Ho: The course instructor and students favors the multimedia library
system
H1: The course instructor and students does not favor the multimedia
library system
4 Q4 Ho: The course instructor and students support the multimedia aids for
analytical course
H1: The course instructor and students does not support the
multimedia aids for analytical course
5 Q5 .Ho: The course instructor and students favor the interactive
multimedia session in class
H1: The course instructor and students does not favor the interactive
multimedia session in class
6 Q6 Ho: The course instructor and students favor the mobile app for
learning
H1: The course instructor and students does not favor the mobile app
for learning
7 Q7 Ho: The course instructor and students favor that learning capability is
improved, when multimedia aids are used
H1: The course instructor and students does not favor that learning
capability is improved, when multimedia aids are used
8 Q8 Ho: The course instructor and students favor the usage of animation in
multimedia aids
H1: The course instructor and students does not favor the usage of
animation in multimedia aids
rural areas are not still aware of the advantages of multimedia aids. The appropriate
training has to be provided for the teachers and course instructors in the rural areas,
and multimedia-based teaching and learning require good hardware setup comprising
of personal computers or laptops and projectors. The Internet availability in some of
the rural areas in developing countries is also a challenge in the usage of multimedia
aids.
The virtual laboratory based on multimedia was found to be efficient in the
teaching of DSP for different branches comprising of graphical user interfaces [46].
The virtual laboratory was found to be efficient in the teaching of power engineering
concepts [47]. The digital videos were found to enhance the performance of the
students in laboratory practical [48]. The virtual learning environment was found to
Fig. 3.2 Analysis of questionnaire
Table 3.4 Statistical t-test analysis results

Question number t-value p-value Mean
1 0.94823 0.34519 0.06
2 0.46966 0.63957 0.04
3 0.51460 0.60791 0.04
4 0.56890 0.58921 0.03
5 0.66907 0.50492 −0.06
6 0.73695 0.46279 0.06
7 0.41046 0.68231 −0.03
8 0.45663 0.64888 0.05
Fig. 3.3 Percentage analysis of question Q9

be proficient in the learning of laboratory experiments [49]. The image and video
processing algorithms play significant role in multimedia-based aids [50].
The future work will be the selection of appropriate multimedia aid based on
the nature of course, free supporting tools for the development of multimedia aids
will be analyzed, and the merits of virtual reality and augmented reality can also be
analyzed in a detailed manner. In the mere future, the usage of multimedia aids will
be increased and especially in the today’s scenario, multimedia-based teaching aids
are being very beneficial for learner’s community due to the outbreak of n-Cov 19
disease, most of the schools and colleges now rely on multimedia aids like animation,
video and virtual labs for enhancing the students’ knowledge through online mode.
The online faculty development program and webinars are found to be beneficent
for the course instructors.
3.4 Conclusion
This chapter discusses the types of multimedia-based learning resources and appli-
cations in different domain. The usage of multimedia-based resources in the present
scenario is highlighted. The response is collected from course instructors and students
based on the questionnaire framed, and statistical analysis was performed. The t-test
was used for analysis, and the test results reveal that multimedia aids are effective
in the today’s scenario for better understanding of a course from the perspective of
students and improve the understanding ability of students from the perspective of
course instructors. The analysis of nominal questions reveals that training is required
for the development of multimedia aids, and audio and animation are required in
multimedia aids. The course instructor and students support multimedia-based aids
for analytical course and also favor the interactive multimedia session. The survey
also reveals that mobile app was beneficial, and overall, the learning capability was
improved. The outcome of this work reveals that multimedia-based learning tools
are beneficial for students and course instructors, thereby enhancing the technical
knowledge.
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Chapter 4
Social Network Analysis in Education:
A Study
Poulomi Samanta, Dhrubasish Sarkar, Dipak K. Kole,

and Premananda Jana
Abstract These days social media sites have been gaining huge attention. Millions
of people are accessing social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Because
of very affordable Internet, people are spending hours on it. People are taking interest
on social network for information, user’s opinion on diverse subject matters. A wide
range of techniques of data mining allowed us to detect useful data from massive
database by some of the algorithms where we can find the patterns of users’ thinking
and trend on social network. It also reduces difficulties by the time of discovering
contents. Not just that, a huge data also comes from the educational system. This
data is used to realize the knowledge in decision-making. Educational data mining
methods are designed to understand and measure the performance of students and
also helpful to study students’ behaviour. Data mining technique is also important
to survey the history and application in traditional educational system, intelligent
teaching system, e-learning, and web-based educational system. Over a time period,
education in the rural areas has improved and available. Still there are lot of countries
cannot stand uniquely. So the system of education has to bear a major alteration by
redesigning its framework. To solve that problem, different sectors have evolved in
educational environment changes for the further development in urban areas. In the
educational environment, different attributes are associated between each other like
the location and type of the college, groups, courses, etc. By the mining technique,
the data will find the unknown rules, and it will analyse which is suitable and can be
built for academic planning in higher learning. It is helpful for a proper understanding
P. Samanta · D. Sarkar (B)

Amity Institute of Information Technology, Amity University Kolkata, Kolkata, India
e-mail: dhrubasish@inbox.com
P. Samanta
e-mail: poulomisamanta6@gmail.com
D. K. Kole
Department of CSE, Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India
e-mail: dipak.kole@cse.jgec.ac.in
P. Jana
Netaji Subhas Open University, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
e-mail: prema_jana@yahoo.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_4
66 P. Samanta et al.
of the educational environment different sides to the course construction and other
improvement for student’s performance theoretical areas. In this chapter, there are
used data mining technique and strong rules in education environment which identify
and understand the pattern of students’ success in different areas. Analysing and
prediction from data are covered in this chapter.
Keywords Online social networks · Collaborative learning · E-learning · Social

network analysis · Education
4.1 Introduction
Social networks are a platform which creates a image in various fields. Social
networking analysis is helping us to understand the modern society which is gained
a useful and significant following on development of education, communication,
information science, economy, politics, etc., and now it is smoothly available as the
consumer weapon [1].
Social network analysis (SNA) in education is the process which investigating
education in social structures using theory of graph and network relationship. This
characterizes the structure of network as the edges (links or relations) and the
nodes (individual person, or things in the network structure), where the main domain
is the classrooms and relation or links working between students. From this larger
network and the relationship, we come to know some important effects in students’
behaviour also analysis and understand of a classroom network.
Analysing of network in the education system can help us to understand the
network formation of students and also the teachers in the classroom, and all the
types of consequence of those connections have among them. The methodolog-
ical and theoretical approaches help us to solve different problems about study,
pedantry, educational policy, equity, organization, etc. Nowadays, it seems educa-
tional industries are adapting these into the systems for farther development and
trusting on different mechanisms and resources to improve the path of the student
life. Also, social media in education is providing us useful information. It connects
different educational systems and the learning groups which make education handy
and easier. It gives multiple opportunities to the educational institutions which
enhance learning methods [2].
The goal of this chapter is to understand the basic terms and concept, which
will outline the structure and graphical representations and network partners. We
will briefly discuss the method of application and organize data, challenges, social
influence in SNA education and the future scope, and the outcomes. We will also
discuss the importance of educational policy studies and network evolution.
4 Social Network Analysis in Education: A Study 67
4.2 Basic Terms and Concepts Associated with Social

Network Analysis in Education Field
A software architecture has also one or group of components of software. The soft-
ware components have interrelations and visibility. The external visible factors are
service, features, error processing, function, etc. The information flow is in the
structure of social network, where the structure is individual nodes of collection.
SNA studies how people, groups or organizations interact with each other within the
network field. As an analysis tool, graph theory was used in this paper [3].
As you can see in the graph (Fig. 4.1), every single person is not connected with
every single person, the introduction happen the connection happened in the graph
(Fig. 4.1).
The concern is the social network analysis (SNA) on relationships;
SNA in education includes the nodes or actors or student where the individuals
within an educational environment network and implementing a communication or
edges with each. Nodes which represent teachers, students and other actors and edges
are representing the ties’ interactions among them. By the SNA, we can analyse the
student; it means position of the students, consulting with each other, sharing for
work-related information or exchange ideas and constructed knowledge, etc. SNA
researches a student’s positions, and the learning effects, academic achievements
and understand the considerable volume and explain it. Student who has the better
connection has better resources and has educational support which motivates the
person.
On the other hand, this type of analysis may give us some pattern of collaborative
groups. It is calculated by clustering coefficient and consistency of interactions.
Consistency is calculated by group diversity also by contributions. The architecture
Fig. 4.1 Strong ties and weak ties [3]

to very lightweight quantification of conversation and consistency is a same type

of measurement which rises according to the more participants. Interdependence
and cohesion are main concepts of collaborative learning. In SNA education, in the
1990s, importance was given only on effects of using analysing on social network,
but it is not about on the prospective that they gained.
4.3 Architecture
At first: Build a relation to understand the CSCL [4, 5], then find the areas that
required for inquiry in three different courses, in this first term [6].
Second: Build an mechanism which analyse data and take from the first step.
Last stage: Compare all the quarries (pre and post) and do the whole experiment
for first term [6].
Subjects: Subjects have some courses that exist, course A, course B, course C.
Those are a full-time duration courses as shown in [7] the paragraph.
The mechanism of teaching in all the courses is to mix learning and showing better
result. Table 4.1 shows in each course, the number of posts, students and topics. The
first examination, subjects were invigilated by real-time analysis, and the data was
gathered at the end of the term and tested. And based on first mid-term and the end
of the next term, both the data were analysed and compared. Gathering interaction
data was cancelled with the help of two methods: Structured Query Language (SQL)
queries and graphics web service [6].
Graphics web service was took for the understanding the CSCL in this type of
system.
It extracts the data and makes SNA image, from Moodle group, about course intro.
It is also useful for getting a view of courses interactions and the final results required
extraction of metadata, and depth analysis users and their quality, the types of the
messages, which drived SQL usage. It was used to understand all the data (parent
forum, subject, reply, content, author, ID, creation time, ID of groups, modification
time) and data which holds by the user that are ID of the user, email, name of user,
course that the user chosen. In course A, the students who were marked as G1-17, in
course B—S1-33, and in the course type C-it is L1-32. The superiors of the groups
were marked or given code as T-1, Q-1 and D-1 for each groups. Finally, those ID
and other data were placed into a layout of Gephi.
[6] Subject characteristics of all the courses
Course are Topics are Posts are Participants

Course A 20 634 17
Course B 21 1396 33
Course C 3 390 32
Total 44 2420 82
Analyse the data: We used two types of indicators, SNA and IA, which are groups
and the individual levels.
In group level: It is added some topics, position and the contribution in average
form, for each and every nodes.
Individual level: Replies, performances and communications which are received
were added there.
Level of activity: The level of actions was measured by the centrality movement
which we called in, out degree and degree itself.
The degree in the position of out, centrality was indicated the participants’ quan-
tity, interactions were calculated, in-degree centrality also had an importance under
the measurement influence. A participant usually communicates when they share
knowledge.
The centrality is a sign of impact and characteristics of achievements as polling
and giving votes by peers, in the section in-degree, of exchange area, good in-degree
takes as a sign of better knowledgeable nodes, leadership and level of popularity.
The third or last measurement of node weight was the degree level of central
attraction which is known as centrality, that’s measured with the total number of
out-degree (contributed) followed by in-degree (received) communications (in +
out degree = centrality).
Exchange of position of information between nodes: The give and take of
information was look after by the three measures.
At first was (i) betweenness under centrality; it means, a node played role among
the group and it is coordinating and interacting with others, the number of times. If it
is not, then unconnect collaborators. It is an involvement indication in argumentations
in a forum.
Higher value of betweenness centrality means a higher brokerage capital.
Lower betweenness centrality means difficulty in or reach to other members in
the group without any mediator [6].
And the other important thing, which was (ii) closeness in the centrality attribute.
It means that the closeness of the particular user, with the other users or nodes in the
field or simply to reach out and interaction with other one. The higher grade of the
closeness indicates the place in information passing with others and less values is
imagined as less or poor communications between the nodes and social detachments.
The third using of social network analysis is to monitor and guide improvement
in online collaborative learning.
Natures into the groups field: For the role or the nature identification, analysing
technique is used to visually, and centrality shows the different roles and the labels
of each participants’.
Marcos-Garcı’a et al. create this method to describe of each participants’ nature
or role.
They says particularly about three roles for the high-level node into the group,
that is teacher: facilitator, guide and the node how observes. Facilitator teacher is all
about the discussions of topic, answers all the queries that come to them. The criteria
of SNA to identify and understand a teacher on the area of their functionalities which
are reachability or may the closeness centrality, medium level of involvement which
known as out-degree, less level of communication or influence, known as in-degree
and average to high of involvement or closeness, known as betweenness centrality.
The SNA helps to show an image of the relations and makes dynamic view of that
nature. On other hand, regarding the student nature also the range of the student nature
ware ranked by level of communication which depends on the nodes who arranges
the group and maintain it (like leader, animator, peripheral, operative, missing and
clam).
Since all the scenarios have the flexible feature, we expect students to be took part
and also expect the crisis by some students. On the other hand, the roles like who
makes groups and coordinate the group and leaders who encourage others, highly
active, and helps to mediate of discussions. The criteria of SNA to know the nature
of the nodes are as follows (Table 4.2):
Table 4.2 Different terms and descriptions

Term Description
• Leader • It is a high level of activity; it plays an positive role and in the
communication and holds a good positions (medium to high level
of all the attributes)
• Coordinator • It is a medium level of activity (medium level of degree centralities,
in the out and in centralities), good position of coordination
• (medium—high position holes of closeness and also the
betweenness centrality)
• Active • Participatory itself is a active role (medium activity); it
communicates with the other nodes of student, on the level of
medium–low platform in information exchange
• Peripheral • A low activity (low in-degree) had less number of involvement in
give and take of information
The parameters of analysing technique level is added group
communicational parameters which are average of three types of
degree. With the divisional activity, the total degree of all
participants with the size of group we got the average degree
• Group links or • It was understood by clustering coefficient and density of nodes’
cohesion communications
Fig. 4.2 Node communication within students and the teachers [6]
Results
The first mid-term
• As we can see (Fig. 4.2) by the figure we understand degree of communication
is in a good level with the teacher (in the pattern instructor-centric), where thick
arrows (frequent of interactions) are pointing towards teacher nodes, followed by
B and also C courses. In this educational world, we naturally look forward in
non-dominating role and a facilitator teacher (a moderator).
• Student-to-student interactions were very low. Student nodes in course A have very
much low interconnections, gradually B course student has more interconnections,
than A and in C it has few lines. This type of student communication tells us the
another sign of poor network collaboration.
• The degree of teachers has larger than any student when it compared with the
bases of to the centrality, Teacher-student communication or connection is very
low, for C course. It makes us to understand the medium interactions, which we
could see by arrows.
• Teachers relation betweenness is very high, means the centrality (nodes that
showed as dark green), compared to the students (light nodes, low betweenness
centrality), which means students played less role in connecting others in the
conversations and relaying information.
In this diagram (Fig. 4.3), it shows that in the networks, teachers are (D1, T 1, Q1)
in the centre or the nodes who are most important in information transaction. The
centre closer nodes carries more valuable degree in information transaction.
From the research, we got the following values of Course A, Course B, Course C
down below in (Table 4.3).
From Table 4.4, we able to understand the different degree which are out, in
and average degree from the activity. Section and from the position in information
exchange section, we understand the betweenness, closeness and information of
different coerces.
From Table 4.4, we understand roles of the subjects in the courses. From where
we were calculated the totals of the AP (active participatory), ANP (active non-
participatory), P (participatory) and also the totals of the courses.
Fig. 4.3 Different nodes with different degrees [6]
Table 4.3 It shows level of activity of the courses, the courses itself and the position or degree in
information exchange [6]
Construct Course A Course B Course C
Level of activity
Out-degree 17.29 20.12 3.03
In-degree 0.47 2.73 2.91
Average degree 17.76 22.85 5.94
Position in information exchange
Betweenness 0.00 0.00 0.01
Closeness 0.99 0.66 0.44
Information 0.06 0.24 0.71
Table 4.4 Roles of the subjects in the courses

Course Role
AP ANP P Total
Course A 0 16 1 17
Course B 10 22 1 33
Course C 5 0 27 32
Total 15 38 19 82
ANP is active non-participatory. P is peripheral, and AP is active participatory [6]
The Second Mid-Term

By the graph (Fig. 4.4), as you can see each node connecting to participants.
The degree centrality is proportional to the node size. Arrows donate interactions,
improved between in the nodes representation, and also the thickness of all arrows,
say frequency is improved.
Fig. 4.4 Communication between students and teachers at second tern [6]
By the result of the second mid-term into the network of analysing in education
shown us with the good improvement, simply means it has some positive differ-
ence compared to the first mid-term, in the three constructs of SNA from where
we understand the role on information sharing and information sharing, interactions
with students and role in groups. As shown in second mid-term picture, it gives a
view of all interactions in all the three courses with lot of improvement an increase
in student–student interactions and thick connections in the relation in the student
actors in between. Also creates a good view in teacher-student connections which is
marked mostly from the three course, in courses B and C, and little bit lesser extent
in the course A.
Another significant development was shown in coordination students, and
betweenness is also showing some increment, centrality also which shone with the
dark green actor or nodes, and also, we can see involved on connecting and relaying
other.
A closer node is near the canter (Fig. 4.5) compared to the pre-intervention. More
students are close to the canter here means more important role that it carries in
information transfer network.
Table 4.5 shows below in each course, the number of students with their improved
positions. Also shows students who did not change. It does the comparison of
students’ ranks across different measures in pre-intervention and post-intervention.
Fig. 4.5 Different nodes with the degrees [6]

Table 4.5 Subject courses and their centrality and rank [6]
Course Centrality Rank P Course
Positive Negative No change
Course A Degree 12° 4 1
Course A In-degree 14° 0 3
Course A Out-degree 6 10 1
Course A Betweenness 12° 0 5
Course A Closeness 15° 2 3
Course A Information 17° 0 0
Course B Degree 1 32° 0
Course B In-degree 22° 4 7
Course B Out-degree 0 33° 0
Course B Betweenness 31° 1 1
Course B Closeness 27° 4 2
Course B Information 33° 0 0
Course C Degree 19° 5 8
Course C In-degree 13 12 7
Course C Out-degree 21° 5 6
Course C Betweenness 7 16 16
Course C Closeness 31° 1 0
Course C Information 31° 1 0
(We got the value from the research)
Where the good rank (positive) implies an growth in the centrality score, as well
as a very low, score means decline (negative). From the research, we get positive,
negative and no change value from the second-term result.
From Table 4.6, we understand the course totals and their leaders, coordinators.
Actives, active non-participatory and peripherals of the second mid-term.
From the research, we come to know, all students result showed positive improve-
ment in the statistically significant in measures across all the three constructs of the
Table 4.6 Active non-participatory = ANP, L = leader, AP = active- paticipatory, C = coordinator,

participatory, P = peripheral
Course Role
L C AP ANP P Total
Course A 2 1 8 6 0 17
Course B 2 3 20 7 1 33
Course C 2 0 12 6 12 32
Total 6 4 40 19 13 82
centrality. In the information exchange indicator, the improvement was marked. More
than 98% of the nodes or actors are with reachability growth. The huge change we
can see in information centrality also that the other centrality measures are indicated
of a shift change towards efficient or more positive information exchange into the
field of education. The information about centrality calculated (Table 4.7) is shown
in Fig. 4.6.
Before and after network image and property comparison and communication
indicators intervention. Table 4.8 finds the communication parameters (in in-degree,
degree and out-degree) of the average values and across the two points of measure-
ment, group indicators of each and every course which ensure that the increment of
density and the clustering more than before. In each course, it shows the positive
changes in cohesion indicators.
The research and analysis are used in analysis of education.
At first, we understand each participant’s holding degree or frequency of activities.
At the second, we find the position and role, in the frequency of communication to
exchange data. At third, by each participant, the role was played in the collaboration.
It includes group cohesion indicators and interactivity on the group level.
Table 4.7 Here, OD = out-degree, ID = in-degree, D = degree, Bet = betweenness, Cls =

closeness, info = information
Rank OD ID D Bet Cls Info
Positive rank 60 47 64 50 73 81
No change 14 18 10 22 5 0
Negative rank 8 17 8 10 4 1
Chart of Outdegree, Indegree, Degree, Betweeness, Closeness, ...

90 Rank
Negative Rank
80 No Change
Positive Rank
70
60
50
Data
40
30
20
10
0
Outdegree Indegree Degree Betweeness Closeness Information
Fig. 4.6 Bar chart 1 chat of out-degree, in-degree, betweenness, closeness, information
Table 4.8 AV = average, Co = coefficient

Course AV degree AV in-degree AV out-degree
Before After Before After Before After
Course A 17.76 26.24 0.47 8.59 17.29 17.65
Course B 22.76 14.36 2.73 6.67 20.12 7.70
Course C 5.94 8.78 2.91 4.84 3.03 3.94
The before after chat [6]
4.3.1 Data Mining in Educational Data and Application
Data: By the different technology, this field has producing huge data in this educa-
tional network. That shows us some information that types of information especially
point out student. Different systems generate LMS system. With the help of mining
method in the education system, data can be filtered from the education groups,
which show us specific knowledge which are either simple or very complicated like
in applying relational mining.
Objective: In the mining methods, any single or group of data is derived by
objectives. Most importantly, it is used to improve learning as well as the processes
of teaching. This is the research to understand the environment and make a very deep
knowledge of the learning and teaching fields. That influences the aim occasionally.
Sometimes, it is difficult to apply traditional method of researches to achieve the
goals [8].
Techniques: The application in data mining, any types of difficulty is moved by
the research objectives, and the type of data. So that, for applying successfully, data
mining to data about education needs specific acceptance. The acceptance may for
the data mining methods [8].
Some methods on the topic can be applied in the previous works in the educational
area, and there are simply no need of any kind of modifications and any change.
Not just that some techniques of mining are used in only specific problems in the
domain. However, selecting some of the techniques of DM depends on researchers
of the future problem and research [8]. As an example, data mining in education
mechanism can improve, and the teaching processes into the classroom give you
the information about different-risk students, developed teaching block, and gives
us some advice to students and the teachers. In the current research, only students
and teachers are involved. However, in research, other groups can be involved which
have other different objectives like some course development, as follows at Table
4.9.
4.4 Application of SNA in Education: Related Work
Table 4.10 shows the different researches on SNA in education.

Table 4.9 Different objective and key application

Category Objectives Key applications
Future In the model development • Recognize at-risk of students
field, it is based on other • Understand the student
variables; we need to predict outcomes in education
some variables. The predictor
variables may be extracted
from a specific set of data or
constant
Clustering The amount data which is • It finds the differences and
group specific to different similarities between schools
clusters is based on the data or students
behaviour. The cluster number It categorized behaviour of the
can be different that is based new students
on the clustering objective
process and the mode
Mining the relations Between the variables into the • Finds the relations between
group of data, it filters the drop-out students from the
relationship school and education level of
parent
• In sequences of course,
discovers the curricular
associations; in which
strategies of pedagogy lead
to much more workable and
very efficient
Find some new ideas with the The aim is to make a model • Find out the relationships on
help of models about the phenomenon with the students’ characteristics
the help of clustering, and student movement and
knowledge engineering or the variables of the field
prediction • With the help of research,
different questions are
analysed, from the wide
unique and optional variety
into the contexts
For human judgement data This model easily finds new • The patterns of human
distillation ways to active researchers to identification in actors’
classify or to identify features behaviour, gaining
in the data set knowledge, or making
collaboration
• Labelling of data to use in
other or development in the
future, to prediction of
modelling
4.5 Challenges
By the analysis, we came to know that social media a educational field that offers
opportunities for every student, teachers including parents. It is a very effective way
to build a community and share information.
Table 4.10 Researches on SNA in education

Researches relater SNA in education Abstract
How Data Mining helping us in the education • Data mining techniques are used to analyse
[8] and filter useful data from raw data element.
Extracted knowledge is very important which
makes us prepared to take decisions. With
this method of educational data mining, we
can extract information which has potential
to give a big impact in organization. The
increasing popularity in the technology is
also used in educational field which drives us
to the storage of huge number of data of
students and gives its impertinence to use
these types of mechanisms to learning
processes and improve educational slandered.
In the different areas, EDM is very useful. In
identifying of at-risk students, understanding
priority of learning which varies on different
student groups, passing rates increasing,
effectively on institutional performance,
spreading resources, EDM is useful, and also
it optimizes to take about subject decisions to
renewal. This paper examines the studies on
mining area and also the methodologies and
data involved in those studies
Networks for learning and development across • This paper is guiding us about policy
school education guiding principles for policy development principles of recent research in
development on the use of networks in school a context and in the area developments of
education systems [2] school education. Those are illustrated with
examples. It is taken from countries, which
are discussed and shared by the members of
the Working Group on this project. We will
understand how various types of networks
have been used into practice, with different
results. The data comes from series of
different meetings which held in Brussels,
research exercise, and peer learning activity.
Here we can see examples of 12 case studies,
which are presented by organizations and
countries in the peer learning activity (PLA).
The report was covered by Hannah Grainger
Clemson and Laurie Day in October 2017,
with the help of Jonathan Allen and Janet
Looney, and validation and review by all the
members
(continued)

Networking for educational innovation: a • This chapter works on the relevance and rise
comparative analysis [7] of networking in a educational field on
national, regional and also on some
cross-national levels. This describes this
day’s popularity towards in education,
networking which is a platform in social
interaction to growing interest. This analyses
the bigger educational and social groups in
the structure of educational networking field.
We also come to know the role and aims in
the networks in an educational field. This
describes types of networks, initiators,
stakeholders, leadership, membership and
some organizational factors. It also examined
preconditions and incentives which make
successful networking in education. The
chapter also discusses the role policy
implications in education
In the influences of education, SNA reforms • In this chapter, we get an idea about a social
on teachers’ practices and communications [9] network analysis, in the recent few years
graph about teachers’ field. It is hard to
implement in educational reforms, and the
network of teachers’ is also important. It
describes the three approaches on social
network. First, graphical representation of
data to understand and build the structure of
network by which the knowledge and
information about re-model might gives big
impact. Second, use of social influence
models we understand the teachers’ and their
behaviours and attitude. Those are changing
by other person with whom the teachers
interact; third or last, selection models. To
explain the selection of teachers with whom
they have linked or engaged in
communication about the reforms. Here also
discussed implementing the practice of
educational policy-makers, educational
policy, school administrators, etc.
(continued)

Understanding the classroom activities and • Social links between students are on top and
need in social network analysis [10] which is not much given attention specially
in undergraduate education. It helps you to
understand the relation formation in the
undergraduate classrooms, and also, it tells
you the impacts. Those relationships’
outcome helps you to inform about actors in
educational field and its methodology, and it
improves the educational reform. SNA
provides some useful key for searching
various and innovative questions about
relational data. This will make you introduce
here with the collection of data, processing of
data, and also the methods of analysis data,
with the use of some study into the classroom
with the help of undergraduate field of
people. Generative processes which are used
here help us to understand study networks
between the students relation in the network,
and also, it tests associations’ network
position success in the examinations. It also
covers some important issues, such as for
network studies, reviews of the different
aspects of the human subjects. The aim is to
convince all the readers that the usage of
SNA in the classroom environments is to
allow us to rich. Informative analyses also
takes place and used to provide initial tools,
in some processes which inspire in future
studies in education on relational data
Using SNA to investigate the diffusion of • The purpose is to analyse and study the
special education [11] relationships between leadership team of
district-level education and two primary
schools. This study uses SNA as the
methodological and the analytic approach to
understand the structural degree of the advice
giving and receiving field of networks in the
schools. To know more in the network
relationships, knowledge impact and
collaboration, it is also used. The study
researches, advice giving and receiving affect
the knowledge of the staff members also the
relationship shown on the network, albeit
indirectly, school performance. Moderate
findings were present within the network
properties and divergence of the education
knowledge that the type of lesson being given
and received and also the effect lesson or
advice being giving or receiving has on
knowledge based of the staff members. A
relationship which is indirect also found
between school performance and network
properties. The study also discussed the
changes of the professional practice and the
further work and research on the distributed
leadership
(continued)

How SNA helps us to understand online • It says about online collaborative learning
learning and guide us [6] and stimulates learning which meets the goal.
The mechanisms are needed to understand
the efficiency of collaboration (online). The
study finds that the way of SNA may be used
to understand the pattern of collaborative
learning online and finds aspects of more
improvement, it guides and inform
intervention also and assess. With the using
of SNA-based quantitative and visual
analysis, it is understood that three constructs
of SNA for each node: in that the role, level
of interaction, and position of the
information is exchanged and the actors
playing role by the each participant into the
collaboration. We also can see interactive and
group link indicators in the group level. Here
intervention is build into the five actions. The
concept of awareness, increasing,
collaboration, preparing teachers, promoting,
improving of the content and finally
practising with feedback are also explained
here. The activities of communication are
efficient and important for successful matter
about content. Also it helps us to understand
the goals with the collaboration. Here, it
suggests us that this type of analysed
approach or direction gives us a good impact
on learning and teaching in various
educational domains. It supports learning and
teaching in education.
Online learning has been on the increased in the last some years, and the answer
of why it is not hard to see [1]. On the other hand, those types of courses have become
very popular by the simple piety of being more convenient than traditional courses
like face to face. Social network analysis is very useful tool which has actual effects
within the change of complexities, into organization learning and the school-wide,
into how relationships influence in education practices and in the new initiatives.
Teachers change won’t help by SNA, but serves or can be used as a tool for education
leaders which helps teachers change the leaders by helping and understand the flow of
the information. How to boost the relationships responsible for change is also helped
to identify and understand the critical resources [12]. The SNA is not a solution
but a tool to consider, evaluate to identify. Now the application number which is
increasing in the workplaces so we must think something different and innovative
type of methods for the communication building within educational nodes.
Other hand, this type of development in social media simply defines further and
good impact in education. This is a great way to get involved in educational big
field and to help each other and interact. It makes learning and sharing information
so interesting and involved in children mind, with the help of different educational
environment and group.
By this paper, we come to know the importance in implementing social media in
the school and other educational organization also communication and collaboration
in educational network.
4.6 Conclusion and Future Scope
In the educational field, the increase of using of technology is getting higher day by
day that generating a huge amount of data is making interest to target for different
researchers in education all over the world. In the educational field, the growth of data
mining is very first, and it has some advantages of containing various new algorithms
and techniques to develop in various data mining areas as well as machine learning.
The data which comes from educational circle helps us to make developed methods
which are useful to get data further. This type of data is interpretable, and the infor-
mation is high in demand. That leads to understand further, to the students closely,
learning evolved very first towards the future to a practical approach in education. It
will continue and upgrade towards an extremely and useful classroom with updated
teaching tool and the platform of self-study. With the upcoming technology and
solutions of augments, experimental with the subjects, skilled learning and training
that come heavily onto the e-learning solution. The providers of a different educa-
tion technology are also giving importance towards mobile learning which is also
known as m-learning, as the advanced stage of education technology at the future
[13]. FaceTime- and iPhone-based tutorial has become so popular, and it is termed
or called as i-learning. Students can use learning sites for educational help where
many services are available as online like tutoring, project help, programming help,
different editing services, thesis, essay writing and course related to some guidance.
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Chapter 5
Personalization in Education Using
Recommendation System: An Overview
Subhra Samir Kundu, Dhrubasish Sarkar, Premananda Jana,

and Dipak K. Kole
Abstract In the modern era, when everyone has access to all the information around
the world, Internet plays the most crucial role in making the process much smoother.
It has already been able to flow its legacy in nearly all paths and age groups, education
as a whole is also not excluded from this association factor. Internet has thus made its
footprint in the world of education known as e-learning. E-learning takes into account
different techniques of Internet such as Integrated Classroom Teaching to provide
education to common masses. This high-tech education is a significant component of
modern world today, delivering, aiding, and maximizing teaching quality. E-learning
encompasses the involvement of educators and learners and mentors to enhance their
work using this technology. In today’s era, everyone searches any information using
the help of sites like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, etc., and it is readily available to
them within the blink of an eye. Nowadays, with the advent of voice assistants, more
and more people are shifting towards e-learning. Like everything in the world, e-
learning has certain merits and demerits. Nevertheless, if it is utilized in a proper
way can become a blessing for the human life as a whole. The unstable development
of the World Wide Web (WWW) has made data innovation a prevalent stage for
giving e-administration, e-learning administration. The upsides of e-learning might
be decreased by and large cost, diminished learning times, steady conveyance, master
information, confirmation of fruition, and so forth if the perspective of a preparation
S. S. Kundu · D. Sarkar (B)

Amity Institute of Information Technology, Amity University Kolkata, Kolkata, India
e-mail: dhrubasish@inbox.com
S. S. Kundu
e-mail: subhrasamirk@gmail.com
P. Jana
Netaji Subhas Open University, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
e-mail: prema_jana@yahoo.com
D. K. Kole
Department of CSE, Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India
e-mail: dipak.kole@cse.jgec.ac.in

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_5
86 S. S. Kundu et al.
supplier or an association is taken. While if learner’s perspective is taken, the advan-

tages may be on-demand availability, increased knowledge retention and engage-
ment, higher variety of materials, increased confidence, etc. On the contrary, there
are some disadvantages of this system overall, they being technology dependent,
lack of motivation, lack of help/training support, lack of human touch, inflexible,
requires a capital cost for start-up, etc. A recommender system’s primary aim is
to assist users to cope with data overload by pre-selecting data that might assist to
achieve the required objective. The applications have been extended to fields such as
movies and music suggestion, bookstores, and education. On the basis of data being
acquired, recommendation system can be divided into five approaches primarily viz.
non-personalized and stereotyped, product association, content-based recommenda-
tion system, collaborative filtering, and hybrid recommendation system. There are
few gaps created by the disadvantages of e-learning with normal students which can
be somewhat bridged by the use of recommender systems and this will be an attempt
to do so. It will present a notable notion of how and why the student and the user can
benefit by using the e-learning recommender system. Conclusion and future scope
the aforementioned topic will be a proper amalgamation of the recommendation
system technology with Digital Learning Pedagogy, marring a few loopholes which
are to be mended later.
Keywords E-learning · Recommendation system · Collaborative filtering ·

Content-based recommendation system · Hybrid recommendation system
5.1 Introduction
In this age, with the advent of the Internet, there is an explosion of information
throughout the world. Each and every topic is made available online to everyone and
takes a very less amount of time to get this information from those available sources.
While some have exploded exponentially, others are taking some time to do the same.
Education or the process of gaining knowledge which was previously passed down
from one generation to another either using verbal modes or written modes following
certain pedagogy, i.e. from basics to advanced is the topic which has not yet been
able to expand its roots using the technologies until the very recent years. It has been
termed as e-learning, i.e. learning over the Internet using certain tools of learning
and electronic media, information, and communication technology (ICT) in the field
of education. This is a relatively new field since the advent of the Internet, it does
not have any personalized systems to cater for specific personal needs rather has a
system which caters the need of individuals on a general basis.
In this era, where there is a huge advent in the voice assistants and other intelligent
devices, people are moving more towards the education system which is provided
and shared with the help of the internet. Like facets of the same coin, e-learning has
its merits and demerits. Nevertheless, it is used for the betterment of human lives
thus proves to be a merit to all. It has more advantages than flaws and thus is a merit
5 Personalization in Education Using Recommendation … 87
to us. The certain flaws which it has can be mended using other technologies such
as recommendation systems which would be the main topic of our discussion.
The primary advantages of this system include reduced overall cost, i.e. since the
learning material is shared over the Internet, there is no use of printing or giving books
rather this can be shared a multiple number of times when produced once. Reduced
learning times meaning a provider can provide any material anytime depending on
their availability. Consistent delivery which is the material is produced only once and
is shared and thus all the people get the same copy of the material. Expert knowledge,
i.e. experts prepare the documents and those experts can be contacted when there is
a need, proof of completion, or the provider can easily keep track of the performance
of the learner via various methods, etc., if the point of view of a training provider
or an organization is taken. While if learner’s perspective is taken, the advantages
may be on-demand availability that is to say a learner can get whatever they demand
whenever they demand; Increased knowledge retention and engagement since most
of the courses are designed as an audio visual presentation or utilizes audio visual
aids for the delivery; it makes the user more readily interacting and since it is audio
visual; it helps a lot in memory retention, higher variety of materials meaning that
the learner gets a variety of options to choose from about the topic they are learning,
increased confidence many a times this material which is available can help to boost
the confidence of the learner by providing them with materials at their fingertips,
etc. On the contrary, there are some disadvantages of this system overall, they being
technology dependent that is to say that technology is ever changing and they are not
that adaptable with the technology, lack of motivation since the learners have to take
the course themselves. They sometimes procrastinate things due to less motivation,
lack of help/training support often times people find lacking support as it is designed
for all in general and not for special needs. Lack of human touches there is an almost
no human interaction, inflexible as it is not adaptable to all the requirements, requires
a capital cost for start-up, etc.
As a rule, a recommender framework is a PC program that enables a user to find
items or substance by anticipating everything by the user’s appraising and afterward
indicating them the items that they are probably going to rate high. For instance, with
Web-based shopping, buyers have practically limitless options. Nobody has suffi-
cient opportunity to attempt all items accessible. Suggestion framework assumes a
significant job in helping users find significant substance that they care about without
investing their energy burrowing items that they do not need. Proposal framework is a
subclass of data separating framework that is utilized in regions, for example, motion
pictures, music, news, books, look into articles, search questions, social labels, and
items when all is said in done. The recommendation system also has different filtering
grounds other than user ratings. Google’s software crawls billions of emails on gmail
and then uses software to suggest/recommend phrases from that database that may be
used as a response or confirmation message, i.e. a “Chabot” designed to recommend
words or phrases.
A recommender system’s primary aim is to assist users to cope with data overload
by pre-selecting data that might assist to achieve the required objective. The applica-
tions have been extended to fields such as movies and music suggestion, bookstores,
and education. On the basis of data being acquired, recommendation system can
be divided into five approaches primarily, viz. non-personalized and stereotyped,
product association, content-based recommendation system, collaborative filtering,
and hybrid recommendation system. These approaches form the basis of how recom-
mendation works and how they are designed. They would provide the personal touch
which digital learning pedagogy yearns for.
A few recommenders as of now utilize a cross breed model that fuses collab-
orative filtering, content-based filtering, and different methodologies. There is no
motivation behind why it was impractical to hybridize a wide range of systems of
a similar kind. Half breed techniques can be applied in a few different ways: by
freely making and afterward coordinating substance based and synergistic predic-
tions; by including content-based abilities (and the other way around) to a cooperative
methodology; or by joining approaches into one model. Numerous trials that exactly
differentiate the nature of the model with customary communitarian and substance-
based methodologies have indicated that half breed strategies can give more solid
counsel than single approaches. These procedures could likewise be utilized to deter-
mine a portion of the major issues in recommender frameworks, for example, chilly
start and scarcity issue, and maybe even the bottleneck of mastery data innovation
in information-based methodologies. Netflix is an ideal case of half-breed recom-
mender frameworks being utilized. The site makes suggestions by differentiating
needing to watch and looking through propensities for comparable to users (e.g.
collective separating) and by attempting to offer movies that offer highlights with
films profoundly appraised by some user (content-based filtering).
The motivation of this study is to provide a recommendation to the students based
upon the choices of the students. It will act as a system which helps in recommending
the user the best course or path that they may follow to reach their goal in an efficient
manner. This will also act as a guideline for the user following which they can achieve
success without much of a hassle. This will also incorporate the old and the new users
by having encompassed the attributes of matching behaviour and using the same for
recommendation.
The developers of [1] recommend a new, deep learning methodology that copies
an effective smart recommendation from previously knowing the users and stuff. In
the underlying point, it is found independently comparing low-dimensional vectors of
customers and items, which incorporates the semantic data mirroring the relationship
between the customer and the object. A feed-forward neural network is used during
the expectation arrangement to re-enact the relationship between user and item,
where the contrasting circa-trained accurate vectors are taken as contributions of
the neural systems. A few analyses relying on two benchmark datasets (MovieLens
1 M and MovieLens 10 M) are conducted to test the practicalities of the proposed
model, and the outcome exposes that their model dominates past approaches that
potentially improve circa-owned feed-forward neural systems and performs equally
on both datasets with pioneering techniques.
5.2 Basic Terms
5.2.1 E-learning
E-learning to be very specific is to get the education available to anyone and everyone
by the means of Internet which is completely opposite to the general course of
action by which education is received and given. Here, the user can get personalized
recommendations based upon the fact that they have already studied a subject matter
or has already acquired the degree. By this, one can get a degree or course online
easily without the hassle of spending a lot of time and fortune [2].
A learning structure subject to formalized instructing in any case with the assis-
tance of electronic assets is known as e-learning. Training can at present be arranged
in or out of assessment but instead the usage of PCs and Web is liable for mapping the
monstrous bit of e-learning. E-learning can in like way be named as a system which
draws in by trading of cut-off focuses and information, and headway of the course
is made accessible to unlimited beneficiaries at corresponding or various occasions
[3]. In the ongoing past, it was not seen wholeheartedly as it was standard that this
framework came up short on the human segment required in learning.
In any case, with the more brilliant strategies being made gained ground in learning
structures, it is over the long haul grasped by a lot bigger part. The presentation of
PCs was the explanation of this human activity against the customary and regular
strategies and with the improvement of time, as we get caught to cell phones, tablets,
and so on; these contraptions at present have a basic spot in the homerooms for
learning. Books are a squeeze at a time getting expelled by electronic lighting up
materials like optical plates or pen drives. Information can besides be shared by
procedures for the Internet, which is open by anybody and everybody, any place, at
whatever point.
5.2.2 Integrated Classroom Teaching
Integrated Classroom Teaching is the concept by which different advancements of

information technology are used to educate the one and all through the process of
audio, video and pictures. There is a very famous Chinese proverb which says that
teaching through various methods such as audio, video, and images makes the child
to remember much longer than usual. Thus, this concept of teaching is incorporated
in the same.
Integrated classrooms, generally called mainstreaming or thought, is the demon-
stration of placing understudies with failures into general guidance homerooms with
non-remarkable needs understudies. This stems from an administration law that
communicates that understudies with specials needs should be told “at all restrictive
condition” possible and given a comparative standard of preparing as adolescents
who are not hindered.
This sort of learning has different points of interest for the two sorts of under-
studies, yet furthermore goes with its drawbacks. As a parent of a child with substance
awkwardness, it is needy upon you to know your youth’s character and pick what
kind of acknowledging condition would best suit them.
5.2.3 Recommendation System
As a rule, a recommender framework is a PC program that enables a user to find

items or substance by anticipating everything by the user’s appraising and afterward
indicating them the items that they are probably going to rate high. For instance,
with Internet shopping, purchasers have practically unending options. Nobody has
sufficient opportunity to attempt all items accessible. Suggestion framework assumes
a significant job in helping users find significant substance that they care about
without investing their energy burrowing items that they do not need. Framework
for suggestion is a subclass of data separating framework that is utilized in regions,
for example, video, audio, news, books, examine articles, search questions, social
labels, and items as a rule. The recommendation system also has different filtering
grounds other than user ratings.
Recommender system frameworks work with two sorts of data: (i) Trademark
data—This is data on items (watchwords, classes, and so forth) and users (inclina-
tions, profiles, and so forth), (ii) User Item Interactions—This is data, for example,
appraisals, buy numbers, likes, and so forth. On this premise, recommenders are
ordered into two: content-based, which utilizes trademark data, and shared sepa-
rating, which user-item connections are based. In content-based filtering, they expect
that later on they will again be keen on it if a user was keen on an item before.
Comparative items are generally gathered by their qualities. Collaborative filtering
frameworks depend on the presumption that if a user prefers an item and another
user loves a similar item and another item, item B, the subsequent item may like-
wise intrigue the main user. Consequently, they plan to anticipate new authentic
communications.
5.2.4 Collaborative Filtering
Collaborative filtering is a method for making modified figures (filtering) about the
interests of a user by get-together propensities or test data from different users
(teaming up). The hid uncertainty of the shared separating approach is that if an
individual A has a similar assessment as an individual B on an issue, A will without
a doubt have B’s supposition on an unanticipated issue interestingly with that of an
abstractly picked individual. For instance, a supportive confining suggestion frame-
work for book tastes could make evaluates about which books a user should like
given a fractional once-over of that user’s tendencies (preferences or hatred). Note
that these wants are unequivocal to the user, yet use data collected from different
users. This distinction from the clearer strategy of giving a customary (darken) score
for everything of vitality, for instance, subject to its number of votes.
In the more extensive sense, collective filtering is the way towards secluding for
data or models utilizing frameworks including joint effort among various executives,
perspectives, information sources, etc. Uses of collaborative filtering normally incor-
porate tremendous educational lists. Collaborative filtering procedures have been
applied to a wide scope of sorts of data including: recognizing and checking data,
for instance, in mineral examination, common identifying over enormous domains
or various sensors; fiscal data, for instance, budgetary assistance foundations that
fuse various cash related sources; or in electronic exchange and Web applications
where the consideration is on customer data, etc. The remainder of this discussion
revolves around network situated filtering for customer data, yet a segment of the
methodologies and approaches may apply to the following noteworthy applications
as well.
5.2.5 Content Based Recommendation System
Content-Based Recommender Systems are conceived from utilizing the substance of

every item for suggesting purposes, and attempting to tackle the issues, for example,
Cold-start for new users or shortage of past information to work upon; New-thing
issue is another element and how it is being put away and retrieved; Sparsity or the
relationship of the considerable number of items may not generally be valid; and
transparency or the information or data is not constantly straightforward. The three
head parts of Content-Based Recommender System are: A Content Analyzer that
gives us an order of items, utilizing a type of portrayal. A Profile Learner that makes
a profile that speaks to every user’s preferences. A Filtering Component that takes
every one of the sources of info and produces the rundown of suggestions for every
user.
The substance of an item is an extremely conceptual thing and gives us a ton of
alternatives. We could utilize various factors. For instance, for a book, we could think
about the writer, the class, the content of the book itself … the rundown goes on. At
the point, when we realize which content we will consider. We have to change this
information into a Vector Space Model, a logarithmic portrayal of content reports,
discussed in [4] describes for the most part, and we do this with a Bag of Words
model that speaks to records overlooking the request for the words. In this model,
each record resembles a pack containing a few words. Consequently, this technique
permits word demonstrating dependent on lexicons, where each pack contains a
couple of words from the lexicon. A particular execution of a Bag of Words is the
TF-IDF portrayal, where TF is for Term Frequency and IDF is Inverse Document
Frequency. This model consolidates how significant is the word in the archive (nearby
significance), with how significant is the word in the corpus (worldwide significance).
This is also seen in [5] which is unparalleled and gives a vivid description of the same
for their work.
5.2.6 Hybrid Recommendation System
This is a kind of recommender system wherein two remarkable techniques of the

same comparable techniques are solidified to shape a singular one. These kinds
of proposal structures are regularly being utilized nowadays. Most recommender
structures eventually utilize a hybridized approach, combining cooperative filtering,
content-based filtering, and different procedures. There is no motivation driving
why several novel procedures for a relative kind could not be hybridized. Crossover
(hybrid) approaches can be executed in two or three different ways: by making
content-based and supportive-based gauges uninhibitedly in a brief timeframe and
later joining them; by adding content-based capacities to a collaborative framework
(and the alternate way); i.e. joining the methodologies into one model. Two or three
ponders that observationally separate the presentation of the cream and the unadul-
terated system and substance-based techniques and demonstrated that the mix frame-
works can give more correct recommendations than unadulterated strategies. These
procedures can in like way be utilized to beat a piece of the fundamental issues in
recommender structures, for example, cold-start and the sparcity issue, compara-
tively as the information building bottleneck in information-based methodologies.
Some hybridization structures include: Weighted: Combining the score of various
suggestion sections numerically. Exchanging: Choosing among suggestion parts and
applying the supernaturally chosen person. Blended: Recommendations from various
recommenders are demonstrated together to give the suggestion. Highlight Combi-
nation: Features got from various information sources are consolidated and given to
solitary suggestion estimation. Highlight Augmentation: Computing a segment or
set of highlights, which is then piece of the pledge to the going with system. Course:
Recommenders are given extraordinary need, with the lower need ones breaking ties
in the scoring of the higher ones. Meta-level: One proposition method is applied and
makes a kind of model, which is then the data utilized by the going with framework.
Netflix is a genuine occurrence of the utilization of hybridized recommender
frameworks. The site makes recommendations by separating the watching and
looking through tendencies for comparative users (i.e. organize masterminded segre-
gating) likewise as by offering motion pictures that offer characteristics with films
that a user has surveyed essentially (content-based clustering).
5.3 Overview of Recommendation System in E-learning

Sphere
During the last couple of decades, with the climb of YouTube, Amazon, Netflix,
and various other such Web organizations, recommender systems have expected
progressively more position in our lives. From electronic business (propose to buyers’
articles that could interest them) to online business (prescribe to customers the right
substance, planning their tendencies), recommender structures are today unavoidable
in our step by step online undertakings.
In a general manner, recommender systems are computations made arrangements
for proposing critical items to customers (items being films to watch, substance to
examine, items to buy or whatever else depending upon adventures).
Recommender systems are amazingly fundamental in specific endeavours as they
can create a huge proportion of pay when they are powerful or in like manner be
a way to deal with stand separated from contenders. As a proof of the importance
of recommender systems, we can make reference to that, two or three years earlier,
Netflix made a troubles (the “Netflix prize”) where the goal was to convey a recom-
mender structure that performs better than anything its very own estimation with a
prize of 1 million dollars to win.
When the previously mentioned locales advanced, there was a development of
destinations which made e-learning a bit of cake to all. In this setting likewise
recommender frameworks assume an essential job. That is by giving explicit and
customized proposals to the user over the destinations to buy the courses which are
generally important to them. This is another path by which the user doesn’t get a
handle on the left of the circle when discussing various progressions in the field of
IT, for example, recommender structures utilized in the e-Learning area moreover.
Here one item is only that is with every single creation and progress there are its
downsides which gives to be prevention to all.
The primary deterrent is that the information is regularly expanding and consid-
erably more productive calculations are required by the equivalent to give an exact
outcome in this constantly evolving world. They might be new progressions of IT
which can be applied to illuminate the inconsistencies. Here, we can discover barely
any specialists who have talked about the equivalent with different applications in
their work.
In [6], the author examines the adequacy of utilizing e-learning in instructing
in tertiary foundations, [7] recognizes and investigates rising patterns and models
in e-learning for educator instruction and expert advancement from the creating
research base, both global patterns and momentum improvements, while [8] says
with the exponential advancement of mechanical improvement comes a solid sense
that occasions are moving too rapidly for our schools and that instructors might
be losing control of them all the while. But again [9] says in the present dynamic
and global condition, all divisions of the economy and, specifically, tertiary segment
(administration area) need to keep track with the data and correspondence innovations
and to line up with this quick advancing innovation so as to fulfil every one of
partners’ needs and desires and to create, improve, and upgrade the nature of the
gave administrations. Every one of these papers is clarified distinctively in the related
works segment.
5.4 Related Work
The author in [10] researches the complexities between general recommender

structures and informational recommender systems and gives a general diagram
about the points of interest, troubles, and imperatives of recommender structures in
enlightening settings.
The objective of [11] is to plan the present data that is available as regards recom-
mender structures that have been used inside the preparation space to help instructive
practices. By playing out an efficient mapping appraisal, a total of 44 research papers
had been picked, evaluated, and explored from a fundamental outline of 1181 papers.
Their results gave a couple of disclosures concerning how recommender structures
can be used to help standard zones in arranging, what approaches strategies or figuring
recommender systems use and how they address different issues in the savvy world.
Also, this work had in like way been useful to see some examination openings and
key areas where further assessment ought to be performed, like the introduction of
data mining and man-made hypothesis in recommender structure figuring to improve
personalization of clever choices.
The investigation [12] presents a recommender e-learning approach which utilizes
proposal structures for enlightening data burrowing unequivocally for seeing e-
Learners’ learning affinities. Their proposed technique relies on three modules, a
space module which contains all of the data for a particular zone, an understudy
module which uses to see understudies’ learning inclinations and practices and
a proposal module which pre-structures data to make fitting suggestion overview
and envisioning appears. Upheld resources are gotten by using level of data on
understudies in different advances and the level of proposal philosophies reliant on
content-based isolating and obliging methodologies. A few frameworks, for instance,
game-plan, gathering, and intrigue rules are used to improve personalization with
isolating strategies to give a recommendation and help understudies to improve their
presentation.
While the study [13] says that the recommender framework mulls over encounters
recently put away and positioned by previous understudies. So as to offer fruitful
learning guidance, utilizing the information the recommender framework breaks
down the understudy’s present skill levels against comparable previous understudies’
exhibitions.
As per [14] virtual contact between the educator and the understudy is much
of the time undeniably increasingly advantageous for them two. Preparing and e-
learning courses are prevalent. They are completed in school or scholastic condition
as well as in the business one. Separation instruction is utilized as an apparatus to help
learning procedure, and its utilization may permit simple administration of materials,
permitting to make adaptable instructive strategies.
Another study [15] takes the administration of instructive assets and the huge
information which structure the stage as the foundation, and designs a customized
suggestion calculation of instructive assets as indicated by the users’ very own char-
acteristics. Personalized suggestion calculation of EDX stage and customized paper
proposal of CiteULike are utilized to check the judiciousness and adequacy of the
proposed calculation.
On the other hand, in [5], the creators use vector space models and inverse term
frequency to archive recurrence strategies. The ideas of group conduct and aggregate
conduct and has clarified all in a similar way with striking quality.
Similarly, the authors of [4] enquire about and dismantle the association between
the articles (like photos, posts, and so on) and its watchers (companions, accomplices,
and so forth) for a given user and to discover advancement relationship among them
by utilizing the TF-IDF plan of Vector Space Model. After vectorization the vector
information has been displayed through a weighted diagram with different properties.
On the contrary the authors of [16] propose a novel way of thinking which utilizes
recommender structure frameworks for instructive information mining, particularly
for imagining understudy execution. To support this technique, they have sepa-
rated recommender structure frameworks and standard lose the faith strategies, for
example, decided/straight fall away from the faith by utilizing instructive informa-
tion for shrewd educating frameworks. Exploratory results show that the proposed
system had improved guess results.
The study in [17] on the Indian preparing circumstance, e-learning content course
of action and presentation mechanical assemblies, usage of eLearning to spread
guidance to the remote districts, points of interest and hindrances of e-learning and
inevitable destiny of e-learning in India. Two or three recommendations had been
made to use e-learning for easy-going and expert getting ready, which is outstand-
ingly fruitful for a country like India where a prevailing piece of people is living
in nation/remote districts and has gotten for all intents and purposes unimportant
traditional guidance.
Again, the authors of [6] examine the reasonableness of utilizing e-learning in
educating in tertiary establishments. In relationship of bleeding edge preparing, the
issue of using current data and correspondence advances for educating and learning
is basic. This assessment surveys making and gives an academic foundation to the
appraisal by evaluating several obligations made by different specialists and estab-
lishments on the plausibility of e-changing, especially its usage in preparing and
learning in higher enlightening affiliations. It reveals a few of view that individuals
and foundations have shared all around on the portion and coordination of e-learning
movements in getting ready through reviews and different perceptions. They in like
way take a gander at the tremendousness or ramifications of e-learning as given by
various scientists and the action that e-learning plays in higher enlightening establish-
ments in relationship with educating and learning structures, and the central focuses
and weights of its social event and execution.
While [18] proposes the utilization of Web mining frameworks to assemble such
a position, that could prescribe Web-based learning practices or basic courses in
a course site dependent on understudies’ way history to improve course material
course comparatively as help the Web learning process. These systems are viewed
as made Web mining rather than isolated Web mining utilized by pro users to find
online access plans [19]. Tries to give the present condition respects to recommen-
dation systems and their application on segment direction over the Internet. Their
evaluation tries to show the presence of mind of utilizing Recommendation Systems
applications in instructive conditions. This article moreover shows the work that is
being done to give the useful condition a proposal framework. Their work remarks on
the present condition of parcel learning and the issues it presents, by then supporting
the utilization of a recommendation framework as a reaction to the issues that are
confronted, by then they try to exhibit the general reasons for the appraisal, finally a
delineation and an introduction of the outcomes got in the fundamental time of the
evaluation.
But [7] perceives and separates rising examples and models in e-learning for
teacher preparing and master improvement from the making research base, both all-
inclusive examples and stream headways. Enlightening foundations and empowering
staff have various points of interest in view of ascent of present-day advancement.
Teachers have their own one of kind frameworks through which they interface them-
selves with various instructors over the globe. Establishments have Web-maintained
homerooms. So likewise, it also improved the commitments of schools, schools, and
universities that should have such teachers who can make such understudies, who in
the wake of getting their guidance can alter themselves at any stage.
Likewise [8] says with the exponential progress of imaginative improvement
comes a solid sense that occasions are moving too rapidly for our schools and that
educators might be losing control of at the same time. They audited the effect of
e-learning and e-educating in schools, from both the understudy and instructor point
of view. Specifically, it is indicated that e-instructors should concentrate not just on
beyond what many would consider possible and parts of IT materials and exercises,
yet should attempt to significantly more thoroughly see how their e-understudies see
the learning conditions. From the e-understudy point of view, this paper shows that
essentially having IT instruments open doesn’t along these lines change over into all
understudies winding up being successful understudies. Continuously confirmation
based evaluative research is required to permit e-learning and e-preparing to arrive
at most prominent farthest point.
The authors of [9] say in the present dynamic and in general condition, all zones
of the economy and, expressly, tertiary part (association division) need to keep track
with the data and correspondence advancements and to concur with this quick driving
development in requesting to fulfil the entirety of accessories’ needs and needs and
to make, improve and redesign the possibility of the gave associations. In this novel
circumstance, colleges need to alter the associations they give and their substance
since they cannot overlook the social models identified with the data and correspon-
dence headways in perspective on the way in which that one of the basic limits in
our present period is mechanical ability. The adjustment in front line preparing affil-
iations doesnot depend just on these advances, yet more on the HR and how they can
approach and utilize all the new improvements and e-learning potential outcomes.
ICT and e-inclining can update forefront preparing through inventive techniques
by developing the understudies’ inspiration, intrigue and obligation, by enabling
the securing of aptitudes and by redesigning educator preparing which will finally
improve correspondence and trade of data.
The study [20] says with the improvement of refined e-learning conditions, person-
alization is changing into an imperative part in e-learning structures because of the
separations in foundation, targets, limits, and characters of the enormous measures
of understudies. Personalization can accomplish utilizing specific kind of suggestion
systems. This study shows an outline of the most basic prerequisites and issues for
masterminding a recommender framework in e-learning conditions. The reason for
this paper is to show the different controls of the present time of suggestion method-
ology and potential developments with model for naming exercises and tag-based
recommender structures, which can be applied to e-learning conditions so as to give
better proposal limits.
In the study [21], the creators build up another personalization approach that
gives to understudies the best learning materials as indicated by their inclinations,
premiums, foundation information, and their memory ability to store data. They have
utilized another suggestion approach dependent on community oriented and content-
based separating is displayed: NPR_eL (New multi-Personalized Recommender for
e Learning). This methodology was incorporated in a learning domain so as to
convey customized learning material. They exhibit the adequacy of their method-
ology through the plan, execution, examination, and assessment of an individual
learning condition.
The authors of [22] have drawn nearer by saying, the chilly start issue which
exists in conventional proposal calculations are still left over in e-learning frame-
works and a couple of them have genuinely influenced the learning objectives of users.
Therefore, a smart e-learning framework has been created which can prescribe profi-
cient and focused on courses as per their profession objectives. Initial, an improved
community-oriented separating (CF) approach is proposed thinking about users’
vocation objectives and foundation data. At that point, the importance between
vocation objectives and courses is determined to reduce the cool beginning issue
and prescribe particular courses for users. At long last, a PrefixSpan calculation is
joined with the above strategies to produce a customized learning way bit by bit. A
few trials are completed with genuine users of various callings to test the exhibition
of the half and half calculation.
The authors of [23] express that, recommender structures have been a useful gadget
to propose items in various online systems, including e-learning. Regardless, next to
no examination has been done to measure the learning consequences of the under-
studies when they use e-learning with a recommender system. Or maybe, most of the
investigators was focusing on the exactness of the recommender system in predicting
the proposal rather than the data gain by the understudies. This investigation means
to break down the learning aftereffects of the understudies when they use a couple
of sorts of e-learning recommender systems. Considering the connection made, they

propose another e-learning recommender system structure that usages content-based
filtering and incredible understudies’ assessments to recommend learning materials,
and in this manner can assemble the understudy’s introduction. The results show
that understudies who used the proposed e-learning recommender system made an
in a general sense better result in the post-test. The results moreover show that the
proposed e-learning recommender structure has the most essential degree of score
gain from pre-test to post-test.
The investigation [24] presents a novel proposition design that can recom-
mend intriguing post messages to the understudies in an e-learning on the Web
trade discourse reliant on a semantic substance-based isolating and understudies’
negative assessments. They have surveyed the proposed e-learning recommender
system against leaving e-learning recommender structures that usage equivalent
filtering strategies to the extent recommendation accuracy and understudies’ show.
The acquired exploratory outcomes show that the proposed e-learning recom-
mender framework outflanks other comparative e-learning recommender frameworks
that utilization non-semantic content-based filtering technique (CB), non-semantic
content-based filtering technique with learners’ negative ratings (CB-NR), semantic
content-based filtering technique (SCB), as for framework precision of about 57,
28, and 25%, separately. Besides, the acquired outcomes additionally show that the
learning execution has been expanded by in any event 9.84% for the students whom
are upheld by proposals dependent on the proposed system when contrasted with
other comparable suggestion procedures.
The developers of [1] recommend a new, deep learning methodology that copies a
effective smart recommendation from previously knowing the users and stuff. In the
underlying point, it is found independently comparing low-dimensional vectors of
customers and items, which incorporates the semantic data mirroring the relationship
between the customer and the object. A feed-forward neural network is used during
the expectation arrangement to re-enact the relationship between user and item,
where the contrasting circa-trained accurate vectors are taken as contributions of
the neural systems. A few analyses relying on two benchmark datasets (MovieLens
1 M and MovieLens 10 M) are conducted to test the practicalities of the proposed
model, and the outcome exposes that their model dominates past approaches that
potentially improve circa-owned feed-forward neural systems and performs equally
on both datasets with pioneering techniques.
Table 5.1 is the comparison of all the same.
5.5 Challenges
A recommendation engine can be of greater valuation while same engine can be bad
dream on the off chance that it very well may be effectively tricked by the individuals
on the framework can be controlled effectively.
Table 5.1 Comparison of the recommender systems proposed by the models above
Model/concept implemented Objectives
“Educational recommender systems: a • Researches the complexities between general
pedagogical-focused perspective” [10] recommender structures and informational
recommender systems, and gives a general
diagram about the points of interest, troubles,
and imperatives of recommender structures in
enlightening settings
“Recommendation systems in education: a • To plan the present data that is available as
systematic mapping study” [11] regards recommender structures that have been
used inside the preparation space to help
instructive practices. By playing out an efficient
mapping appraisal, a total of 44 research papers
had been picked, evaluated, and explored from a
fundamental outline of 1181 papers
• Their results gave a couple of disclosures
concerning how recommender structures can be
used to help standard zones in arranging, what
approaches strategies or figuring recommender
systems use and how they address different
issues in the savvy world
• This work had in like way been useful to see
some examination openings and key areas where
further assessment ought to be performed, like
the introduction of data mining and man-made
hypothesis in recommender structure figuring to
improve personalization of clever choices
“Personalized recommender system for • A recommender e-learning approach which
e-learning environment based on student’s utilizes proposal structures for enlightening data
preferences” [12] burrowing unequivocally for seeing e-learners’
learning affinities
• Their proposed technique relies on three
modules, a space module which contains all of
the data for a particular zone, an understudy
module which uses to see understudies’ learning
inclinations and practices and a proposal module
which pre-structures data to make fitting
suggestion overview and envisioning appears.
Upheld resources are gotten by using level of
data on understudies in different advances and
the level of proposal philosophies reliant on
content-based isolating and obliging
methodologies
• A few frameworks, for instance, game-plan,
gathering, and intrigue rules are used to improve
personalization with isolating strategies to give a
recommendation and help understudies to
improve their presentation
(continued)

“A recommender system for students based on • The recommender framework mulls over
social knowledge and assessment data of encounters recently put away and positioned by
competences” [13] previous understudies. So as to offer fruitful
learning guidance, utilizing the information the
recommender framework breaks down the
understudy’s present skill levels against
comparable previous understudies’ exhibitions
“The role of e-learning in educational process” • Virtual contact between the educator and the
[14] understudy is much of the time undeniably
increasingly advantageous for them two.
Preparing and e-learning courses are prevalent
• They are completed in school or scholastic
condition as well as in the business one.
Separation instruction is utilized as an apparatus
to help learning procedure, and its utilization
may permit simple administration of materials,
permitting to make adaptable instructive
strategies
“Research on personalized recommendation of • The administration of instructive assets and the
educational resources based on big data” [15] huge information which structure the stage as
the foundation, and designs a customized
suggestion calculation of instructive assets as
indicated by the users’ very own characteristics.
Personalized suggestion calculation of EDX
stage and customized paper proposal of
CiteULike are utilized to check the judiciousness
and adequacy of the proposed calculation
“A statistical model to determine the behavior • The creators use vector space models and
adoption in different timestamps on online social inverse term frequency to archive recurrence
network” [5] strategies. The ideas of group conduct and
aggregate conduct and has clarified all in a
similar way with striking quality
“Analyzing user activities using vector space • Inquiries about and dismantle the association
model in online social networks” [4] between the articles (like photos, posts, and so
on) and its watchers (companions, accomplices,
and so forth) for a given user and to discover
advancement relationship among them by
utilizing the TF-IDF plan of vector space model.
After vectorization, the vector information has
been displayed through a weighted diagram with
different properties
(continued)

“Recommender system for predicting student • Propose a novel way of thinking which utilizes
performance” [16] recommender structure frameworks for
instructive information mining, particularly for
imagining understudy execution
• To support this technique, they have separated
recommender structure frameworks and
standard lose the faith strategies, for example,
decided/straight fall away from the faith by
utilizing instructive information for shrewd
educating frameworks
• Exploratory results show that the proposed
system had improved guess results
“Role of e-learning in a developing country like • Indian preparing circumstance, eLearning
India” [17] content course of action and presentation
mechanical assemblies, usage of eLearning to
spread guidance to the remote districts, points of
interest and hindrances of e-learning and
inevitable destiny of eLearning in India
• Two or three recommendations had been made
to use e-learning for easy-going and expert
getting ready, which is outstandingly fruitful for
a country like India where a prevailing piece of
people is living in nation/remote districts and
has gotten for all intents and purposes
unimportant traditional guidance
“The role of e-learning, the advantages and • The reasonableness of utilizing e-learning in
disadvantages of its adoption in higher educating in tertiary establishments
education” [6] • In relationship of bleeding edge preparing, the
issue of using current data and correspondence
advances for educating and learning is basic
• This assessment surveys making and gives an
academic foundation to the appraisal by
evaluating several obligations made by different
specialists and establishments on the plausibility
of e-changing, especially its usage in preparing
and learning in higher enlightening affiliations.
It reveals a few of view that individuals and
foundations have shared all around on the
portion and coordination of e-learning
movements in getting ready through reviews and
different perceptions
• They in like way take a gander at the
tremendousness or ramifications of e-learning as
given by various scientists and the action that
e-learning plays in higher enlightening
establishments in relationship with educating
and learning structures, and the central focuses
and weights of its social event and execution
(continued)

“A survey paper on e-learning recommender • Proposes the utilization of Web mining
system” [18] frameworks to assemble such a position, that
could prescribe Web-based learning practices or
basic courses in a course site dependent on
understudies’ way history to improve course
material course comparatively as help the Web
learning process
• These systems are viewed as made Web mining
rather than isolated Web mining utilized by pro
users to find online access plans
“Using recommendation system for E-learning • Tries to give the present condition respects to
environments at degree level” [19] recommendation systems and their application
on segment direction over the internet. Their
evaluation tries to show the presence of mind of
utilizing recommendation systems applications
in instructive conditions
• This article moreover shows the work that is
being done to give the useful condition a
proposal framework. Their work remarks on the
present condition of parcel learning and the
issues it presents, by then supporting the
utilization of a recommendation framework as a
reaction to the issues that are confronted, by
then they try to exhibit the general reasons for
the appraisal, finally a delineation and an
introduction of the outcomes got in the
fundamental time of the evaluation
“The relevance of e-learning in higher education” • Perceives and separates rising examples and
[7] models in e-learning for teacher preparing and
master improvement from the making research
base, both all-inclusive examples and stream
headways. Enlightening foundations and
empowering staff have various points of interest
in view of ascent of present-day advancement.
Teachers have their own one of kind frameworks
through which they interface themselves with
various instructors over the globe.
Establishments have Web-maintained
homerooms. So likewise, it also improved the
commitments of schools, schools, and
universities that should have such teachers who
can make such understudies, who in the wake of
getting their guidance can alter themselves at
any stage
(continued)

“The impact of e-learning and e-teaching” [8] • The exponential progress of imaginative
improvement comes a solid sense that occasions
are moving too rapidly for our schools and that
educators might be losing control of at the same
time
• They audited the effect of e-learning and
e-educating in schools, from both the
understudy and instructor point of view.
Specifically, it is indicated that e-instructors
should concentrate not just on beyond what
many would consider possible and parts of IT
materials and exercises, yet should attempt to
significantly more thoroughly see how their
e-understudies see the learning conditions
• From the e-understudy point of view, this paper
shows that essentially having IT instruments
open does not along these lines change over into
all understudies winding up being successful
understudies. Continuously confirmation-based
evaluative research is required to permit
e-learning and e-preparing to arrive at most
prominent farthest point
“ICT and e-learning—catalysts for innovation • The present dynamic and in general condition,
and quality in higher education” [9] all zones of the economy and, expressly, tertiary
part (association division) need to keep track
with the data and correspondence advancements
and to concur with this quick driving
development in requesting to fulfil the entirety
of accessories’ needs and needs and to make,
improve, and redesign the possibility of the gave
associations. In this novel circumstance,
colleges need to alter the associations they give
and their substance since they cannot overlook
the social models identified with the data and
correspondence headways in perspective on the
way in which that one of the basic limits in our
present period is mechanical ability
• The adjustment in front line preparing
affiliations doesn’t depend just on these
advances, yet more on the HR and how they can
approach and utilize all the new improvements
and e-learning potential outcomes. ICT and
e-inclining can update forefront preparing
through inventive techniques by developing the
understudies’ inspiration, intrigue and
obligation, by enabling the securing of aptitudes
and by redesigning educator preparing which
will finally improve correspondence and trade of
data
(continued)

“Recommender systems in e-learning • The improvement of refined e-learning
environments: a survey of the state-of-the-art and conditions, personalization is changing into an
possible extensions” [20] imperative part in e-learning structures because
of the separations in foundation, targets, limits,
and characters of the enormous measures of
understudies
• Personalization can accomplish utilizing specific
kind of suggestion systems. This study shows an
outline of the most basic prerequisites and issues
for masterminding a recommender framework in
e-learning conditions. The reason for this paper
is to show the different controls of the present
time of suggestion methodology and potential
developments with model for naming exercises
and tag-based recommender structures, which
can be applied to e-learning conditions so as to
give better proposal limits
“Personalized recommender system for • Builds up another personalization approach that
e-learning environment” [21] gives to understudies the best learning materials
as indicated by their inclinations, premiums,
foundation information, and their memory
ability to store data. They have utilized another
suggestion approach dependent on
community-oriented and content-based
separating is displayed: NPR_eL (new
multi-personalized recommender for e learning)
• This methodology was incorporated in a
learning domain so as to convey customized
learning material. They exhibit the adequacy of
their methodology through the plan, execution,
examination, and assessment of an individual
learning condition
(continued)

“Career goal-based e-learning recommendation • The cold start issue which exists in conventional
using enhanced collaborative filtering and prefix proposal calculations are still left over in
span” [22] e-learning frameworks and a couple of them
have genuinely influenced the learning
objectives of users
• Therefore, a smart e-learning framework have
been created which can prescribe proficient and
focused on courses as per their profession
objectives. Initial, an improved
community-oriented separating (CF) approach is
proposed thinking about users’ vocation
objectives and foundation data
• At that point, the importance between vocation
objectives and courses are determined to reduce
the cool beginning issue and prescribe particular
courses for users. At long last, a PrefixSpan
calculation is joined with the above strategies to
produce a customized learning way bit by bit
• A few trials are completed with genuine users of
various callings to test the exhibition of the half
and half calculation
“Measuring learner’s performance in e-learning • Recommender structures have been a useful
recommender systems” [23] gadget to propose items in various online
systems, including e-learning
• Regardless, next to no examination has been
done to measure the learning consequences of
the understudies when they use e-learning with a
recommender system. Or maybe, most of the
investigators was focusing on the exactness of
the recommender system in predicting the
proposal rather than the data gain by the
understudies
• This investigation means to break down the
learning aftereffects of the understudies when
they use a couple of sorts of e-learning
recommender systems. Considering the
connection made, they propose another
e-learning recommender system structure that
usages content-based filtering and incredible
understudies’ assessments to recommend
learning materials, and in this manner can
assemble the understudy’s introduction
• The results show that understudies who used the
proposed e-learning recommender system made
an in a general sense better result in the
post-test. The results moreover show that the
proposed e-learning recommender structure has
the most essential degree of score gain from
pre-test to post-test
(continued)

“Utilizing learners’ negative ratings in semantic • Presents a novel proposition design that can
content-based recommender system for recommend intriguing post messages to the
e-learning forum” [24] understudies in an e-learning on the Web trade
discourse reliant on a semantic substance based
isolating and understudies’ negative assessments
• They have surveyed the proposed e-learning
recommender system against leaving e-learning
recommender structures that usage equivalent
filtering strategies to the extent recommendation
accuracy and understudies’ show
• The acquired exploratory outcomes show that
the proposed e-learning recommender
framework outflanks other comparative
e-learning recommender frameworks that
utilization non-semantic content-based filtering
technique (CB), non-semantic content-based
filtering technique with learners’ negative
ratings (CB-NR), semantic content-based
filtering technique (SCB), as for framework
precision of about 57, 28, and 25%, separately
• Besides, the acquired outcomes additionally
show that the learning execution has been
expanded by in any event 9.84% for the students
whom are upheld by proposals dependent on the
proposed system when contrasted with other
comparable suggestion procedures
“A novel deep learning-based collaborative • Recommends a new, deep learning methodology
filtering model for recommendation system” [1] that copies an effective smart recommendation
from previously knowing the users and stuff. In
the underlying point, it is found independently
comparing low-dimensional vectors of
customers and items, which incorporates the
semantic data mirroring the relationship
between the customer and the object
• A feed-forward neural network is used during
the expectation arrangement to re-enact the
relationship between user and item, where the
contrasting circa-trained accurate vectors are
taken as contributions of the neural systems
• A few analyses relying on two benchmark
datasets (MovieLens 1 M and MovieLens 10 M)
are conducted to test the practicalities of the
proposed model, and the outcome exposes that
their model dominates past approaches that
potentially improve circa-owned feed-forward
neural systems and performs equally on both
datasets with pioneering techniques
Content-based filtering is the system of prescribing items to users with the assis-
tance of other comparable users. The centre thought is that individuals with compar-
ative inclinations will like comparative kind of items. Content-based filtering is a
general term and there are numerous calculations that utilize this idea to prescribe
items. Latent collaborative filtering is one of the most utilized community-oriented
filtering calculations that perform lattice or matrix factorization to prescribe most
important item to users. There is likewise deep learning approach for collaborative
filtering that beats the majority of other conventional strategies. While executing
these calculations in our application, we think of not many issues that are portrayed
beneath:
Cold Start Problem: How would you manage new users and items that do not have
any history? Arrangement: Utilize content-boosted filtering approach. It is blend of
content-based filtering and collaborative filtering. One can utilize item portrayal and
characteristics just as user statistic to prescribe items to users. For example, this is
one of the key issues that decrease recommendation system presentation. The profile
of such a new user or item would be unfulfilled as he has not appraised anything;
henceforth, the system does not know his taste.
Data Sparsity: User-Item rating network is meagre (numerous invalid items) in
the light of the fact that stores have numerous items and every one of those items
will not be appraised by numerous users. In reality, not many individuals rate items.
Consider how often have we appraised items after you purchased items on the Web?
This sparsity makes preparing computationally wasteful. Arrangement: Use dimen-
sionality decrease. Expel pointless users and items from where we are not adapting
a lot and lessen sparsity of user item rating grid. For example, users determine only
a few of the complete number of items that are accessible in a database.
Grey-Sheep Problem: Presently, here comes a weirdo individual in our applica-
tion. From the name grey-sheep, we comprehend his conduct are flighty. For example,
He may state Game of Thrones 1 is great and Game of Thrones 2 is most exceedingly
terrible. Essentially how would we manage these abnormal individuals whose suppo-
sitions are conflicting? Arrangement: Unadulterated collaborative filtering doesn’t
work. So, utilize content-boosted filtering like in cold start problem.
Synonymy: By what means will we manage the items that are for all intents and
purposes same however extraordinary. For instance, various versions of a book or
pdf or physical duplicate of book. Since we don’t utilize item portrayal for commu-
nity separating you can miss the data about synonymy. Since online stores have
various codes for these items, discovering synonymy can be issue. Arrangement:
Latent collaborative filtering is the kind of calculation that can distinguish concealed
elements from the information. This calculation works truly well for synonymy too.
So, in the event that we have part of things with synonymy this is the best approach.
For example, a recommendation system that is proficient when the quantity of dataset
is constrained might be not able to create acceptable number of suggestions when
the volume of dataset is expanded. Along these lines, it is essential to apply proposal
methods which are fit for scaling up in a fruitful way as the quantity of dataset in a
database increment. Strategies utilized for tackling adaptability issue and accelerating
proposal age depend on dimensionality decrease systems, for example, singular value
decomposition (SVD) technique, which can create solid and proficient suggestions.
Different techniques, for example, programmed term extension, the development of
a thesaurus, and singular value decomposition (SVD), particularly latent semantic
indexing are equipped for tackling the synonymy issue. The inadequacy of these
strategies is that some additional terms may have various implications based on what
is proposed, which now and then prompts quick debasement of suggestion execution.
Shilling or Peddling Attacks: How would one manage individuals who are
attempting to game the proposal framework? For instance, a framework may have
an abnormal writer who gave ton of evaluations for his books and huge amounts
of pessimistic appraisals for others’ book. Arrangement: Avoid potential risk and
screen user conduct.
The above are in general the challenges faced by any recommendation systems
that have been already in use. The same can also be observed in the case of recom-
mendation systems for education. But the major threat which this field is facing is
the humongous explosion of data for which the previous frameworks fail to a gain
any proficiency. For those kinds and volumes of data, the prevalent methods fail and
thus we need to shit to deep learning techniques and algorithms for the faster analysis
and results.
5.6 Proposed Model
The proposed model of [1] proposes to build a system based upon the prior knowl-
edge on user and items and then make predictions leveraging these obtained prior
knowledges. Instinctively, the previous information will promote and support user
behaviour forecasting. This earlier knowledge can start from the user’s past experi-
ence. Creating the earlier user knowledge from their previous experience, enlivened
by the word deployment in NLP which can convert syntactic and semantic word
details into low-dimensional vector based on the specific case. They agree the user’s
qualitative details may even be taken by bringing in the contrasting implant from the
user’s “special case”, where the user’s co-event may be viewed as the user’s envi-
ronment in the previous history of the company. Likewise, the knowledge regarding
items may also be informed via the co-event of items. They then attempt to suggest
utilizing the neural network to build perceptions from the user and stuff pre-learned
embedding. This system may therefore generally be broken into two significant
stages: (1) comprehension and (2) forecasting. Server and object embedding will
capture the application and item co-event in the primary level, independently. The
prescient neural network will replicate the collaboration between item and user in
the subsequent point (Fig. 5.1).
Fig. 5.1 Proposed framework [1]
5.7 Conclusion and Future Direction
In the recent past, we have seen the progress and changes made by various recommen-
dation systems in our daily lives. Various approaches such as collaborative, content-
based, and hybrid methods were applied along with some “industrial-strength”
systems. Regardless of them, a contemporary recommender framework requires
some additional enhancements in the data to improve recommendation for a wide
range of applications. In this regard, in e-learning, there are many data which needs
to be provided to make accurate predictions. Also, in this study, we have seen the
various domains dealing with the subject matter which speaks for itself. Following
that, we have seen all the various studies that have been done on this subject matter
and where we stand now. Also, most of the challenges which are faced by the same
have also been duly discussed.
In all the above discussions, it is quite eminent that there are some of the things
which needs proper modifications and once those modifications are incorporated in
making the model of recommender framework and thus is implemented, it will be
able to solve all the prevalent issues which the system has. Also, the ever-growing
nature of data poses a problem to the already prevalent old techniques, which needs
a proper upgrading so that the machine can itself understand all the problems and
give the solutions, i.e. incorporation of the deep learning methods in the same.
Further study will focus on validating the performance and quality of recommen-
dation of the semantic recommendation algorithms and implementing the proposed
framework in recommendation systems, thus will be an attempt to solve the preva-
lent problems in this field by us. This also has the extension using deep learning and
computer vision which is also the further steps we are in consideration about.
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Chapter 6
Automation of Attainment Calculation
in Outcome-Based Technical Education
(OBTE)
Nikita Gupta and Arijit Ghosal
Abstract The aim of this work is to build an intelligent software system which will
determine the attainment of every course automatically based on the provided data of
every student. Data will be given by faculty member, along with the course outcome
mapping. Course attainment will be calculated by the marks attained by each student.
The design of this software helps in a presentable view of the details of the institution
along with many functions which can be operated by the user. Such an automated
processing of calculation of attainment can help in a massive reduction of manual
labor of storing the data in MS-Excel which can allow some possible errors. With
such an automation, error possibility decreases to a great minimum. Not only that,
but also the records are maintained and can be obtained with ease. An analysis report
can be also be generated. This software can be used by any institution to maintain a
detailed record for itself.
Keywords Outcome-based technical education (OBTE) · Attainment calculation ·

Module
6.1 Introduction
Nowadays, the whole teaching–learning process has been switched to outcome-based

assessment from marks-based assessment. In most of the technical institute, outcome-
based technical education (OBTE) has been adopted. In this type of assessment,
emphasis is paid on the learning outcomes of students in a course and collectively at
program level. There exists no single prespecified style of teaching in OBTE. Rather
classes, opportunities, and assessments should help students to attain the specified
outcomes. OBTE is a complex process. Any department in an institute adopts certain
N. Gupta · A. Ghosal (B)

Department of Information Technology, St. Thomas’ College of Engineering and Technology,
Kolkata, West Bengal 700023, India
e-mail: ghosal.arijit@yahoo.com
N. Gupta
e-mail: nikitagupta1298@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_6
114 N. Gupta and A. Ghosal
assessment processes to measure the learning outcomes of students in the course level
and gradually at the program level. It involves certain steps:
Step 1: Groundwork for making efficient course outcomes (COs)—Learning
outcomes are straight proclamations that express the indispensable and stable disci-
plinary awareness and abilities that learners should acquire, and the depth of educa-
tion that is expected upon end of a program or course. They focus on transportable
awareness, proficiencies, and behaviors that can be monitored and judged, and are
reflective of disciplinary perspectives.
Course objectives are wide-ranging ambitions that the course guesses to accom-
plish, delineating in moderately universal phrases and the awareness and expertises
that the program faculty will assist its students to accomplish. As against this, course
outcomes are operational definitions. Since course objectives are widely stated, they
do not endow with enough fact to be teachable and assessable, that is, to steer teaching
in the curriculum and to be consistently judged. So, course outcomes should be
inscribed in a way that is demonstrable; explicitly, they should affirm what it means to
show the awareness and expertisation named in the objectives. While designing COs,
faculty member should take about the level of learning as per Bloom’s taxonomy.
Step 2: Identify evidences for assessment of course outcomes—Once the key learning
outcomes have been identified, assessment methods for collecting student data
can be chosen. Generally evidences are collected through internal examinations,
assignment/quiz/viva-voce/class test, and end-semester examination.
Step 3: Assessment of course outcome—The evaluation of course outcome is
measured based on direct and indirect methods. The direct method considers the
performance in the internal examinations, assignments and/or quiz, and end-semester
examination; and indirect method includes course end survey. Internal assessment
includes student performances based on internal examinations and assignments.
External assessment is the end-semester examinations. Then in order to achieve
total attainment, 80% of weightage has been given to direct method, and 20% of
weightage has been given to indirect method as per NBA criteria in India.
All these assessments are generally done through laborious manual process.
Manual process is very much prone to error. So there is a huge requirement of
making the whole system software based.
6.2 Previous Works
Some research works has already been done by so far in the domain of outcome-
based education. As the importance of improvement in the quality of teaching–
learning process is increasing, more work has been performed in this domain. Some
researchers have already tried to develop software related to this. Kavitha et al.
[1] have studied the methods of assessment as well as the achievement of course
outcomes along with program outcomes. Balasubramani and Chiplunkar [2] have
6 Automation of Attainment Calculation in Outcome-Based Technical … 115
presented a case study on achievement of program outcomes. They have considered

attainment level between 1 and 5. Bhatia et al. [3] have proposed a data mining-
based automatic survey designing means for indirect assessment in outcome-based
education. Namasivayam and Fouladi [4] have discussed over the employment of
learning outcome information to improve the quality of teaching in engineering
courses in Taylor’s University through a case study.
Kavitha et al. [5] have also worked with course outcome and program outcome for
NBA Tier II engineering endorsement. Ramesh et al. [6] have developed a software
package for outcome-based education. Khwaja [7] has proposed a Web-dependent
program outcome measurement means. This tool has been developed for King Faisal
University. Rajak et al. [8] have discussed about automating the accomplishment of
course and program outcomes in outcome-based education in engineering colleges
approved by AICTE in India. Dandin et al. [9] have proposed a spreadsheet-based
tool to estimate the course outcomes of computer networking course only. Rajak
et al. [10] have discussed about achievement and measurement of program educa-
tional objectives only for post-graduate courses. Poornima [11] has explained the
importance of outcome-based education at engineering colleges in India.
6.3 Proposed Scheme
A Web-based software is proposed here for automating the process of calculating

the attainment of program outcome (PO) and program-specific outcome (PSO) in
program level. It is also able to calculate the attainment of every course outcome
(CO) of a course automatically based on data of every student provided by faculty
member.
6.3.1 Automation
In present day, there is a trend to make everything automated to reduce the load of
manpower. In technical education, a student of a particular program has to study
a huge number of theoretical courses as well as laboratory courses. Some of these
courses are scoring and some are non-scoring. It is obvious that for course outcome
calculation what rubrics is used for scoring courses, same cannot be used for non-
scoring courses. If rubrics for scoring courses are applied to non-scoring courses,
course outcome attainment level will be vey much low resulting poor attainment
level of program outcome and program-specific outcome in program level. Similarly
if rubrics for non-scoring courses are applied to scoring courses, attainment level in
all cases will be very high. Both of these will not reflect actual scenario. Moreover,
measuring of CO, PO, and PSO attainment level is carried out as a quality measure. If
two separate rubrics are used, it will reflect the actual scenario as well as the quality
of teaching–learning process. Because of these, use of two rubrics—one for scoring

courses and another for non-scoring courses—is justified.
Rubrics is nothing but an assessment tool which converts percentage of students
obtaining a certain percentage of marks information into attainment level. Rubrics
for non-scoring courses is expected to be lower than that of scoring courses. It will
be very much time consumable if manually scoring and non-scoring course division
is done for all the courses of a particular program. So, an automation is becoming
very much essential to divide all courses into scoring and non-scoring. Concept of
machine learning has been applied in this work to provide the automation.
Departmental assessment committee (DAC) for a certain department decides the
rubric for the scoring courses and for the non-scoring courses for a program for a
certain academic year. Once a course is classified as scoring or non-scoring course,
corresponding predefined rubrics is applied by the system for that particular course.
This concept of automation is the unique feature of the system. Sample rubrics for
scoring and non-scoring courses for CO attainment is given in Tables 6.1 and 6.2,
respectively.
For scoring courses, if 60% students achieve more than 60% percentage marks,
then attainment level is 3; if 50% students achieve more than 60% percentage marks,
then attainment level is 2; if 40% students achieve more than 60% percentage marks,
then attainment level is 1. Obtaining 60% marks is considered as base value of marks
for scoring courses in this sample. For non-scoring courses, if 50% students achieve
more than 50% percentage marks, then attainment level is 3; if 40% students achieve
Table 6.1 Course attainment rubric for scoring courses

Course outcome (CO) attainment rubrics—base value 60% of marks
Attainment level Percentage (students) Percentage (marks)
3 60 Student must achieve 60
more than
more than
more than
Table 6.2 Course attainment rubric for non-scoring courses

Course outcome (CO) attainment rubrics—base value 50% of marks
Attainment level Percentage (students) Percentage (marks)
more than
more than
more than
more than 50% percentage marks, then attainment level is 2; if 30% students achieve
more than 50% percentage marks, then attainment level is 1. Obtaining 50% marks
is considered as base value of marks for non-scoring courses in this sample.
6.3.1.1 Classification of Scoring and Non-scoring Courses
Classification of scoring and non-scoring courses is purely machine learning problem

with supervised classifier. Hence, it involves two steps—feature extraction or
computation and classification.
Figure 6.1 explains the machine learning approach with supervised classifier to
classify courses into two categories.
Feature Computation
Scoring and non-scoring classification is performed based on the previous year

results of the students in those courses. How many students (in percentage) have
obtained ‘O’ grade, how many students (in percentage) have obtained ‘E’ grade,
how many students (in percentage) have obtained ‘A’ grade, and how many students
(in percentage) have passed in that courses work as feature for this classification. So,
dimension of feature vector is 4 in this work.
Classification
Discrimination of courses into scoring and non-scoring category is a two-class

problem. Linear support vector machine (SVM) is very much suitable to solve a
two-class problem. Hence, support vector machine (SVM) has been used in this
scenario.
Fig. 6.1 Flowchart of classification of courses

6.3.2 Description of the Software
The objective of this system is to build an intelligent software system which will deter-
mine the attainment of every course of a program, along with the course outcome
mapping, calculated by the marks attained by each student. This software also deter-
mines total program outcome (PO) and program-specific outcome (PSO) attainment
for a particular batch of students in a department for a specific program. The design
of this software aims a presentable view of the details of the department along with
many functions which can be operated by the user very easily.
It is seen in the DFD diagram (Fig. 6.2) that the software involves three main
users—Students, teachers, and administer. The students can only read the infor-
mation provided by the administrator, the teachers, or faculty members can either
read/modify the student information/marks, whereas the administrator has the access
to the entire database of the institution and can modify/remove according to the
requirement. This software is fully customizable. More features and modules may
be added at any time in this software to serve the additional requirements of any
institution.
Such an automated processing of calculation of attainment can help in a massive
reduction of manual labor of storing the data in MS-Excel or in Spreadsheet which
can allow some possible errors. With such an automation, error possibility decreases
to a great minimum. Not only that, but also the records are well maintained and
can be retrieved any time easily. An analysis report can be also be generated from
this software. This software can be used by any educational institution to maintain a
detailed record for itself.
Since departments define a variety of educational goals and objectives for
a program, comprehensive assessment strategies frequently require the use of
more than one assessment instrument to determine program effectiveness. These
assessment instruments are broadly divided into direct and indirect categories.
Fig. 6.2 Data flow diagram (DFD) of the software

6.3.2.1 Module Information
The application includes the following users:

1. Students
2. Teachers
3. Administrator.
Students, teachers, and administrator can log in to the account with their respective
username and password, and then, they will be directed to their respective pages.
1. Students
Students has access only for providing necessary information regarding course end
survey after login.
2. Teachers/Faculty members
Initially faculty members/teachers have to provide dept (IT, CSE, EE, ECE, etc.),
semester (1st/2nd, etc.), year (1st/2nd, etc.), internal test or assignment no (1st/2nd,
etc.) (Fig. 6.3).
Depending on internal test or assignment no, these information can be submitted
multiple times.
The teacher/faculty member has access to read/insert/update the question pattern
that is the number of questions for each internal/assignment, its subparts, and the
respective question paper versus CO (Each course can have generally six COs).
In Fig. 6.4, it is seen that after the user submits the number of questions, the list of
that many questions appears with fields to accept the number of subquestions. The
whole process of entering marks for assignments/internals hence becomes easier and
digitally more accessible.
Now, after the subquestion fields are filled, the respective marks of the subparts
and the CO number (which ranges from 1 to 6) are entered and submitted.
As the teacher has access to read/insert/update the marks of his/her student for
each internal/assignment, the teacher can display the CO mapping with the questions
Fig. 6.3 Faculty members are providing initial information regarding question paper
Fig. 6.4 Faculty members are providing number of questions for each internal/assignment
given for each internal/assignment. Teacher can also display the attainment calculated
by the total marks of the student for a course for any internal/assignment.
Finally, the two modules, CO mapping and student details, contain their own fields
of data (Fig. 6.5), that is, the CO mapping contains the details of the total marks and
its respective CO number, and student details contain the marks for the students in
Fig. 6.5 Faculty members are providing subsubparts details of question with CO mapping
their respective examinations. Moreover, all the data can easily be transferred to or
retrieved from excel sheets, hence making the details available in printable format.
3. Administrator
Admin can change the number of COs (if required) for any course. The admin has
access to the details of the institution, that is, the admin can insert/update/remove
the details of the department and courses of the institution. The admin has access
the remove the data of the previous internals/assignments especially of the pass-
outs of the institution. The admin can remove the internal/assignment details to
accommodate further data.
This work is based on relational database management system.
6.3.2.2 Direct Measures or Evidences for Attainment of Course

Outcomes
Direct measures are those which are derived through the systematic analysis of faculty
members of student projects, exams, or sets of specified course assignments. They
can make a compelling case for the extent to which students have achieved expected
learning outcomes. Teachers have to login to provide necessary information regarding
these. This work considers the followings as direct evidence of student learning:
1. Theory courses
(a) Internal assessment
(i) Internal examinations
(ii) Assignment/Quiz/Viva-Voce/Class Test
(b) External assessment
(i) End-semester examination
2. Practical/Laboratory-based courses
(i) Daily performance evaluation
(b) External assessment
(i) End-semester examination
3. Sessional courses
(i) Daily performance evaluation.
Fig. 6.6 Flowchart of the system for calculating course outcome attainment of a course
6.3.2.3 Indirect Measures or Evidences for Attainment of Course

Outcomes
Indirect evidence pertains to students’ self-perceptions of their learning and their

perspectives on program structure and curricular content. This work considers course
end survey as indirect evidence:
1. Course End Survey—At the end of a course, surveys are conducted to collect
student input regarding their perception of attainment of course outcomes of the
concerned course. A course end survey form is framed keeping in line with the
respective course outcomes. Students have to login to fill up the form.
6.3.2.4 Attainment of Course Outcomes
Once data related to direct and indirect measures are provided by teachers or faculty
members, the system automatically calculates the course outcome attainment as
depicted in Fig. 6.6. The proposed software is configured this way—Direct method
of assessment involves 40% weightage for internal assessments and 60% weightage
for end-semester results. Then, in order to achieve total attainment, 80% of weightage
has been given to direct method and 20% of weightage has been given to indirect
method.
After calculating attainment of course outcome for a single course, this software
repeats the same steps for all courses in the department and records the attainment
of course outcomes of all courses.
6.3.2.5 Attainment of Program Outcomes and Program-Specific

Outcomes
This software assesses program outcomes (PO) and program-specific outcomes

(PSO) using (a) direct assessment tools (for theoretical courses—theory internal
Fig. 6.7 Flowchart of the system for calculating total PO and PSO attainment at program level
examination, theory assignments, theoretical quiz, and end-semester theory exami-

nation; for laboratory courses—daily performance evaluation and end-semester labo-
ratory course examination; for laboratory courses—daily performance evaluation)
and (b) indirect assessment tools (survey of Cell activities, exit student survey, alumni
survey, and employer survey).
This software calculates total attainment of PO and PSO in program level as
depicted in Fig. 6.7.
6.3.2.6 Software and Hardware Requirements
Software requirements: Visual Studio Code, XAMPP.

Hardware requirements: RAM: 2 GB and above, Processor: 2 × 1, 6 GHz CPU.
Languages used:
Front end: HTML, CSS.
Back end: JavaScript, AJAX, PHP, SQL.
6.4 Case Study of CO, PO, and PSO Attainment Using

Rubrics for a Set of Students
Sample case study of rubrics-based CO and PO attainment for particular set of

students of a certain program of a department is explained below.
Fig. 6.8 Sample CO–PO and course–PO mapping
Fig. 6.9 Sample CO–PSO and course–PSO mapping
6.4.1 Generation of CO–PO, CO–PSO, Course–PO,

and Course–PSO Mapping
Every course of a program offered by a department of an educational institute has

its own CO versus PO mapping which cumulatively generates a course versus PO
mapping.
This is shown in Fig. 6.8.
Similarly every course of has its own CO versus PSO mapping which cumulatively
generates a course versus PSO mapping. This is shown in Fig. 6.9.
6.4.2 Generation of Course–PO and Course–PSO Mapping

at Program Level
For measuring CO and PO attainment for a particular set of students for a program
of the department (like B.Tech. in IT), initially course versus PO mapping for all the
courses is required. This can be said as course–PO mapping at program level.
Similarly, course versus PSO mapping for all the courses is required. This can be
said as course–PSO mapping at program level.
After this, based on scoring and non-scoring course, corresponding rubrics is
applied to every course to find the course outcome attainment in which rubrics will
be applied that is determined through machine intelligence as explained before.

University Examination (External Assessment)
CO attainments from university examination for all the courses are measured. Sample
CO attainment (CO1) for the course C214 is described next. Initially, student-wise
university grade-equivalent score is listed from their obtained grade in university
examination. Sample list for CO1 is depicted in Fig. 6.10. As in university examina-
tion, question-wise marks obtained is unknown, and equal weightage is paid for all
COs. Same steps are repeated for all the COs.
Next, student count with respect to achieved grade is calculated, and the same is
depicted in Fig. 6.11.
Fig. 6.10 Sample university grade-equivalent score listing

Fig. 6.11 Students count with respect to achieved grade
Fig. 6.12 Student percentage calculation
Based on scoring and non-scoring course, rubrics used either in Table 6.1 or
in Table 6.2 is used. Previously mentioned sample course falls under non-scoring
category. Hence, it uses Table 6.2 rubrics.
Based on rubrics, student’s percentage is calculated which is depicted in Fig. 6.12.
In next step, attainment level is calculated with the help of the help of the rubrics
applied. As 87.037037%, students has scored more than 50% marks, as per rubrics
attainment level which is 3.
Based on the attainment level, CO attainment table for PO and PSO is formed for
the course which are depicted in Fig. 6.13. Same steps are repeated for all courses.
Course attainment table is then formed then which is portrayed in Fig. 6.14.
This indicates Course–PO and Course–PSO mapping on the point of view of
attainment level.
Fig. 6.13 CO attainment table a for PO and b for PSO
Fig. 6.14 Course attainment table a for PO and b for PSO

Internal Examinations, Assignments, etc. (Internal
Assessment)
CO attainments from internal examination for all the courses are measured. Sample
CO attainment (CO2) for the course C214 is described next. Initially, student-wise
percentage mark obtained list is prepared against all the COs. Sample list is depicted
in Fig. 6.15 for CO2.
Fig. 6.15 Student-wise percentage marks obtained list against CO2
‘X’ indicates the question which is not attempted by a student. Same rubrics
(mentioned in Table 6.2) is followed here.
Based on rubrics, student’s percentage is calculated which indicates that 81.48%
students has achieved more than 50% of marks which yields attainment level as
3. As attainment level is 3, CO attainment table and course attainment table will be
similar to Figs. 6.13 and 6.14, respectively.
These steps are repeated for all the COs of the course.
For all CO, percentage of students achieve more than 50% marks is listed which
is depicted in Fig. 6.16.
Course-level attainment level:
Finally, course-level attainment level for internal assessment is evaluated using the
same rubrics. As 60.99% students has scored more than 50% marks cumulatively
Fig. 6.16 Percentage of students achieve more than 50% marks for all COs
in all the COs, final course-level attainment level for this course is 3. Course-level
attainment is calculated for all courses.
6.4.5 Course Outcome Direct Attainment
Course outcome direct attainment is calculated by taking 40% of internal assessment

and 60% of external assessment (as mentioned in Fig. 6.6). For this sample course,
it is coming as 76.62% means attainment level is 3 (using rubrics mentioned in
Table 6.2). This step is repeated for all courses.
6.4.6 Course Outcome Indirect Attainment
Indirect attainment is measured through course end survey (mentioned in Fig. 6.6).
Every feedback question is mapped to a CO, and finally, a course level attainment
is obtained which might be fraction value also. This can be fraction value because
rubrics is not used for indirect attainment. For the sample course, attainment level is
2.76. This survey is conducted for all the courses.
6.4.7 Total PO and PSO Attainment in Program Level
Total Course–PO and Course–PSO attainment for a course is calculated by taking

80% of direct attainment and 20% of indirect attainment (as mentioned in Fig. 6.6).
For this sample course, it is coming as 2.95. Based on this attainment level, a course–
PO and course–PSO mapping is prepared which is similar to what is shown Fig. 6.17.
This step is repeated for all the courses. Finally, a course–PO and course–PSO
mapping for all the courses is generated. This forms program-level mapping which
Fig. 6.17 Total course–PO and course–PSO attainment for a course
is referred as direct attainment through direct assessment. PO attainment from direct

assessment process and PSO attainment from direct assessment process are shown
in Figs. 6.18 and 6.19, respectively.
PO and PSO attainment is also measured through indirect assessment process
also.
Indirect assessment process includes PO and PSO attainment through events orga-
nized by different cell, exit student survey, alumni survey, and employer survey.
Figures 6.20 and 6.21 depict indirect PO attainment and indirect PSO attainment,
respectively.
Finally, total PO and PSO attainment in program level for the set of students is
calculated by summing up 80% of direct attainment and 20% of indirect attainment
(as mentioned in Fig. 6.7). Total PO attainment and PSO attainment is depicted in
Figs. 6.22 and 6.23, respectively.
6.5 Comparative Analysis
Performance of this software has been compared with some existing work already
done in this domain.
Bhatia et al. [3] have used ZeroR, OneR, IBK, J48, and Naïve Bayes classifiers to
predict the attainment status using data mining tool named WEKA. They have treated
attainment calculation task as a regression problem. Moreover usage of multiple
classifiers has made the system not so much user friendly compared to this work as
attainment is calculated in this work using fixed formula as per NBA guidelines. No
computational intelligence is used to choose proper rubrics in their work, whereas
this work employs computational intelligence to choose proper rubrics based on
scoring and non-scoring courses. This approach has made the system more dynamic
and simple.
Dandin et al. [9] have made a computerized system which is based on spreadsheet.
Use of spreadsheet may lead to various types of errors like selection of wrong cell
while applying a formula, cell jumping or missing, etc. Moreover in case of spread-
sheet, a user has to manually provide a lot of information which is also laborious.
Fig. 6.18 PO attainment from direct assessment

Fig. 6.19 PSO attainment from direct assessment

Fig. 6.20 Indirect PO attainment
Fig. 6.21 Indirect PSO attainment
Fig. 6.22 Total PO attainment
Fig. 6.23 Total PSO attainment
Their work is also limited to attainment calculation of course outcomes and program
outcomes only. But this work can generate attainment of not only course outcomes
in course level and program outcomes in program level, but it can also generate
attainment of program-specific outcomes in program level. They have done the work
considering a fixed number of students for a certain year and program, whereas this
work can be applied to any year and program having any number of students. This
indicates that this software is more dynamic in nature.
6.6 Conclusion
This approach utilizes machine learning approach to classify courses into two cate-
gories—scoring and non-scoring which reduces loads of manpower as well as
chances of possible errors. Based on that, this software automatically applies corre-
sponding rubrics on a course to find attainment of COs. Moreover, this software
considers program-level attainment calculation of both PO and PSO which is another
important aspect of this software.
This Web-based approach uses simple GUIs to make this software simple and easy
to use. The venture based on RDBMS is a software using HTML, CSS as front end,
JavaScript and PHP as back end, and MYSQL as the database which computerizes
the whole processing of the calculation. Additional features and functions can be
added to this software increasing its usage in different institutions. But the feasibility
and processing of the additional features may need time to be incorporated in the
system.
References
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attainment method of course outcome and programme outcome for NBA tier II accreditation
in engineering colleges through outcome based education (OBE). Int. J. Pure Appl. Math.
117(22), 25–28 (2017)
2. Balasubramani, R., Chiplunkar, N.N.: Attainment of programme outcomes through course
outcomes in outcome based education: a case study. J. Eng. Educ. Transform. 31(2), 26–30
(2017)
3. Bhatia, J., Girdhar, A., Singh, I.: An automated survey designing tool for indirect assessment
in outcome based education using data mining. In: 2017 5th IEEE International Conference on
MOOCs, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE), Nov 2017, pp. 95–100. IEEE.
4. Namasivayam, S.N., Fouladi, M.H.: Utilisation of learning outcome attainment data to drive
continual quality improvement of an engineering programme: a case study of Taylor’s
University. Int. J. Eng. Educ. 34(3), 905–914 (2018)
5. Kavitha, A., James, K.I.A., Harish, K.A., Rajamani, V.: A empirical study on CO-PO assess-
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students through outcome based education. Int. J. Pure Appl. Math. 118(20), 2615–2624 (2018)
6. Ramesh, K., Ronak, A., Sai Prashanth, K., Shivogi, S.: Developing a software package for
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program outcomes. Int. J. Adv. Res. Dev. 3(3), 24–27 (2018)
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program educational objectives for post graduate courses. Int. J. Mod. Educ. Comput. Sci. 2,
26–32 (2019)
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Innov. Technol. 5(2), 1030–1033 (2019)
Chapter 7
Quality Issues in Teaching–Learning
Process
Habiba Hussain
Abstract Quality in the process of teaching and learning has been a matter of
concern since long. Of late, this is being talked of all the more for certain leading
factors like accreditation, OBE, challenges of a VUCA world, etc. This chapter deals
with the quality issues mainly in the field of technical education system in the country.
With more and more technical institutions being set up in the nation, quality has
started taken a back seat. But, teaching cannot happen without a minimum threshold
quality. Some major factors dealing with the quality aspects in the teaching–learning
process have been discussed in the chapter. The recent initiatives taken by the govern-
ment of India in boosting the quality in the education system are also highlighted
here.
Keywords VUCA · Accreditation · Pedagogy
7.1 Introduction
If teaching happens, it cannot happen without quality. When one speaks about quality
in the teaching–learning process, it is to move towards more and more subtlety.
Quality is a never-ending journey and the only path towards achieving consistency
in the education system. Quality in teaching–learning has been a subject of great
concern, more so in higher education. Of late, there is a quality uproar in the education
sector mainly because of the global competition and accreditation. This chapter is
written mainly in context with the technical education system in our country. Quality,
which is often discussed, but less practised, at least in higher education, has brought
forward many challenges to the practising teachers. These issues are being explored
in this chapter.
The growth in technical educational institutes in the country has been phenomenal.
As per the data provided by India Skills Report 2019, the total number of degree
H. Hussain (B)
Education and Management, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research
(NITTTR), Kolkata, West Bengal, India
e-mail: habs2@rediffmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_7
138 H. Hussain
and diploma-level engineering Institutes as approved by the All India Council for
Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body of technical education in India,
in the year 2016–17 are 3285 and 3925, respectively, while each of their approved
intake is 1,553,360 and 1,244,778 respectively.
India has a competitive edge over its neighbouring countries as more than 60% of
its population is that of the youth (as per 2015 data). A major part of our workforce
is being supplied by our Engineering colleges, Polytechnics, and ITIs. This technical
manpower is the key to the industrial growth and development of our nation. Inspite
of several initiatives, we find that our passouts are not sufficiently employable.
7.2 Rationale
The Economic Times, Business Standard in April 2016, reported that only 7 per
cent of the MBA graduates are ultimately employable, except those from IIMs. The
Economic Times, June 2018, reported that 94% of engineering graduates are not fit
for hiring. The Business Line reported in January 2018 that 80% of engineers in
India are unemployable. Several other reports indicate such a discouraging scenario
nation-wide. Key skills are unavailable among the present-day graduates.
March 2019, Business Today reported that 80% of Indian engineers are not fit for
any job in the knowledge economy as laid down by the new Annual Employability
Survey 2019 report by Aspiring Minds. It also stated that there has been no change
in the employability prospects of Indian engineering graduates in the past nine years,
with only a handful of them possessing next-generation technical skills.
When we talk of quality improvement in teaching, it certainly captivates our
thought and leads us towards that kind of teaching which results in effective learning.
In the 1980s, higher education became more and more abreast of TQM as a
paradigm for improving every aspect of the functioning of Institutes of higher
education right from fiscal administration to classroom instruction. Terms like “cus-
tomer focus”, “employee empowerment”, “continuous assessment”, and “Deming’s
14 principles” got reflected in the educational research journals and gained greater
popularity.
Though it was well understood that TQM was developed by and for industry to
improve, Deming himself suggested the linkage between quality management prin-
ciples and education, claiming that “…improvement of education, and the manage-
ment of education, require application of the same principles that must be used for
the improvement of any process, manufacturing or service” [8].
7.3 VUCA and Quality in the LT Process
It is understood that the teaching community is also not spared from Volatility,
Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA). All academic institutions now
7 Quality Issues in Teaching–Learning Process 139
work under VUCA conditions. When we talk of the teaching community, it means a
wider ambit of teachers, students, their parents, curricula as also the society at large.
All of them are exposed to challenges, but the students are the ones who face greater
risks.
Our students are witnessing a rapidly changing world that offers lot of chal-
lenges and opportunities. It calls for building in them the ability to learn and a set of
competencies that will be needed for life. The twenty-first century skills are different
demanding greater agility and growth mind set in the youngsters. The present-day
employers seek social skills, soft skills among their employees more than the subject
knowledge, preferring the skill of learning to learn. If students are to develop essential
life skills and the ability to think constructively and act wisely, the holistic approach
must be understood and considered central to education for the twenty-first century.
The VUCA world offers more challenges in the contemporary world by bringing in
volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The whole of technical education
is now moving towards outcome based framework, very much required for providing
a competitive edge to the education system. Hence, students have to be prepared to
face the unknown and demonstrate themselves as lifelong learners. They need to
come out as confident and self-sufficient individuals.
Both teacher and taught are now exposed to a plethora of information as it is
now a world driven by rapid changes due to overwhelming volume of information
(volatility). Predicting outcomes become difficult due to uncertainty. Further, the
several multiple aspects of any issue or event make it more complex with ambi-
guity due to different interpretations and diversity of thoughts. In this way, VUCA
makes the environment all the more challenging. The changes in policies, emerging
technology, job market, the scenario of employment, and employability of the pass-
outs—all add to this VUCA situation. Therefore, we have to and we must now think
of quality in education, not just to meet the threshold but to rise above that, i.e.
to excel. It is also well understood that VUCA world needs a dynamic, continual
improvement.
7.4 Characteristics of Quality Teaching
Several descriptions of quality teaching can be found in literature. Teaching is a

complex process and there are several inputs to it; hence, quality of teacher and
the taught apart from the learning teaching process needs to be relooked into. The
mushrooming of technical institutes in our country is quite alarming when quality
of LT system is concerned.
Based on all these considerations, there has been a paradigm shift in education.
The technical institutes are now moving towards outcome-based education (OBE)
from traditional one. OBE is an approach to education in which decisions about the
curriculum are driven by the exit learning outcomes that the students should display
at the end of the course. The process shifts from a content-based input approach
140 H. Hussain
to a competence-based output approach where certification validates the achieved

competences.
A quality teaching and learning can be characterised as follows (as retrieved from
https://portal.uea.ac.uk/documents/6207125/8480269/cop-on-assuring-and-enhanc
ing-teaching-quality.pdf).
It
• is based on a set of aims and objectives for each programme/course of study (via
programme specifications) and each module of teaching
• takes account of the needs, abilities, experience, and expectations of students and
engages with students at an appropriate level of understanding, explaining the
material plainly and helpfully
• motivates students to learn by generating an enthusiasm for the subject
• encourages students to study independently, taking responsibility for their own
learning
• uses teaching aids and techniques that are appropriate to the programme/course
of study and of teaching
• encourages and facilitates student participation in the learning process through
classroom-based activities such as group discussions, presentations, problem
solving, and collaborative project work
• encourages, develops, and incorporates feedback from students on the
programme/course of study/module of teaching
• uses valid, appropriate, and fair methods for the assessment of students
• provides constructive feedback to students on their work
• enables students to acquire the necessary key, cognitive, and subject-specific skills
• enables students to acquire generic skills
• is linked to faculty research thereby making students aware of the continuing
development of the subject and of the provisional nature of knowledge
• is reflective and self-critical, thereby leading to enhancement
• takes account of the requirements of relevant Professional and Statutory Bodies.
Institutes of higher education (IHEs) are assessed in order to recognise the quality
of educational practices and their performance. Excellence is intricately linked with
quality enhancement and quality assurance. Quality has to be the essence and essen-
tial element of higher education. While the outcomes of institutional assessment are
many, ultimately all are expected to lead to a sustained effort, primarily to improve
the quality of teaching–learning.
Accreditation is the measure of quality assurance in higher education. It is an
independent appraisal of an institution during which the institution’s overall educa-
tional quality (including outcomes), professional status among similar institutions,
financial stability, and operational ethics are self-evaluated and judged by peers.
7.5 Teaching Methodology
Teaching methodology encompasses the plethora of activities that a teacher performs

to enable students learn. The teaching methodology is often found to remain the same
over the years with the syllabus remaining unchanged as also the pattern of exami-
nation. The question papers also reveal the fact that memory is rewarded more than
critical thinking. Our education system mostly focuses upon developing convergent
thinking in the students rather than divergent thinking. Teachers need to connect
engineering concepts to industry applications. Checking for students’ understanding
while teaching is vital for learning.
Students these days are examination-oriented learners, i.e. they learn, rather study
to pass examinations with good marks or grades. Their learning is oriented towards
qualifying the exams. Problem solving ability is rarely seen as the students want
readymade solutions to questions. Decision making skill is very much lacking in
today’s generation due to which students often fail to perform well in the selection
tests/interviews. That is why, we have the concept of finishing school that make the
pass-outs (engineering graduates) industry ready, equipped with the necessary skills
of critical and analytical thinking and decision making.
When India is competing globally to place its passouts at par with those of the
other parts of the world, the following aspects of the LT process demand a major
overhaul:
• Methodology of teaching
Teachers need to have a knowledge base of content, pedagogy, and technology
and their combination so as to have a totality of TPACK framework. It is very
well and widely known at least in the teaching fraternity that subject knowledge
alone cannot make a good teacher. At the same time, just by the use of different
technology, a lecture cannot be made impressive. The TPACK model provides a
good understanding of the prerequisites to become an effective teacher.
Methodology of teaching in the present era calls for a constructive alignment
among the vital components of teaching, primarily the learning outcomes, learning
methods, and assessment.
The new millennium has been characterised by unprecedented breakthroughs
in knowledge and technology. Twenty-first century challenges have called for new
paradigms and “maps” of engagements in all spheres of life, especially in learning.
One such step being taken is to involve students through active learning.
Active learning involves providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk
and listen, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an
academic subject [19]. Active learning strategies are essential for enhancing student
learning.
The aim of “learning-to-learn”, as a major aim of engineering education relates to
metacognition. In simpler terms, it can be described as the planning and management
of one’s own learning. This will enable students to shoulder the responsibility of their
learning. Once the students can do this, they will be better problem solvers and able to
142 H. Hussain
think critically. The inductive–deductive approach in teaching is also a step towards

catering to the different learning demands of students. This has been well established
by the research work of Felder and Silverman [10] for engineering students.
Another tool that teachers can use for engineering students is the concept map.
Students can visualise diagrammatically the different concepts and relate them. It
can be used as a graphical tool to visually represent relationships between concepts
and ideas.
As an important aspect of digital pedagogy, teachers, today are being encouraged
to plan a flipped classroom. The basic content is provided in online modules, the
application part of which is carried out in the subsequent class. In a much simpler
form, video(s) related to the topic to be discussed in the class is/ are supplied to
the students beforehand, followed by some important points of discussion and/ or
some related questions. Students need to watch the video and construct meaning of
their own. In the following lecture, the students, then, discuss on the points and try
to answer the questions. The teacher remains available here as a guide. The activity
can be an individual task or a group work. This also encourages development of
“learning-to-learn” skill among students, as discussed earlier.
Teachers also can inspire students for team work through collaborative learning.
It is highly effective in developing the much demanded twenty-first century skills.
Learning is highly a social endeavour, and, therefore, when students learn from one
another, they develop social skills. Collaborative learning is an approach to teaching
and learning that requires learners to work together to deliberate, discuss, and create
meaning. Further, collaborative thinking is the essential social ingredient of problem
solving.
Smith and MacGregor [21] define the term as follows: “Collaborative learning” is
an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual
effort by students, or students and teachers together.
All the methods discussed above take care of the different learning styles of
students. Teachers also must be aware of the different teaching styles. They ought
to know their preferences to choose some methods and approaches to teaching in a
particular manner. An understanding of learning styles would enable the teachers to
diagnose the learning difficulties and devise teaching strategies accordingly. These
aspects are well considered by a reflective teacher. A reflective teacher is thoughtful
about the learners and strives constantly to foster thinking in them. This way, it
enhances professional competency in the teacher as she/ he detaches herself/ himself
from the conventional teaching practices and continually tries out newer techniques.
Reflective practice, itself, is a key component of lifelong learning.
• Curriculum
When we envisage outcome-based education (OBE) to provide an international
foothold to our passouts, the heavily loaded traditional education can no longer
provide the required support. Technical education in our country is all set for an
overhaul. Accreditation for the technical institutes (degree and diploma levels) has
now geared up. Accreditation is a process supposed to be designed for continual
quality improvement. Once students graduate with an accredited qualification,
they are supposed to be equipped with the graduate attributes (GAs). The GAs
provide a common point of reference for stakeholders and bodies to describe
equivalence across the globe. Graduate attributes are specific and clear statements
expressing expected capability and competence of a passout. These attributes are
clearly laid down in the curriculum as outcomes. In the outcome-based curriculum,
outcomes are specified at different levels.
• Assessment
Formal education in India is examination-centred. Students often suffer from exam
phobia. Assessment is not meant to declare pass or fail rather it should help in
measuring learning achievement.
OBE demands outcome-based assessment. Accreditation, especially the frame-
work suggested by the NBA provides an integrated approach to assessment, plan-
ning, and improvement throughout the institution. Direct and indirect methods of
assessment can serve the purpose, and it is already being practised in some of the
colleges now.
In industry, quality is relatively easy to assess. In education, even if a definition of
quality can be formulated and agreed upon, devising a meaningful assessment process
is a monumental task. But what are the measures of quality in education? Assuming
that the mission of a university includes the imparting of certain knowledge, skills,
and (perhaps) values, a meaningful assessment process must include measuring the
degree to which the students have acquired those attributes. Assessing knowledge
is relatively straightforward, but methods for assessing skills are complex and time-
consuming to administer, and valid means of assessing values do not exist.
7.6 Case in Point
Students of present times cannot think of life without gadgets, at least a smartphone.
This is the scenario in both urban and rural areas. This fact was utilized to undertake
a small study in this context.
As a snap study conducted in few polytechnics located in West Bengal, Infor-
mation and Communication Technology (ICT) was used for giving assignments and
feedback to students. The subject chosen was Communicative English. The teachers
used concept maps to teach a part of English Grammar. For instance, the topics like
“Tenses” and “Parts of Speech”, both of which are very essential for the students to
be thorough with at least to speak correct English were taught using concept maps.
Teachers first explained a few maps in the class. Students were later given assign-
ments based on concept mams to check their understanding of tenses. For this, the
students could use their mobile phones. The correct answer was supplied by the
concerned teacher and peer feedback was sought. The learning achievement showed
significant improvement, statistical analysis of which, is not being discussed here.
In this example, many of the quality parameters discussed under teaching method-
ology have been taken care of. While students could learn from their peer group
144 H. Hussain
through collaborative learning, they were also actively involved all throughout. They
could observe their own learning improvement which kept them intrinsically moti-
vated as also involved in the task at hand. With simple access to Internet services,
students could utilize ICT to make learning meaningful. Students could get a feel of
self-paced learning. Students not only constructed their own learning but also utilized
the new learning in their own ways instead of accumulating factual knowledge. This
has been emphasised time and again by experts and also reiterated by Biggs [7] who
declared that what is more important is the way learners structure information and
how well that enables them to use it. Students become actively involved and they
start enjoying the learning process itself, thereby transforming themselves to learners
from students. The study was also an illustration of active learning by the students
and new learning by teachers, as opined by the participating teachers.
Besides saving teachers’ teaching time, use of concept maps could supply ready-
made data regarding learners’ progress. Active learning techniques used by the
teachers further encouraged them to use ICT in assessment of learning. A few
of them reported to have explored some C map tools available online. There are
ample research studies related to use of concept maps and improvement in learning.
However, the literature review is not within the scope of this chapter; hence, not
being provided here.
This snap study enabled the teachers to observe how digital pedagogy can promote
independent learning among students even outside classroom settings. Of late, use
of ICT in teaching–learning is becoming more extensive among teachers, but this
demands more enhanced digital competence.
7.7 Quality Indicators
Quality need not be discussed in theory as we now have to move from a twelfth
century teaching model to that of a twenty-first century. The needs of the twenty-first
century learners are also diverse and more complicated that yesteryears. Teachers
(technical teachers) entering the teaching profession ought to have some orientation
to teaching, specially the pedagogical strategies and methods. Hence, it needs to be
implemented and practised in the classrooms so that quality need not be discussed
in forums and meetings but actually reaches the learners.
For any institute of higher education, there are certain factors that serve as quality
indicators and these can be listed as follows.
• Curricular aspects
• Teaching, learning, and evaluation
• Research, consultancy, and extension
• Infrastructure and learning resources
• Student support and progression
• Governance, leadership, and management
• Innovations and best practices.
Curricular aspects must reflect the vision and mission of the institute through
the programmes being run. This would indicate that a systematic process is being
followed in the design and development of the curriculum. Employability, innovation,
and research have to be ensured through curriculum design and development.
Teaching, learning, and evaluation serve as a vital indicator of quality as it directly
reflects the quality and professionalism of the teachers. It is to be assured whether the
teaching–learning process caters to student diversity. It goes without saying that the
student enrolment and profile also affect the process and vice-versa. The success of
learning–teaching process is ultimately envisaged through the attainment of learning
outcomes. From time-to-time, there have been several reforms in the process of
assessment and evaluation only with the objective of enhancing student performance.
Research has taken a back seat over the years in many of the academic institutes of
our country. The reasons for this are manifold. The next indicator of research, consul-
tancy, and extension is very important in resource mobilisation for research. The
quality of research publication in the country is also a matter of great concern. Insti-
tutes can collaborate for research activities, which also speak about their endeavour
in this context. Outreach activities can be extended for the society as institutional
social responsibility.
Infrastructure and learning resources of any organisation speak about the quality
service being provided by it. The different facilities for the well-being of the students
and the employees also add to it. Maintenance of campus facilities portrays the
concern for quality. A well-equipped library together with minimum IT infrastructure
would also attract students and make the environment learning friendly.
Another indicator of quality which stakeholders would search for is student
support and progression. An effective measure in this connection by the AICTE
is the introduction of induction training for the students. There are institutes where
student mentoring is compulsorily done by the teachers. For the all-round develop-
ment of students, students’ activities are encouraged. They are also made to partic-
ipate in community activities and social work. Student progression is continuously
monitored to boost their morale and confidence.
A strong leadership is the crux of all the activities being discussed here. Without
good governance and management, resource mobilisation becomes very difficult.
An ambitious institutional vision and leadership would result in effective strategy
development and deployment. Good leadership of any academic institute always
nurtures a conducive learning environment and encourages faculty empowerment.
An internal quality assurance system can work wonders for any organisation in
terms of sustaining the quality. However, it is to be realised that the innovations and
best practices are to be disseminated to the society in its best interest keeping in mind
the environmental issues.
146 H. Hussain
7.8 Quality Initiatives
As per AICTE 2017, only 16% of the programmes offered by Technical Institu-
tions in the country are accredited by the NBA. Recently, some countries have even
rejected the Indian technical degree holders. Therefore, one has to look into the overall
academic quality of the institute. Academic quality refers to the overall performance
of the institution in the context of its mission and as measured by the extent to which
the institution achieves its intended student learning and student success outcomes.
Student learning outcomes involve assessment of skill and competency attainment.
AICTE envisions that by the year 2022, the percentage of technical programmes
accredited would increase from 16 to 50%.
Initiatives by the MHRD, Govt. of India, in boosting the overall quality of the
education in India. However, providing education to all and maintaining quality in
education at the same time are quite challenging. For higher education, more so for
the sector of technical education, the GOI has opened up new avenues to enhance
their teaching skills. For the technical teachers, several initiatives have been launched
in the SWAYAM platform to update the pedagogical skills and teaching competency.
There are several coordinators identified for this initiative, one of them being the
National Institutes of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTRs).
Several initiatives have been taken by AICTE for nurturing quality in tech-
nical education under student development, faculty development, institutional devel-
opment, research and innovations development schemes, besides several general
schemes. Some of the efforts in this direction are National Doctoral Fellowship
(NDF), Margadarshak scheme, Adjunct Faculty and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Student
Startup Policy 2016, Smart India Hackathon 2018, a MOOCs platform SWAYAM,
etc. Besides the model curricula of technical programmes both at degree and diploma
levels have been designed keeping in view the latest market trends and employability
factors.
7.9 Professional Development
According to Guskey [12], the term refers to those processes, actions, and activities
designed to enhance the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes of teachers so
that they might, in turn, improve the learning of students. Teachers need to develop
a set of knowledge called technological pedagogical content knowledge or TPCK
urgently to meet the needs of twenty-first century learners. To cope up with the
challenges and demands of a rapidly changing society, the government of India has
already taken several initiatives. However, it goes without saying that the process of
selection of teachers has to be more stringent allowing only the deserving personnel
into the noble profession of teaching. Teaching is possible only when the teacher
is willing and loves the profession; hence, attitude of the teacher would be more
important than aptitude in the journey of quality in the LT process.
Teachers themselves have to be updated both in terms of pedagogy and content. If

we refer to the TPACK model originally based on Lee Shulman’s construct of peda-
gogical content knowledge (PCK), we find that the three kinds of knowledge, namely
technology, pedagogy, and content form an integrated whole [22]. This provides a
theoretical base for understanding teacher knowledge required for effective tech-
nology integration as stated by Mishra and Koehler [20]. Both content and pedagog-
ical knowledge are important for teaching to be effective. PK is nowadays gaining
greater importance because of the quality of passouts being observed. Though content
knowledge is essential, unless the message is comprehensively and meaningfully
transferred across the audience, CK ceases to be effective, and therefore, the need
for PK. As social networking takes a significant role in the learning-teaching (LT)
process, teacher ought to be equipped with the necessary technological skills.
So, any institution wishing to improve the quality of its instructional program
should first make the necessary commitment to provide the necessary resources and
facilities for faculty participation.
Teacher training for technical teachers plays a vital role as has been reported
by the teachers themselves. Trained teachers feel more confident in using different
techniques in teaching. They feel in a better position to make their students think
rather than leading them to rote memorisation. It would be noteworthy that National
Institutes of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTRs), formerly known
as TTTIs are doing a commendable service to the nation in this regard for more than
50 years now. These institutes were established by the Government of India in the
1960s to train technical teachers across the country.
7.10 Conclusion
When the VUCA has become the new normal, it is high time that we adopt a visionary
outlook towards the learning–teaching process. This has been reiterated on several
platforms, as recent as that of the Delor’s report, 1996.
This conceptualization of education provided an integrated and comprehensive
view of learning and, therefore, education quality [6]. Published by UNESCO in
1996, Learning: The Treasure Within, the Report to UNESCO of the International
Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, chaired by Jacques Delors,
former European Commission President, proposed an integrated vision for education.
With the four pillars, the Delor’s report proposed an integrated vision for educa-
tion. The four pillars described portray a holistic education for one and all. Educa-
tion is a lifelong process and is based on four pillars, learning to know, learning to
do, learning to live together, and learning to be. Formal education in our country
largely believes in acquiring knowledge by an individual. Lately, with the Skill India
initiative of the government, learners are being provided with hands-on experience
emphasising on learning to do.
When we speak about quality improvement in TL system, we must realise that
it is not what we teach, it is what they learn which is more important. Learning
148 H. Hussain
requires time and space for thinking. To attain this, a teacher needs to be reflective.
Reflective teaching develops a thinking teacher who will not be complacent and will
certainly explore more and more. It will further provide a common framework to help
teachers consolidate their experiences and guide them in systematically reflecting on
their practices. Quality is not to be talked about, it is to be performed, carried out, to
be practised.
References
1. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/only-6-of-those-passing-out-of-indias-engine
ering-colleges-are-fit-for-a-job/articleshow/64446292.cms?from=mdr
2. https://portal.uea.ac.uk/documents/6207125/8480269/cop-on-assuring-and-enhancing-tea
ching-quality.pdf
3. https://www.aicte-india.org/sites/default/files/India%20Skill%20Report-2019.pdf
4. https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/indian-engineers-tech-jobs-survey-80-per-
cent-of-indian-engineers-not-fit-for-jobs-says-survey/story/330869.html
5. https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/15-initiatives-taken-by-central-govern
ment-to-improve-teaching-standards-in-india-hrd-minister-1556357-2019-06-26
6. https://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/DELORS_E.PDF
7. Biggs, J.: Teaching for Quality Learning at University, Society for Research into Higher Educa-
tion/Open University Press, Buckingham (1999). Fry, S.M.: A Handbook for Teaching &
Learning in Higher Education. Kogan Page, London (2003)
8. Deming, W.E.: The New Economics: For Industry, Government, Education. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Cambridge, MA (1994)
9. Felder, R.M., Brent, R.: Teaching and Learning STEM—A Practical Guide. Wiley, USA (2016)
10. Felder, R.M., Silverman, L.: Learning and teaching styles in engineering education. Eng. Educ.
78(7), 674–681 (1998)
11. Guskey, T.R.: Rethinking mastery learning reconsidered. Rev. Educ. Res. 57, 225–229 (1987)
12. Guskey, T.R.: Evaluating Professional Development. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA (2000)
13. Guskey, T.R.: How classroom assessments improve learning. Educ. Leadersh. 60(5), 7–11
(2003)
14. Guskey, T.R.: Mapping the road to proficiency. Educ. Leadersh. 63(3), 32–38 (2005)
15. Guskey, T.R., Bailey, J.M.: Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning.
Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA (2001)
16. Guskey, T.R., Passaro, P.: Teacher efficacy: a study of construct dimensions. Am. Educ. Res.
J. 31, 627–643 (1994)
17. Guskey, T.R., Pigott, T.J.: Research on group-based mastery learning programs: a meta-
analysis. J. Educ. Res. 81(4), 197–216 (1988)
18. Guskey, T.R., Sparks, D.: Linking professional development to improvements in student
learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, New Orleans, LA (2002)
19. Meyers, C., Jones, T.B.: Promoting Active Learning: Strategies for the College Classroom.
Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco (1993)
20. Mishra, P., Koehler, M.J.: Technological pedagogical content knowledge: a framework for
integrating technology in teacher knowledge. Teach. Coll. Rec. 108(6), 1017–1054 (2006)
21. Smith, B.L., MacGregor, J.: Collaborative Learning: A Sourcebook for Higher Education,
pp. 9–22. National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (NCTLA),
University Park, PA (1992)
22. Thompson, A.D., Mishra, P.: Breaking news: TPCK becomes TPACK! J. Comput. Teach. Educ.
24(2), 38, 64 (2007–2008)
Chapter 8
Digital English Language Laboratory:
Roles, Challenges and Scopes
for the Future Development in India
Anwesha Basu
Abstract Digital English Language Laboratory has evolved in the last few decades
across the world as an essential tool to learn English. The learners are facilitated to
master the fundamental English communication skills with the help of multimedia-
infused visual, aural, audio-visual, and verbal communication devices. All the
language learning tools are supposed to be developed to cater to the language learners
of varying learning styles. Besides, research has shown that brain-wiring varies across
cultures, socioeconomic conditions, and genders; the learning styles of individuals
vary accordingly. This paper concerns to problematize the digital pedagogy of digital
language laboratory to learn English and aims to ask the following questions: (1)
Is the digital English language laboratory effective to facilitate language learners
with varying and complex learning style and pace? (2) Is the self-directed, learner-
autonomy-based digital language laboratory advantageous to the non-native English
language learners of India? (3) What are the scopes for the future development
of the digital English language laboratory in India? This paper intends to adopt
the exploratory qualitative research method. The collected data will be thoroughly
analysed and prospective recommendations will be provided at the end.
Keywords Digital English Language Laboratory · English communication skills ·

Learning styles · Learning pace · Digital pedagogy
8.1 Introduction
There has been a substantial utilization of technology in modern language teaching–

learning around the globe since the inception of computers. English, being the
global language has become an essential mode of communication across the conti-
nents. The Internet, whereas, being the boon of globalization, is connecting the
entire planet to form a global village. Thus, the use of Internet through multimedia
learning, online learning, web-based learning, Information and Communications
A. Basu (B)
RCC Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata 700015, India
e-mail: anwesha.rcciit@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_8
150 A. Basu
Technology or ICT-based learning, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL),

and Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) have shifted the paradigm
of English teaching–learning a great deal in the new millennium [1]. However, the
question lingers in our mind is, how effectual is the use of Information Technology
in English language teaching–learning, especially in India, where, according to the
2011 Census Report of the Govt. of India, only 10.6% native speak English out of
whom only 0.02% of speakers identify English as their first language [2].
The primary challenge of English Language Teaching (ELT) in India rests on
the existence of multilingual and multicultural classrooms. In her M.Ed. dissertation
proposal, titled, “A Study of Problems Related to Teaching–Learning of English in
Government Schools”, Rehana Firdaus of Jamia Milia Islamia argues that in the
Government institutions across India, following are the major issues in teaching the
English language:
1. Lack of well-trained educators
2. Conventional teaching and evaluation method
3. Improper teacher–student ratio
4. Lack of competent text-books and other reading resources [3].
Now, Digital English Language Laboratory essentially emerges to address the
above-mentioned lacunae in ELT. Since English has become our lingua franca and
even with 10% people of the total population speaking English, India ranks as the
second-largest English speaking nation in the world, digital language laboratory has
evolved to cater to the needs of English language learners of native tongues.
In Digital English Language Laboratory, the learners are facilitated to master the
fundamental English technical communication skills such as Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing (LSRW) [4] with the assistance of Information Technology-
infused visual, aural, audio-visual, and verbal communication-devices. A well-
equipped Digital English Language Laboratory includes a Master Console that helps
an instructor to supervise the operation of the laboratory, Student Units for the
students to communicate with the Master Console, a Projector with a Screen for
displaying interactive content for the learners and Computer devices with Internet
facility and preloaded language-learning software.
A language-learning technology is supposed to be developed to aid the learners
of varying learning styles and learning pace. However, none of the digital English
language laboratory devices mentioned before encompass to facilitate the language
learners of all kinds of learning styles. A self-directed, learner-autonomy-based
language laboratory makes the situation further hostile as it invalidates the presence
of a human facilitator. Besides, research has shown that brain-wiring varies across
the cultures, socioeconomic conditions, and genders; the learning styles of the indi-
viduals vary accordingly. So, is the digital English language laboratory effective for
the learners of the Indian subcontinent emerging from varying class-caste-gender
identities and multilingual, multicultural backgrounds? This paper will try to find
that out.
8 Digital English Language Laboratory: Roles, Challenges … 151
8.1.1 Motivation
While elucidating the value of digital pedagogy in language teaching–learning in

a short blog, Niall Curry (Senior ELT Research Manager, Cambridge University
Press) kept championing the significance of pedagogy more than its digitization.
Digital pedagogy, according to him, is a new concept and any new adoption is slow
and consistent. Influenced by Scott Thornbury’s 12 principles on new technology
adoptions, Curry raised the following questions to problematize the learning potential
of the digital technology:
• Adaptivity—does the tool accommodate non-linear learning?
• Complexity—does the tool address language complexity on multiple levels?
• Input—is there rich, comprehensible input?
• Noticing—are users directed to notice useful elements of input?
• Output—are there regular opportunities for language production?
• Scaffolding—are learning tasks modelled and mediated?
• Feedback—do users get focused and informative feedback?
• Interaction—is there a way for users to interact and work together?
• Automaticity—are there opportunities for practice?
• Chunks—does the tool help with learning the formulaic language?
• Personalisation—does the tool encourage personal relationships with the mate-
rial?
• Flow—is the tool engaging? Challenging? With clear benefits? [5]
And, he finally sums up that digital language learning must only be promoted
given it helps to deliver a more complete learning process. “One in which learners
can interact with authentic audiences and authentic tasks; produce varied and creative
language; interact socially and negotiate meaning; receive feedback; develop noticing
skills; are motivated and are autonomous”. And it is always “to see what technology
can afford language learning and not the other way around” [5].
In a fast-changing scenario of educational technology where digital pedagogy or
broadly speaking, “the use of electronic elements to enhance or to change the expe-
rience of education” [6] has turned out to be a hotcake, questioning its credibility,
capability, utility, and feasibility in English as a second language learning in India
seemed essential to me being an English language trainer in a multicultural, multilin-
gual, polygendered classroom in a metropolitan city. The 12 parameter-framework
discussed by Curry, the not so impressive statistics of English language learning in
India as suggested by Firdaus (see Introduction), the recent COVID-19 pandemic [7]
the entire world is fighting through when emergency remote teaching has literally
become mandatory due to quarantine and on the contrary, the National Sample Survey
as a part of National Survey Education [8] says only 12.5% of the Indian population
has Internet access with a computing device; all these issues have compelled me to
take up the present study.
152 A. Basu
8.1.2 Novelty
The concept of digital pedagogy is a new feather in the cap of educational technology.
An extensive amount of research has been carried out all over the world on digital
pedagogy since its prominence in the last decade of the twentieth century. The studies
on the digital language laboratory are also going on across the globe. However, to
the best of my knowledge, there has been no comprehensive research till date on the
digital language laboratory applying the model of learning styles.
No pedagogy can stand alone without educational psychology. Thus, every educa-
tionalist must understand every student’s need, which nevertheless will vary widely,
before applying any new model of pedagogy. As the digital language laboratory is
a comparatively new field yet to explore widely, at least in India, whether it can
accommodate the varied and difficult learning styles of the students emerging from
a wide array of backgrounds is a research worth working on. Besides, one must also
explore the possibilities of new trends and scope for its future development. This
paper will surely unfold a new arena which opens up future possibilities of research
in this area.
8.2 Research Questions
This paper concerns to problematize the digital pedagogy of language laboratory and
aims to address the following questions:
1. Is the digital English language laboratory effective to facilitate language learners
with varying and complex learning style and pace?
2. Is the self-directed, learner-autonomy-based digital language laboratory advan-
tageous to the non-native English language learners of India?
3. What are the scopes for the future development of the digital English language
laboratory in India?
8.3 Methodology
At first, I will locate the Digital English Language Laboratory in various parameters
such as learning styles and strategies and try to conceptualize the roles, effectiveness,
and limitations of the digital language laboratory. I will then present the result of
a survey administered by me on the students of the RCC Institute of Information
Technology, Kolkata, and analyse the collected data to seek out the challenges of
the digital language laboratory and also its scope for future development in India.
After that, I will try to recommend the strategies to overcome the issues and highlight
the possibilities to produce well-equipped, self-motivated English language learners
ready to fight the challenges in the corporation and other sectors of work and life.
My approach to this research is partly conceptual and partly exploratory. A part

of this research is based on the theories of pedagogy and educational psychology; a
part of this work is based on a case study with an ethnographic qualitative approach.
The second part of the research qualifies the first part and thus makes it a substantial
work.
This paper will now categorically discuss each topic of our concern beginning
with the concept of learning styles.
8.4 Learning Styles
8.4.1 Personality Types and Learning Styles
Isabel Briggs-Myers, an American author, along with her mother Katharine Cook
Briggs, created a revolutionary introspective self-report questionnaire, titled, Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI [9], based on the famous Swiss psychiatrist and
psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s theory of Psychological Types [10] to indicate that “much
seemingly random variation in the behaviour (in individuals) is actually quite orderly
and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use
their perception and judgment” [11]. According to Jung, individuals perceive the
world using four principal psychological functions, viz., sensation, intuition, feeling,
and thinking—and that one of these four functions is dominant for an individual most
of the time. The following categories are derived from these four functions by Myers
and Briggs in MBTI:
1. Introversion/ extraversion
2. Sensing/ intuition
3. Thinking/ feeling
4. Judging/ perception.
Each person is thought to have one preferred quality from each of the four above-
mentioned categories, producing sixteen unique types [9].
Jenna Melvin, a researcher in the University of Rochester, published a paper in
2014 in the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Rochester,
titled, “Personality Type as an Indicator of Learning Style”, where she argues that a
given preference in one’s personality type would determine a certain preference in
one’s learning style [12]. She based her research on the theories of the MBTI and
that of Felder-Soloman’s “Learning Styles and Strategies”. Richard F. Felder and
Barbara A. Soloman divided the learners into eight distinct categories [13]. They
are:
1. Active learners
2. Reflective learners
3. Sensing learners
4. Intuitive learners
154 A. Basu
5. Visual learners
6. Verbal learners
7. Sequential learners
8. Global learners.
Jenna Melvin has established in her paper that each learner’s personality type may
predict the learning style(s) of the same. Table 8.1 sums up her prediction.
However, there can be no watertight demarcation to determine each personality
type’s learning style and there can be more than one learning style suitable for each
personality type as personality types change throughout one’s due course of life.
Besides, learning styles are also determined by cultural and gender differences.
8.4.2 Impact of Gender and Cultural Differences

on Learning Styles
In their 2009 paper titled “Are There Cultural Differences in Learning Style?”, Simy
Joy and David Kolb argued that culture that an individual lives in is a pervasive
part of the environment in which one learns and values, behaviours, norms differ
from one culture to another [15]. Culture acts like a socializing agent which impacts
information processing and cognition. So, the differences in cultural socialization
influences learning preferences and learning styles. They based their study on the
Experiential Learning Theory, propagated by David Kolb [16] and drawn from the
works of 20th scholars like John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, William James, Carl
Jung et al. [17] Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory defines experiential learning as
“the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.
Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience”.
Kolb described two different ways of grasping experience:
1. Concrete experience
2. Abstract conceptualization
1. Reflective observation
Table 8.1 Personality types

Personality type Learning style
and learning styles [14]
Extrovert Active
Introvert Reflective
Sensing Sensing
Intuitive Intuitive
Thinking Verbal
Feeling Visual
Judging Sequential
Perceiving Global
2. Active experimentation [18].

Kolb’s ELT implies that learning is not only a cultural phenomenon but also
determined by gender performance. In the survey-based research paper, “Review
of Gender Differences In Learning Styles: Suggestions For STEM Education”, the
authors Sadan Kulturel-Konak, Mary Lou D’Allegro and Sarah Dickinson [19] began
their research assuming that learning style is gender-specific and that male students
and female students approach differently to the course contents and teaching styles.
However, after conducting a thorough online Learning Styles Survey, specifically,
on the students enrolled at Penn State Berks, founding their study mostly on Kolb’s
Experiential Learning Theory, they came to the conclusion that contrary to popular
belief, females are better than males to favour abstract materials. Thus, rather than
concrete experience, female learners rely more on abstract conceptualization and the
result is just the opposite to the male learners. Besides, there is no such watertight
distinction in learning styles between male and female students while learning new
subjects and both the genders prefer similar modes of learning for a better learning
experience.
However, according to the postmodern feminist author-critic Judith Butler, gender
is performative. Gender is not essential, rather, a constant reiteration of gender
behaviours and gender role-plays under a grand-narrative [20]. So, it is needless
to say, that gender is determined by the culture and that gender is also a sociopo-
litical construct. Besides, there exist more than two genders and each individual’s
gender identity is culture-specific. Therefore, the result would have been different if
a similar survey were conducted on the students from any of the Indian universities
due to the cultural difference.
8.4.3 Learning English as a Second Language: The Role

of the Digital Language Laboratory
The Indian subcontinent is the breeding ground of languages. More than 19,500
languages are spoken in India as mother tongues including the dialects [21]. In such
a country, learning English as a second language has always been a challenge. Since
the learning styles are dependent and determined by the personality types, cultural,
and gender differences, English language teaching–learning aids have to be designed
accordingly. Before delving deeper into the topic, let us first see the difference
between a traditional language laboratory and a digital language laboratory.
156 A. Basu
8.4.4 Difference Between a Traditional Language Laboratory

and a Digital Language Laboratory
According to Dararat Khampusen, there has been a gradual shift from the traditional
language laboratory to the present digital language laboratory system. Primarily,
the language laboratory was monitored solely by an instructor and the contents,
mode of teaching, pedagogy that happened to be administered single-handedly by the
instructor. Thus, reliability and effectiveness were at risk most of the time. However,
in those language laboratories, the students could actively perform in group activities
such as role-plays, group discussions, and other speaking activities. Whereas, “[d]ue
to advanced technology, today’s language labs can both work with this software only
language laboratory solutions and deliver media synchronously. New language labs
use the content that is much more affluent. These contents are self-authored or free.
These include audio, video, flash-based games, internet, etc. Students and teachers
are more engaged with a high speed and variety of materials and activities. A fixed
network has gone and teachers and students can now access and work from these new
“cloud” labs. These labs refer to the use of “network-based services, which appear
to be provided by real server hardware and are in fact served up by virtual hardware,
simulated by software running on one or more real machines. Such virtual servers do
not physically exist and can, therefore, be moved around and scaled up (or down) on
the fly without affecting the end-user -arguably, rather like a cloud”. Cloud allows
students and teachers to work on their own devices at any time and anywhere” [22].
8.4.5 Roles of a Digital Language Laboratory
In order to learn any modern language, a learner has to master the four fundamental
communication skills, such as,
1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing.
A digital language laboratory boosts the listening skill the best with its advanced
auditory system with the best possible contents. It teaches the students to learn
phonology and phonetics that also aid in their speaking competencies. However,
the lack of enough practice with the peer groups and unavailability of the class-
room activities does not prepare a student to battle the speaking incompetencies in
real-life scenarios. Although, reading comprehension is mastered adequately by a
digital language laboratory, whether the learner masters the loud reading or not solely
depends on the quality of AI programming and the utilization of apt technologies in
the digital language laboratory, such as headsets and microphones, etc. However, to
boost writing competency, the digital language laboratory takes a vital role. Unfortu-
nately, the restlessness of the new generation has made the millennials less reflective
and more lethargic towards writing.
Motivating the students towards adding a flair for writing is also a challenge that
modern technology has to fit in with.
8.5 A Survey
A survey [23] was administered by me on the current First-year B.Tech. students

(125 in number) (i.e. AY 2019–20) of RCC Institute of Information Technology,
Kolkata on English Language Laboratory. The purpose of the survey was to find out
the effectiveness and the setbacks of the language laboratory as a teaching–learning
aid and whether the regular language laboratory of the institute can be upgraded to
the digital language laboratory.
8.5.1 Language Laboratory at RCC Institute of Information

Technology
Presently, the RCC Institute of Information Technology possesses one Language

Laboratory with two consecutive rooms dedicated to the laboratory. The first labo-
ratory has one instructor’s console connected to the seats in the gallery through the
LAN. There are headsets with mic for the students to communicate with the teacher.
There is, however, a public address facility is also available. The other laboratory has
altogether a different setup with long semi-circular couches for the students and a
dais with the computer system for the teacher. The students may participate in quiz or
poling using handsets connected to the system through LAN. Both the laboratories
have projectors with large screens and sound amplifiers with loudspeakers for public
address mode. The whiteboards are also used as an aid. The projectors are used to
aid the visual and audio-visual learners. The second laboratory, however, is apt for
kinesthetic learning along with visual and auditory learning.
The survey was conducted on the first-year students of the departments of Elec-
tronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Applied Elec-
tronics and Instrumentation Engineering. In the current semester (i.e. 2019–20
Even Semester), they are taking a mandatory course framed by MAKAUT, titled,
“Language Laboratory” that is supposed to prepare the students to acquire “basic
proficiency in English including reading and listening comprehension, writing and
speaking skills” [24].
158 A. Basu
8.5.2 The Survey Questionnaire
The following questionnaire was designed for the survey:
Questionnaire 1: A Survey on the Effectiveness of the Language

Laboratory
• Your gender is
a. Female b. Male c. Other…
• Your age is
a. 17 b. 18 c. 19 d. Other…
• Your personality type is (you may choose more than one)
a. Introvert b. Extrovert c. Feeling d. Judging e. Thinking f. Reflecting
• Your learning style(s) is/are
a. Visual (prefer video learning) b. Auditory (prefer audio learning) c.
Text (prefer reading books) d. Kinesthetic (prefer learning through physical
activities) e. Other…
• Your learning pace is
a. Slow b. Moderate c. Fast
• You had a
a. English-medium schooling b. Vernacular (first language)-schooling c.
Other…
• You’re strong in (you may choose more than one)
a. Listening b. Speaking c. Reading d. Writing
• Which communication skill is best-learned through the language laboratory,
according to you?
a. Listening b. Speaking c. Reading d. Writing
• Is the language laboratory effective to improve communication skills?
a. Strongly disagree b. Disagree c. Neutral d. Agree e. Strongly agree
• According to you, which learning style is best catered through the Language
Lab?
a. Visual b. Auditory c. Text d. Kinesthetic
• Is the language laboratory effective for slow learners?
a. Strongly disagree b. Disagree c. Neutral d. Agree e. Strongly agree
• Will you prefer having a digital language laboratory in the future?
a. Yes b. No c. Maybe
• Will you prefer having a software only language laboratory (without a
teacher)?
a. Yes b. No c. Maybe
8.5.3 Data Collection and Analysis
Datum 1: Personality types are varied and complex among the learners. The details
are given in Chart 8.1
Datum 2: 72% of the total learners taking the survey prefer visual learning and
36.8% prefer kinesthetic learning. Since one may prefer more than one learning
style, there are students who prefer mixed learning styles including all the learning
styles. However, according to the survey, only 19.2% of students prefer the auditory
learning style (Chart 8.2).
Analysis of Data 1 and 2: The majority of the language learners prefer visual
learning, however, there are learners too who prefer kinesthetic learning style.
However, in a digital language laboratory, the facility of kinesthetic learning or
Chart 8.1 Survey result

160 A. Basu
learning through physical activities is not available. Which, on the contrary, is

adequately catered in a traditional language laboratory set up monitored by a teacher.
Datum 3: Only 20% of the learners consider their speaking skills to be strong and
according to 68.8% of the students, in the traditional language laboratory, speaking
skill is aided adeptly (Charts 8.3 and 8.4).
Analysis: Only a few learners consider their speaking skills to be strong. To master
any language, one has to master the speaking skill. Especially in global corporate
work, communication in English is absolutely essential. However, as the personality
types of the concerned learners are complex, varied, and multiple, a learner needs to
be aided by their preferred learning styles accordingly. As Jenna Melvin has shown
in her paper, each category of the personality type prefers a specific learning style.
As well as, each gender and cultural category has its own preferences. A digital
language laboratory is unable to cater to all kinds of learning strategies, which, on
the contrary, a traditional language laboratory can cater to.

Datum 4: The majority of the learners have a moderate learning pace and 14.4%
of the total population are slow learners. According to 80% of students, though, the
language laboratory is effective for slow learners (Charts 8.5 and 8.6).
Analysis: There are slow to moderate-paced learners who think that the language
laboratory can be useful to them. I prepared a short questionnaire to investigate
the effectiveness of the digital language laboratory and circulated among a handful
of language trainers in West Bengal [25]. According to Dr. Joydeep Banerjee, an
Associate Professor of English at NIT, Durgapur, a digital language laboratory is
quite effective for slow learners. It also helps the weaker section of the students as
the “software (used in the digital language laboratory) is quite updated”, according

162 A. Basu
to him. A similar proposition is given by Dr. Sumana Bandyopadhyay of Netaji

Subhash Open University, Kolkata. Both of them are imminent ELT trainers and
digital language laboratory instructors.
Datum 5: 80% of learners would prefer having a digital language laboratory.
However, 74.4% prefer having an instructor or a human facilitator instead of having
a fully software-only or online digital language laboratory (Charts 8.7 and 8.8).
Analysis: An overwhelming number of the students prefer having a digital language
laboratory in future but very few of them want it to be digitally monitored without
the presence of a human facilitator. The reasons may vary. But, probably from the
learners’ perspectives, the dependence they have on their teachers can never be

replaced by a bot or AI in general. The self-learning model of learning is yet to

be a trend in India.
8.5.4 Challenges of the Digital Language Laboratory

in India and Probable Recommendations
1. Socioeconomic and sociopolitical barriers—Ideally, the digital language labo-

ratory is the need of the hour where English language learning has become
essential. However, the scenario of the Indian education system and the overall
socio-economic and sociopolitical conditions are quite adverse. Urban priva-
tized institutions in metropolitan cities do possess digital language laboratories,
however, in the small towns and rural areas, especially the areas occupied by
minority groups, subalterns and other backward classes, having a digital language
laboratory to learn English is almost an illusion. Where literacy means only the
ability to read the alphabets, count numbers and sign one’s own name, learning
and mastering English with a digitized system seems next to impossible.
Recommendation—Thus, it is to considered how to program and code a digital
language laboratory exclusively for varying purposes and learners coming from
different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
2. The “Burden” of Syllabi in Engineering and Management Studies—For
STEM education and management studies, producing employable students has
been a real challenge for the last two decades. With the rapid technological
growth, advancement in AI, the digital language laboratory serves its role the best
in this scenario. However, the vast ocean of syllabi to be “completed”, learned
and mastered seems overwhelming to both the students and the teachers. English
language learning thus takes the backseat and starts losing the prime focus. Apart
from the institutions and the universities dedicating special courses on English
Language Teaching and/or Linguistics, the digital language laboratory is not fully
utilized.
Recommendation—Therefore, the digital language laboratory has to be
programmed in such a way that learners are not only interested to take the courses
and lessons but also regularly motivated and mentored to give it prime importance.
3. Hindrances in self-directed model of teaching–learning—The self-learning
model of teaching–learning is yet not a success yet to be “digital” India. Although,
with the advancement in MOOCS, the institutions are slowly moving towards
e-learning and digital classrooms, the utilization is yet to be fully discovered.
According to both Dr. Banerjee of NIT Durgapur and Dr. Bandyopadhyay of
Netaji Subhash Open University, Kolkata, a software-only language laboratory
is more effective than instructor-administered traditional language laboratory.
However, where, Dr. Banerjee is all championing the software-only language
laboratory, Dr. Bandyopadhyay thinks that “some lessons are to be mastered
with the help of an instructor”.
164 A. Basu
Recommendation—So, it is better to assign a well-trained instructor to design

the course modules, provide thoroughly researched and useful course materials
and also teach the course at the digital language laboratory whenever necessary.
4. Absence of emotional intelligence—Besides, in a world full of hatred and
violence, along with I.Q., one needs E.Q. as well. Emotional intelligence is what is
required to save humanity. Whether digital pedagogy can replace a human facili-
tator in the early years of education is a million-dollar question. Where electronics
are literally stealing childhood, can the replacement of human teachers ever be
a machine or multimedia? In a paper titled, “The Study of Different Compo-
nents of Teacher Competencies and their Effectiveness on Student Performance
(According to Students)”, Dr. Asha Thakur and Monika Shekhawat write that, a
teacher has to have:
A. Professional competencies [26]
B. Social competencies
C. Personal competencies
D. Pedagogical competencies.
Recommendations—Thus, digital pedagogy has to embody all four above-
mentioned components for an effective teaching–learning program. Sadly, apart
from the professional and pedagogical competencies, a digital language labora-
tory does not have social and personal competencies. Therefore, artificial intelli-
gence has to be programmed accordingly so that along with intelligent quotient,
a young mind is also equipped with an adept amount of emotional quotient.
Empathy, compassion, love, and kindness are the key components of an emotion-
ally mature mind. It is of utmost importance to inculcate these qualities in young
minds for building a healthy society.
5. Ever-changing job market—In the ever-changing scenario of the job market
in India, it becomes essential to adopt and accommodate such a curriculum that
not only encompasses but also enhances the professional development of the
students.
Recommendation—Digital language laboratory certainly enables the students
to access study materials already available in the portal; however, monitoring
them to select the most suitable ones is not an easy task. The digital language
laboratory should have been programmed accordingly.
8.6 Scope for the Future Development of Digital English

Language Laboratory: Role of Artificial Intelligence
Marina Dodigovic, in her seminal work Artificial Intelligence in Second Language

Learning: Raising Error Awareness [27] argues that the adult language learners are
capable of learning a second language other than their mother tongue with the help
of AI or artificial intelligence. According to her, “the ‘artificial intelligence’ or AI

can deal with new problems, once it has learnt the general principle” contrary to
that of other “non-intelligent” data processors as these programs are “most of the
time equipped with a finite number of alternative paths or procedures”. “Thus, given
the data, we can easily predict which route the program will follow. Thus, artificial
intelligence can be used to systematically correct a student’s typical errors to improve
language. For example, in order to process a student’s erroneous sentence, a non-
intelligent program would have to have the exact same erroneous form hard-wired
into its system. For the same kind of error, committed in a different sentence, using
different vocabulary, this program would again have to have the exact wording pre-
stored in its memory. However, an intelligent program would only have to have a
rule the student uses for such erroneous production. The program could theoretically
recognize the same type of error in any context and with any vocabulary. For this very
reason artificial intelligence could possibly become the student’s and the teacher’s
best ally in dealing with second language errors” [27].
This book essentially deals with the error correction techniques through artifi-
cial intelligence. Installation of the suggested computational methods in the digital
language laboratory will ensure the students self-learn through trial and error
methods. Besides, this method may be beneficial for self-motivated adult learners
but a major percentage of students depending solely on the educators or facilita-
tors, this may not be that useful. On the other hand, AI-powered online language
learning softwares like Gloossika and Duolingo, makes the learner a fluent speaker
of the concerned language in no time [28]. Besides, these user-friendly, personalized
exercise-based have proven much effective for the students of remote learning or
virtual laboratory learning. However, given the present scenario of Indian educa-
tion system, India is perhaps not yet ready for a fully digitized education. Blended
learning or as Oxford Dictionary puts it, “a style of education in which students learn
via electronic and online media as well as traditional face-to-face teaching” [29] can
be more effective to accommodate the students from all sectors of the society, of all
age groups and genders.
Post-COVID-19 era will be altogether an unprecedentedly new experience for our
planet Earth. Economists all over the world are catastrophizing the global economy
[30]. The impact of the economic crisis will be massive on our lives. Unemploy-
ment may rise greatly. Given this situation, a third-world country like ours may need
much longer time to heal completely. Restoration of the education system, rather
progressing it towards betterment will need time. Meanwhile, the educationalists,
researchers, teachers, and students together can work together tirelessly to adopt new
educational technology that will be open-accessible, free or less-costly, extremely
useful, inclusionary, and empowering encompassing everyone who engages them-
selves in language learning. Digital English language laboratory has a long way to
go with a constant gradual upgradation in content and form with the help of AI and
other thoughtful, sensible decisions made by the education sector of India will enable
a new era of digital pedagogy in language learning.
166 A. Basu
8.7 Conclusion
Considering all the criteria, I would like to conclude that given the digital language
laboratory is programmed to accommodate all the varying and complex learning
styles of each learner, caters to all the linguistic and paralinguistic features of the
language learning process, induces emotional intelligence into the young learners’
minds and prepares the undergraduates and graduating students to face the challenges
of the job market in India—the digital language laboratory is the need of the hour in
India. However, the self-accessing, software-only digital language laboratory cannot
be completely introduced to all the sectors of Indian educational institutions at this
moment. Blended teaching–learning could be introduced to both school and college
levels assigning them with well-trained educators and course moderators constantly
striving to excel in this field. However, in the new decade, with the rapidly changing
socioeconomic and sociopolitical condition of the Indian subcontinent, with the fast-
approaching status of “Digital India” [31], installation of AI-infused digital language
laboratories in all the educational organizations beginning from the elementary level
to the universities and advanced institutes will become inevitable. It is, however, to
remember that “Digital Pedagogy is precisely not about using digital technologies
for teaching and, rather, about approaching those tools from a critical pedagogical
perspective. So, it is as much about using digital tools thoughtfully as it is about
deciding when not to use digital tools, and about paying attention to the impact of
digital tools on learning” [32].
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Chapter 9
Overview and Future Scope of SWAYAM
in the World of MOOCS: A Comparative
Study with Reference to Major
International MOOCS
Madhu Agarwal Agnihotri and Arkajyoti Pandit
Abstract In the present competitive social structure characterized by multitasking,

the need for additional qualifications apart from traditional degrees has become a
necessity both for students as well as professionals. However, time being a limiting
factor, gaining additional specializations is indeed cumbersome and calls for home
schooling or schooling at the aspirant’s convenience. In this backdrop, the signifi-
cant solution lies in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). MOOCS are a host of
courses delivered online with usually free access to anyone, anywhere, anytime and
can be studied at the user’s own convenience and choice. In the world of MOOCS
which started flourishing throughout the world from 2012, India is relatively a new
player which has just significantly stepped in the scenario in 2017 with the introduc-
tion of SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds).
SWAYAM is an online academic resource platform sponsored and developed by The
Ministry of Human Resource Development and based on the principles of “access,
equality and quality”: [1]. The primary objective of SWAYAM is to deliver education
to the remotest of places and the less advantaged groups of people who are yet not
touched by digital revolution, [1]. However, with the advent and prosperity of digi-
tization, when the world is becoming virtually smaller every second and quality
resources are increasingly becoming freely accessible, it is necessary to have a
comparative study of SWAYAM with other International MOOCS to understand
the future viability, sustainability and further scope of the same. In this chapter
efforts have been made to present a relative position of SWAYAM in the current
context by comparing it with some of the major international MOOC players such as
‘Courseera’, ‘edX’ and ‘Future learn’. It is equally important to address the futures
scope of SWAYAM and the limitations that it faces as compared to other MOOCS.
SWAYAM being very new in such a venture, efforts are made to point out the areas of
improvement with the help of comparative analysis on various parameters like ease
M. A. Agnihotri
Department of Commerce, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, India
e-mail: madhu.cal@gmail.com
A. Pandit (B)
University of Calcutta, NET-JRF, Kolkata, India
e-mail: wrivu.amiarko@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_9
170 M. A. Agnihotri and A. Pandit
of access, time effectiveness, cost effectiveness to mention a few. The objective of

this paper is to find ways in which SWAYAM can attain a position of being a major
MOOC from a novice player.
Keywords SWAYAM · MOOCS · Quality resource · Effectiveness · Ease of

access · Digitization · Online · Education
9.1 Introduction
Massive Open Online courses (MOOCS) are freely accessible online resource plat-
forms consisting of various courses that can be availed by anyone, anywhere and at
any time without necessarily having any bureaucratic obligations for course comple-
tion. They aim at building an interactive user network or forum that consists of
not only scholars and students but also professionals, entrepreneurial vendors and
most importantly elite universities. It’s no less than a revolution in the education
system where the parcel of quality education is being freely and aptly delivered to
the remotest of the sector riding on the wheels of digitization.
India being the sixth largest economy in the world but with a striking figure of
23% of the world’s poverty dwelling in the country, the need for free MOOCS in
India is of utmost significance. SWAYAM is a significant step to such a venture and
hence the viability and its further expansion need to be done urgently not only to
increase the quantity of education sphere but also develop the quality of the same. The
rich diversity of the Indian democracy is not an exception to the Indian Educational
scenario. This diversity can only be properly addressed by imparting education in a
personalized manner. For the very reason it is necessary that Computational Intel-
ligence mechanisms like Artificial Intelligence, Data mining be incorporated in the
SWAYAM system. It will not only help in fetching greater degree of details of the
user of the MOOC, but also design more interactive and automated courses as per the
user’s need. The current paper after analyzing the major aspects of SWAYAM and
other MOOCS, proposes a model of application of Computational Intelligence in the
online courses. SWAYAM being a novice in the world of MOOCS, it is necessary
that we compare it with other major players to find out the scope of improvement and
increase the horizon of education from a national sphere to an international outreach.
As once pointed out by Noble Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, “Education brings social
benefits that improve the situation of the poor”, the free and apt education reach of
SWAYAM is a small step towards fostering the undiscovered values of education and
consequently build an economy based on welfare, knowledge and self-sufficiency
[2].
9 Overview and Future Scope of SWAYAM in the World of MOOCS … 171
9.2 Literature Review
The significance of MOOCs in recent scenario is immense and substantive research

has been done on the same. Jaganatthan and Sugundan have portrayed the growth of
Indian MOOCs since its inception [3]. In 2019 World Bank has itself funded and
structured 16 MOOCS. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
of India has published an exclusive list of all the courses offered by SWAYAM in 2019
[4]. Nayek in his paper has efficiently done a survey on the awareness of SWAYAM
among Library and Information Science professionals [5]. Samanta has made an
analytical study of SWAYAM till its formation, concentrating on the quantum of
enrollments in various courses in SWAYAM [6]. Shi et al. in their studies have
provided a structure for pricing of MOOCS [7]. Srivastava and Yadav has discussed
about the awareness of SWAYAM among the youth and the problems they face
while undergoing a course in SWAYAM [8]. The 2018 OpenupEd trend Report on
MOOCS show the recent trend and developments in MOOCS [9]. Jyoti Chauhan in
her research paper tried to present an overview of the MOOCs in India [10]. The
guidelines for developing MOOCS were published by UGC in 2017 which acts as
the primary methodology for developing any MOOC in India. Notable to mention
is the descriptive analysis of the trends and future perspectives of MOOCS provided
by Organization for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD) in 2016
[11]. A significant insight regarding measures that could judge the success of any
MOOC was provided by Jane [12].
9.3 Research Gap
Researchers have been successful in determining the growth of SWAYAM along

with MOOCS since their inception but none of them have pointed out the areas
which contribute to the growth of any MOOC. The current research paper, first and
foremost tries to identify these parameters which contribute to the success of any
MOOC. It also provides an insight of the performance of SWAYAM in validating the
parameters. The problems faced by users while undergoing a course in SWAYAM
has been pointed out by researchers. There has also been a considerable amount of
discussion on how these issues are not prevalent in major international MOOCS.
However no research points out the remedy to such problems faced by SWAYAM.
With the advent of SWAYAM in 2017, India has just stepped into the world of
MOOCS and researchers have been able to trace its expansion till date. The research
gap lies in the fact that though the horizon of expansion has been traced out but the
steps necessary for SWAYAM to have an International outreach has not been pointed
out. The challenges faced by SWAYAM under the current infrastructure have been
highlighted in a number of researches. Neither of them discusses the reason for such
challenges nor the remedy for the same.
9.4 Need for Comparison of Swayam with Major MOOCS
SWAYAM is one of a kind MOOC designed by the Government of India to increase

the education sphere to the remotest of the villages. This was devised to ‘touch every
single student with digital revolution and develop the habit of e-learning’. Also it
was aimed at offering a variety of courses to a greater population. The illiteracy
rate of India being at 26%, it is urgently necessary to provide quality education to
a greater population at free of cost. This education must be of International Quality
to fasten the development of the people and making them worthy enough to meet
international standards when they arrive at the professional scenario. This is why it
urgently required comparing the quality and structure of SWAYAM with other major
International MOOCS to determine its capability of meeting International Standards
and at the same time determining its role in sustainable development of the domestic
society cohesively. Thus in this backdrop the significant reasons for comparison of
SWAYAM with other MOOCS can be summarized as:
1. Assessing and developing the quality of prevalent educational system to meet
International standards.
2. Increase the horizon and outreach of SWAYAM
3. Optimum utilization of education by fostering choice based education system.
4. To bring about diversity in choice of education.
5. To understand the revenue earning capacity of SWAYAM in comparison to other
International MOOCS.
6. To assess the role of SWAYAM in sustainable development.
9.5 An Overview of Swayam in 2019
The concept of SWAYAM was perceived with the objective of ‘providing the best
teaching and learning resources to all including the most disadvantaged and bridge
the digital gap between the students who are untouched by digital revolution’ [1]
and foster the habit of e-learning. This is in parlance with the objective of MOOCS
which tends to provide free educational resources, mentoring and tutorial to users at
their convenience.
SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is an
online platform for providing teaching and learning resources mostly free of cost.
This has been developed by the Human Resource Development [HRD] Ministry,
Govt. of India and implemented in the year 2017. The platform offers courses
ranging from 9th Standard to Post Graduation [13]. The courses are designed by
eminent Institutions of the country and are maintained by nine esteemed National
Coordinators.
The National Coordinators are selected by the HRD Ministry. They are responsible
for designing course content, update and maintenance of the same. These National
Coordinators have local Chapters across the country. They act as an Intermediary
between the users and the National Coordinators. These Local Chapters are famously
known as SWAYAM-NPTEL Local Chapter [1]. The Local Chapters is a one stop
centre for all information regarding the courses offered by the respective National
Coordinators, the duration of the courses as well as the starting and end date of a
course. Any technical glitch faced by a user while undergoing a course online can
be redressed by the Local chapters.
The necessary certification for completion of a course maintained by a National
coordinator is provided by the Coordinator through the Local Chapters. At present
SWAYAM—NPTEL local chapters are being set up in colleges [after being approved
by the management] by the coordinators. These chapters are under the supervision of
a faculty member of the college who is known as SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT
[SPOC] [1]. The SPOC is informed by the coordinator about all the latest initiatives
and updates of courses. The role of SPOC is to identify suitable mentors for a course
who can track the student’s progress and clear doubts. The SPOC is also responsible
for intimating the number of students appearing for an exam for gaining a certificate
of completion from the National Coordinator. The SPOC also informs the National
coordinators about the problems faced by the students of a particular chapter and
seeks remedy for the same.
The evaluation mechanism exclusively for courses that are paid up and certified is
done by external examiners or distinguished educationist recruited by the National
Coordinators. A SPOC cannot evaluate the papers of students of his or her local
chapter even if he is recruited as an examiner by the National Coordinator. After
evaluation, the successful candidates are handed over certificates by the National
coordinator through the Local Chapters. The Local chapters either physically hand
over the certificates to its enrolled students or dispatch the same to the student’s
address by post.
The Exam centers for conducting a particular exam are also designated by the
national coordinator after taking into account the recommendation regarding the
same from the local chapters. The invigilation process is also controlled by the
Local chapter but the remuneration for the invigilation is provided by The National
Coordinator directly to the invigilator’s bank Account.
The credit facility of a course in SWAYAM is clearly laid down by University
Grants Commission and the quantum of credit to be provided for a course is again
decided by the National Coordinator [14].
The entire hierarchy of the SWAYAM operation is provided in a consolidated
manner in Fig. 9.1.
The entire learning process works in the form of four major aspects. These are
the following:
• Online Tutorial:
Video and Audio content specific to courses are updated for students time to time
or on a one time basis. Besides there are also animations and links to certain other
domains so that students can be explained concepts in a lucid manner [3].
• Online Content:
Fig. 9.1 Hierarchy of SWAYAM
The SWAYAM program offers its students mostly free of cost downloadable
contents containing study material, exercise, research work, e-books, hypothesis,
historical background and other anecdotal information. However there are certain
contents that are exclusively available for downloading only when a user pays a
certain amount of fee for acquiring a certificate of completion [1].
• Evaluation:
Evaluation happens in two ways:
– First there is a provision for Self evaluation where a user can appear in Mock
examinations containing a host of questions from the well devised question
bank of the course.
– Secondly the user can pay a fee and opt for a certificate for which they have
to appear in an Examination conducted by the respective National Coor-
dinator who is responsible for maintenance of the user’s course. These
Examinations are conducted in SWAYAM approved centers on certain pre
mentioned dates. The user can appear for the examination only when he has
completed the course in the prescribed duration and has paid a fee for availing
a certificate of completion of his designated course.
• Doubt Clearing session:
There is no 24/7 system on doubt clearing. However on request or on certain
intervals there remains a provision for clearing doubts where student can email
their doubts to the mentor and the Coordinator and his team responds with an
appropriate solution. However till date there is no provision for video conferencing
or face to face doubt clearing.
Since it is a government of India Initiative the HRD ministry has also provided
certain pre-defined credit facility for the users of the courses. These are developed
by the UGC and provide certain benefits to the users of the courses [14].
9.6 Research Objective
1. To collect details about SWAYAM, an Indian MOOC.

2. To collect details about major International MOOCS.
3. To identify parameters of comparison among SWAYAM and International
MOOCS.
4. To do content analysis to understand the position of SWAYAM.
5. To propose a basic model for integrating computational intelligence with
MOOCs.
9.7 Research Methodology
The research is exploratory in nature. It is based on the secondary data available on

the HRD ministry SWAYAM website [www.swayam.gov.in]. The research demands
the data about the various MOOCS offered at National and International panorama.
The details [like course name, subject duration] about MOOCS on offer have to be
collected from relevant website and then content analysis is conducted on the data.
The research will analyze the content of each of these MOOCS [preferably the largest
players based on no. of users] [4], know about its course design and structure and
compare it with SWAYAM.
In order to achieve the objective of the study, the following steps have been
adopted:
1. Collect parameters that describes SWAYAM, Indian MOOC

2. Collect parameters that describes major International MOOCS
3. Identify the parameters of comparison among SWAYAM and International
MOOCS
4. Perform the Content Analysis of the selected parameters for the selected inter-
national MOOCS and SWAYAM whose details are available on websites to
understand the relative position of SWAYAM.
5. Identify the scope for integrating the concept of artificial intelligence and machine
learning in MOOCs for learners.
The parameters of comparisons considered on the basis of the information avail-

able on websites about the MOOCS. Although the parameters selection may vary
from researcher to researcher, the significant parameters identified in this study are
mentioned below:
• Ease of access
• Ease of understanding
• Diversity of educational streams
• Availability of downloadable contents
• Evaluation mechanism for users
• Cost effectiveness on part of the user
• Time effectiveness on part of the user
• Mobile accessibility
• Career advancement
• Credit transfer framework
• Placement Assistance
• Dropout rate
The realm of courses analyzed is limited to its relevance at the Post Doctorate,
Doctorate, Post Graduate and Under Graduate level. Credit facility of such courses
in accordance with the prevalent professional courses is also taken into account.
The entire analysis is done by considering how SWAYAM performs out of
40 marks in comparison with other MOOCS. Certain factors were identified
that are exclusively responsible for the success of a parameter. The rationale for
selecting the parameters and the underlying factors are discussed in detail in
the ‘RATIONALE FOR SELECTING PARAMETERS’ section discussed just
after the ‘RESEARCH METHODOLOGY’ section.
Each underlying factor contributing to the success of a parameter is given a mark
each. Only if a MOOC adhere to all the factors of these parameters then only the
MOOC is awarded maximum marks. In case a MOOC does not satisfy a factor,
the respective MOOC has not been awarded any marks for the same. Naturally not
satisfying a certain factor will result in low scoring of MOOCS in that parameter.
Vertical summation of all the parameters is done to understand the performance
of a MOOC entirely after encompassing all the parameters. Horizontal summa-
tion is done to understand the factors and parameters that are provided by most
of the MOOCS. It is assumed that the Parameters with value of horizontal summa-
tion greater than the Mean of Total scores of horizontal summation obtained by
each parameter are CRUCIAL PARAMETERES as they are provided by all the
MOOCS.
In case of ‘Diversity of Educational streams’ and ‘Dropout Rate’ the mean of the
parameters are found out and those MOOCs who are having a value greater than or
equal to the mean have been provided a mark each and those below the mean have
been provided 0.
9.8 Rationale for Choosing Each Parameter and Its

Contributing Factors
The parameters that are chosen for measuring the success of each MOOC is based
on the previous researches and founded on the following reasons:
• Ease of Access
For any MOOC to be successful the first and foremost is the easy accessibility
of it, because until a MOOC platform is not found easily then the accessibility
will be hindered. For ease of access it is utmost necessary that a MOOC has
proper guidelines for access that will act as module for accessing the course,
presence of frequently asked questions [FAQ] so that the common problems and
doubts during access are cleared in real time and a Customer care helpline where
adverse or emergency situations pertaining to individual users can be redressed
easily and conveniently. Besides since MOOC has the objective of providing
education ‘anytime and at anyplace’ [15] therefore 24 h registration is an utmost
necessity.
Any MOOC of International outreach must have a worldwide acceptable
payment mechanism. This helps foreign students to have easy access to the online
courses. This would also provide an impetus for devising courses of International
standard and Global outreach.
• Ease of understanding
A study conducted in the year 2018 for understanding the reason for opting for
MOOCS on 300 students of Punjab Central University shows that majority of the
students feel that often the course content is ambiguous or sometimes difficult to
decipher [8]. However another study conducted by Tony Bates proved that out of
a sample size of 1500 users of MOOCS 50% believe that not all MOOCS add
additional knowledge [16]. They believed it was a repetition of whatever they
learned previously in their traditional degree courses. The two studies clearly
reveal the pattern of students enrolled for MOOCS. There are basically three types
of users who go for MOOCS. The first category wants to gain basic knowledge
about the course because they don’t know anything about it. For them Basic level
courses are necessary. Secondly there are users who want to add something extra
to their knowledge. For them Intermediate level courses are important. Lastly
there are users who want to be expert in that field and want to use their knowledge
practically. For them professional level courses is a necessity. This proves that for
easy understandability of a course it is essential that the courses are bifurcated
into Basic, Intermediate and Professional category.
Any new topic brings with it the inquisitive mind of doubts [2]. MOOC being
an educational platform can’t be an exception. For this on the course question
answer session and detailed information about course content mentioning the
purpose of a course is essential. The world being a place of 6500 languages [16],
It’s not possible for all to communicate only in English. So it’s utmost necessary
that education in MOOC must be pertained in both English and a native

language.
• Diversity in educational streams:
As students have different preferences naturally the higher diversity of courses is
necessary to meet the dynamic and varied choices of the student forum.
• Availability of downloadable contents:
Dr. Jagannath Shankar in his research paper on comparison between Indian and
International MOOCS has shown with evidence that till 2019 internet accessibility
problems are a major challenge for Indian MOOCS [3]. For this it is utmost
necessary that the course content can be downloaded and saved in device and
students do not have to face the problem of logging in online again and again for
studying, particularly at times when internet network is very poor. Downloading
and saving content will not allow any hindrance in studies even at times of poor
connectivity.
However availability of downloadable contents cannot be always free as it requires
huge capital investment from the MOOC. So the factors that contribute to the
success of this parameter are availability of freely downloadable contents, avail-
ability of contents after paid up registration, availability of free downloadable
contents for certain paid up courses. A combination of all three will help the
students to gain knowledge at ease as well as the MOOC to have a cost effective
model.
• Evaluation mechanism:
Assessment in MOOCs is an effective tool for the user to understand the appli-
cability of the knowledge gained. Dr. Marco Kalz in his conference proceeding
highlights certain limitations of the evaluation approaches of MOOCS, particu-
larly in the field of courses that require hands on training [17]. As discussed earlier,
the three major types of students enrolled for a course requires different form of
evaluation mechanism. For professionals willing to learn a course to become an
expert, both self evaluation and terminal evaluation is necessary as he will be
able to judge himself based on the everyday situation he faces and terminal exam-
ination will determine his level of expertise. For basic level users it is important
that they go through a process of Continuous evaluation as for them practice
is utmost necessary to be perfect in something they are learning new. Project
completion, and Project presentation through web is also necessary for hands
on training courses to show the excellence of students in practical life. Education
encompasses interaction and for this video conference presentation is utmost
necessary in MOOCS.
• Cost factor on part of the user:
The cost factor is significant as students are often discouraged from availing a
course with high course fee. It is thus necessary that we understand that the aspects
a student has to pay for are. For a MOOC the basic four factors which usually need
to be paid are availing a course, availing a certificate, availing credit facility,
downloading course content even if paid for course registration.
• Time effectiveness:
MOOC are online courses with the objective of studying anytime and at any where
[4]. However it is often found that the courses offered by MOOC are only for a
certain time of the year or days and not that a student can study a course any time.
This is not in parlance with the objective of MOOCs. For time effectiveness of a
course all the factors pertaining to the overall teaching through MOOCS must be
available 24 h [2]. Thus the factors satisfying this parameter can be summarized as
24 h Video lectureship, 24 h course study access, 24 h mentorship availability.
• Mobile accessibility:
In the era of digital revolution where mobile phones are becoming almost a
replacement of desktops it is essential that MOOCS are easily accessible through
mobile phones. People carry mobile phone almost everywhere and accessibility of
MOOC through mobiles would mean that they will be able to carry their courses
with them anywhere and at any time. This is in parlance with the main objective
of MOOC. Thus for easy access it is desirable that a MOOC is available in the
mobile version through APPs as well as access to the main website through
phones.
• Career advancement:
Any education sphere must have a practical application in the real world otherwise
the need for such education in life is useless. However recognizing such applica-
bility requires practical outlook. Development of this outlook can be easily made
by career counseling by experienced veterans in the concerned field. This devel-
opment of outlook regarding the applicability of a course will help in not only
choosing a career but also progressing in a career by understanding the optimal
usage of knowledge.
Institutional recognition of courses is also important as they act as a standard
for education level like undergraduate level, post graduate level etc.
• Credit transfer framework:
By encouraging credit facility through MOOCs a student is able to pursue a
choice based education system at his own convenience and get an institutional
certification for the same. However the cost of availing such credit facility also
matters and has to be affordable. We have assumed a model with freely available
credit facility courses and paid up credit facility courses will be optimum both
from the point of view of the MOOC providers and student.
• Placement Assistance:
Placement is important in any sphere of education as that will be a way of applying
the gained knowledge to practical life for enhancing the quality of life. A clear
idea about the placement opportunities available after completion of a course is
necessary as that will fasten the process of placement. This is best done through
Placement Assistance and Placement guarantee.
• Dropout rate:
The viability of a MOOC also depends upon the no. of persons completing a
course. If the dropout rate is very high then there can be conclusions that the
particular MOOC is not favored by most of the users.
The entire parameters, the factors contributing to the success of each parameter
and the numerical value assigned to each factor and summing up to each parameter
are shown in Table 9.1.
The Internationally prevalent major MOOCS with which the analysis has been
made are chosen based on the Major MOOCS enlisted by Class Central, a website
monitoring the pattern of International MOOCS. Based on their review the major
MOOCS chosen for the analysis are shown in Table 9.2.
9.9 Analysis and Findings
The research has been done based on the process mentioned above and the analysis
is shown in the form of both numerical and graphical analysis. A detailed theoretical
analysis has also been provided for each parameter of comparison and the areas
of improvement or the areas where SWAYAM is ahead of all other courses is also
mentioned in it. Thus to summarize, the entire analysis and findings, the section has
been divided into four categories namely:
• Numerical Analysis
• Theoretical Explanation
• Graphical Explanation
• Summarized position of SWAYAM with scope of improvement
9.9.1 Numerical Analysis:
The entire numerical analysis is based on the research methodology and shows how
much does each MOOC score in context to the parameters and the underlying factors
as discussed in Table 9.1. The entire analysis is shown in Table 9.3.
The entire Numerical Analysis has been summarized to form Table 9.4. Here the
scores obtained by each MOOC after numerical analysis has been summarized.
It is worthy to note that out of the 7 MOOCS chosen out of the world SWAYAM
ranks 4th . This may portray that SWAYAM is far lagging behind. This image is
partially true and the reasons for the same have been discussed in the ‘Graph of
Numerical Analysis’and ‘Theoretical Explanation’ section. This also paves for
understanding the future scope of SWAYAM and the areas where SWAYAM needs
to improve.
9.9.1.1 Graph of Numerical Analysis
As discussed in detail in Table 9.4 the Numerical Analysis speaks volumes about
the position of SWAYAM in the international context. It is clear that out of the
Table 9.1 Table showing Parameters, factors underlying the success of each parameter and the
numerical Value represented by them
Parameters For Factors contributing to Numerical value Maximum numerical
comparison the success of the assigned to each factor value contributed by a
parameter parameter
Ease of access Presence of well 1 6
defined guidelines for
access to the course
Presence of Frequently 1
Asked questions
(FAQ)
Proper customer care 1
helpline
Less than 4 steps 1
involved in registration
Provision for 24 h 1
registration
Worldwide payment 1
mechanism in any
currency
Ease of Bifurcation of course 1 4
understanding into Basic,
Intermediate and
Professional category
Provision for on the 1
course question
answer session
Provision for 1
delivering lecture both
in native language and
English
Detailed information 1
regarding Course
content and Credit
facility offered by
each course
Diversity of The mean of the 1 1
educational streams parameters are found
out and those MOOCs
who are having a value
greater than or equal
to the mean have been
provided a mark each
and those below the
mean have been
provided 0
(continued)

parameter parameter
Availability of Freely downloadable 1 3
downloadable contents
contents Paid downloadable 1
contents
Free downloadable 1
contents only for paid
up courses
Evaluation Terminal evaluation 1 5
mechanism for users Continuous evaluation 1
For Courses which
require hands on Project presentation 1
experience: through web
Project completion 1
and showcase
Self evaluation 1
Evaluation Terminal Evaluation 1 5
mechanism for users Continuous evaluation 1
For courses which do
not require hands on Project completion 1
experience: and showcase
Video conference 1
presentation
Self evaluation 1
Cost factor on part of Payment for availing 1 4
the user certificate
(Analysis for Payment for availing 1
determining the credit facility
degree of freely
available resources) Payment for availing 1
courses
Payment for 1
downloading contents
even if paid for the
course
Time effectiveness 24 h video lectureship 1 3
24 h course study 1
access
Mentorship 1
availability 24/7
Mobile accessibility Mobile app 1 2
(continued)

parameter parameter
Website access from 1
phone
Career advancement Institution recognized 1 2
courses
Career counseling 1
Credit facility Freely available credit 1 2
facility
Paid up credit facility 1
Placement assistance Placement guarantee 1 2
Placement assistance 1
Dropout Rate The mean of the 1 1
parameters are found
out and those MOOCs
who are having a value
greater than or equal
to the mean have been
provided a mark each
and those below the
mean have been
provided 0
Total numerical values of all the parameters taken together 40
Table 9.2 Table showing

Name of the MOOC Year of origin Country of origin
MOOCS chosen for analysis,
their country and year of Coursera 2012 United States of
origin America
edX 2012 United States of
America
Future Learn 2012 United Kingdom
XuetangX 2013 China
MexicoX 2015 Mexico
MiriadaX 2012 Spain
SWAYAM 2017 India
seven MOOCS selected, SWAYAM ranks 4th and is lagging a lot behind the major
players like Coursera and edX. The reason for such a position of SWAYAM has been
discussed in detail in the ‘Theoretical explanation’ part of the chapter (Fig. 9.2).
Table 9.3 Table showing Numerical analysis of the performance of MOOCS and SWAYAM
Parameters MOOCS Total
with Coursera edX Future XuetangX MexicoX MiriadaX SWAYAM horizontal
underlying learn summation
factors
Ease of access
Presence of 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 6
well defined
guidelines for
access to the
course
Presence of 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 5
frequently
asked
questions
(FAQ)
Proper 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 3
customer care
helpline
Less than 4 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 6
steps involved
in registration
Provision for 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
24 h
registration
(continued)
9.9.2 Theoretical Explanation
The theoretical explanation provides a detailed analysis of the MOOCS and provides
an in depth knowledge about the areas where SWAYAM lacks behind other courses
and the reason for the same. It also proposes certain measures to overcome this
hurdle. The explanation is divided based on the 13 Parameters that are considered to
be mostly affecting the success of SWAYAM.
• Ease of Access:
In this category we find that SWAYAM has scored 5 out of total 6 marks. Though
this is a good score but surely there is scope of improvement. SWAYAM lacks a
worldwide payment mechanism which is very much an essential for foreigners to
enroll in SWAYAM. Unless and until students from other countries are encouraged
to join SWAYAM international exposure of SWAYAM is not possible and hence
the impetus to develop courses of international standard will be missing.
It is an urgent requirement that SWAYAM develops a worldwide payment mech-
anism and this international exposure will help SWAYAM get more foreign
enrollments and increase the base of its users which it lacks very much.
• Ease of understanding:

factors
Worldwide 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
payment
mechanism in
any currency
Total 5 5 4 5 2 4 5 30
Ease of understanding
Bifurcation of 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
course into
basic,
intermediate
and
professional
category
on the course
question
answer
session
(continued)
SWAYAM has scored just half of the maximum marks allotted for this category.
Ease of understanding is inevitably a significant factor for success of a MOOC.
SWAYAM does not provide a bifurcation of the courses into basic, intermediate
and professional level. It must be noted that there are basically three types of
users who go for MOOCS. The first category wants to gain basic knowledge
about the course because they don’t know anything about it. For them Basic level
courses are necessary. Secondly there are users who want to add something extra
to their knowledge. For them Intermediate level courses are important. Lastly
there are users who want to be expert in that field and want to use their knowledge
practically. For them professional level courses is a necessity. SWAYAM does not
offer such bifurcation and have to work on it.
The personal touch to any course is important and verbal question answer session
is a way to foster the same. SWAYAM does not have that in comparison to other
MOOCS like Coursera and edX.
• Diversity of educational streams:
SWAYAM has a good amount of diversity in the courses they offer. However it
does lag behind Coursera and edX. It may be suggested that SWAYAM increases
its diversity a little more with more courses, particularly at the under graduate
level.
• Evaluation Mechanism for users:

factors
delivering
lecture both in
native
language and
English
Detailed 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
information
regarding
course content
and credit
facility
offered by
each course
Total 3 2 2 3 3 1 2 16
Diversity of 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 3
educational
streams
Availability of downloadable contents
Freely 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2
downloadable
contents
(continued)
It has been found out that though SWAYAM has a pretty fair system of Terminal
examination but in case of courses that require hands o training SWAYAM is
far behind as it does not have a mechanism for Project Showcase or Project
completion.
These issues need serious attention.
• Cost effectiveness on part of the user:
This is a field where SWAYAM fairs well. Though SWAYAM does not have
provision for free courses with both credit facility and certificate together but it
does have a provision for free courses with certificates. It may be suggested that
SWAYAM can introduce more free courses with credit facility to reach a greater
population.
• Time effectiveness:
It is worthy to note that SWAYAM does not have a single course which can be
taken up and completed any time or any place. The main aim of MOOC is to
provide courses so that users can complete it at their own convenience. But such
provision is lacking in case of SWAYAM.
• Mobile accessibility:

factors
Paid 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
downloadable
contents
Free 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
downloadable
contents only
for paid up
courses
Total 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 10
Evaluation mechanism for users for courses that require hands on experience
Terminal 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
evaluation
Continuous 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 4
evaluation
Project 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
presentation
through web
Project 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
completion
and showcase
Self 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
evaluation
(continued)
It is worthy to mention in an era where mobile phone are placing desktops Mobile
accessibility is an important factor as it is more handy to carry and easy to access
anytime. SWAYAM scores in parlance with most other MOOCS providing both
an APP as well as mobile accessibility.
• Career Advancement:
In the century predominated by huge demand for multitasking, MOOCS are
a savior as they provide ample opportunity for gaining additional degrees and
expertise in parallel to traditional ones.
SWAYAM though has certain courses that are recognized by a host of institutions
but it does not provide any career counseling. Often students find it difficult to
choose the career path after they have completed a course online from SWAYAM.
• Credit Facility:
SWAYAM scores relatively good in this aspect as UGC has given a proper frame-
work for it. Since it is government sponsored and recognized no institution can
decline the credits earned through SWAYAM.

factors
Total 4 4 2 2 2 3 3 20
Evaluation mechanism for users for courses which do not require hands on experience
Terminal 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
evaluation
Continuous 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 4
evaluation
Project 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
completion
and showcase
Video 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
conference
presentation
Self 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
evaluation
Total 4 5 2 2 2 3 3 21
Cost factor on part of the user
Payment for 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 6
availing
certificate
(continued)
However there must be certain scholarships to provide such credit facility and
course completion expenses for financially poor students and the disadvantaged
group.
• Placement assistance:
Any education must have a proper channel for its utility in the practical world. It
must carter to the job sector. For this it is highly necessary that the educational
institutions must have placement assistance scheme if not a placement guarantee.
It is sad to say that SWAYAM offers none.
• Dropout rate:
The dropout rate is very high in case of students enrolled in SWAYAM. It was
noted in 2018 that out of 1.8 million users only 0.6 million20 has completed the
education. This can be due to language barriers, lack of 24 h course access or
difficulty in understanding.
A deeper analysis is required to understand the finer aspects contributing to the
current position of SWAYAM and areas where it needs improvement or already ahead
in the competition. This paves the way for a graphical representation of certain aspects
of the MOOCS.

factors
Payment for 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
availing credit
facility
Payment for 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
availing
courses
Payment for 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
downloading
contents even
if paid for the
course
Total 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 14
Time effectiveness
24 h video 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
lectureship
24 h course 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 2
study access
Mentorship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
availability
24/7
(continued)
9.9.3 Graphical Representation
In spite of the Numerical analysis covering a host of parameters influencing the

success of MOOCS a graphical representation summarizes the same. Not only this,
there certain other factors that may not have a quantitative influence but do qualita-
tively influence the success of a MOOC. In this backdrop this section represents three
aspects of the MOOCs in the form of Graphical Analysis. They are the following:
• Year on Year Trend Analysis for Revenue Earned
• Graph for total no. of UG and PG courses offered
• Graph for total no. of users as registered as on 2019
• Summary Table and Graph for Horizontal summation analysis of Parameters
discussed in Table 9.3
Under this category the revenue earning capacity for each of the MOOCS over
a three year period starting from 2016 and ending on 2018 has been analyzed and
a year on year trend analysis for the same has been given. We find that the highest
earning capacity has been that of Coursera (140 million USD). SWAYAM has been
earning revenues at 72 million USD in 2017 and 80 million USD in 2018 which is

factors
Total 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 7
Mobile accessibility
Mobile App 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 6
Website 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
access from
phone
Total 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 15
Career advancement
Institution 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
recognized
courses
Career 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
counseling
Total 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 9
Credit transfer framework
Freely 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 2
available
credit facility
Paid up credit 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
facility
(continued)
greater than MexicoX, Futurelearn and MiriadaX. The trend analysis of SWAYAM
has also an upward slope that indicated that not only SWYAM is earning revenue
above some major MOOCS but also it has been increasing the revenue earned each
year starting from 2017 (Fig. 9.3).
From this analysis we can say that SWAYAM being a novice in the world of
MOOCS has relatively been doing well. However there is indeed room for improve-
ment as there are other MOOCS that are doing hugely well. This improvement can
be brought by reaching a greater sphere of users by overcoming language barriers
and other internet facility problems (Fig. 9.4).
The graph shows the amount of Undergraduate and Post graduate courses offered
by the major MOOCS of the world and the position of SWAYAM in this regard.
We find that SWAYAM offers a relatively fair amount of courses as compared to
MexicoX and MiradaX is concerned but lacks way behind edX and future Learn
particularly in the sphere of under graduate courses. In this regard we may say that
though SWAYAM provides a fair amount of PG courses but it needs to increase the
realm of Under Graduate courses to become a major international Player (Fig. 9.5).
The total no. of users registered till 2019 represents a favorability of users towards a
certain MOOC. This parameter enhances the viability of the MOOC because the more

factors
Total 1 1 1 1 2 0 2 8
Placement assistance
Placement 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
guarantee
Placement 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 3
assistance
Total 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 4
Drop out rate 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
Total 29 28 20 24 16 18 23
performance
of MOOCS
out of 40
(sum total of
grey cells)
Rank (based 1st 2nd 5th 3rd 7th 6th 4th
on
performance
out of 40)
the no. of users the greater is the revenue earning capacity and the more sustainable
it will be.
We found out that SWAYAM accounts for the least number of registrations. This
can be due to the recent launch of SWAYAM as compared to other MOOCS. But
in order to be more viable in the industry of MOOCS it is desirable that SWAYAM
expand its horizon. This can be done by proper and rigorous advertisement, mass
awareness and introduction of more on demand courses.
9.9.4 Summary Table and Graph for Horizontal Summation

Analysis of Parameters Discussed in Table 9.4
The Horizontal summation analysis is important because it is necessary to know how

SWAYAM performs in respect to the CRUCIAL PARAMETERES as identified
through Table 9.5 and Graph of Horizontal summation. It is assumed that the
Parameters with value of horizontal summation greater than the Mean of Total
scores of horizontal summation obtained by each parameter are CRUCIAL
PARAMETERES.
From the graph the Crucial Parameters identified are the following (Fig. 9.6):
• Ease of Access [P1]
Table 9.4 Summary table of scores obtained by MOOCS

Sr. no. Parameters MOOCS
Coursera edX Future XuetangX MexicoX MiriadaX SWAYAM
learn
P1 Ease of 5 5 4 5 2 4 5
access
P2 Ease of 3 2 2 3 3 1 2
understanding
P3 Diversity of 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
educational
streams
P4 Availability 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
of
downloadable
contents
P5 Evaluation 4 4 2 2 2 3 3
mechanism
for courses
that require
hands on
training
P6 Evaluation 4 5 2 2 2 3 3
mechanism
for courses
that do not
require hands
on training
P7 Cost factor on 3 2 2 2 1 2 2
part of the
user
P8 Time 2 2 1 1 0 0 1
effectiveness
on part of the
user
P9 Mobile 2 2 2 1 2 2 2
accessibility
P10 Career 2 1 2 1 1 1 1
advancement
P11 Credit 1 1 1 1 2 0 2
transfer
framework
P12 Placement 1 0 1 2 0 0 0
Assistance
P13 Dropout rate 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Total performance of 29 28 20 24 16 18 23
MOOCS out of 40
Fig. 9.2 Performance of MOOCS based on parameters discussed in Table 9.4
Fig. 9.3 Year on year trend analysis for revenue earned
Fig. 9.4 Total no. of under-graduate and post graduate courses offered
Fig. 9.5 No. of registered users (in millions)
Table 9.5 Summary table for horizontal summation analysis of parameters discussed in Table 9.4
S. No. Parameters of comparison Total of horizontal summation Crucial parameter
as per Table 9.3 identification
P1 Ease of access 30 Crucial parameter
P2 Ease of understanding 16 Crucial parameter
P3 Diversity of educational 3
streams
P4 Availability of downloadable 10
contents
P5 Evaluation mechanism for 20 Crucial parameter
courses that require hands on
training
P6 Evaluation mechanism for 21 Crucial parameter
courses that do not require
hands on training
P7 Cost factor on part of the user 14 Crucial parameter
P8 Time effectiveness on part of 7
the user
P9 Mobile accessibility 15 Crucial parameter
P10 Career advancement 9
P11 Credit transfer framework 8
P12 Placement Assistance 4
P13 Dropout rate 2
Total 159
Mean of Total of Horizontal Summation

Total of Horizontal Summation 159
= = = 12.230
No. of Parameters of Comparison 13
Fig. 9.6 Graph for horizontal summation analysis of parameters discussed in Table 9.4
• Ease of understanding [P2]

• Evaluation mechanism for courses that require hands on training [P5]
• Evaluation mechanism for courses that do not require hands on training [P6]
• Cost factor on part of the user [P7]
• Mobile accessibility [P9]
9.9.4.1 Summarized Position of SWAYAM with Future Scope

of Improvement:
According to the research we believe that SWAYAM has relatively a fair position
in the world of MOOCS as compared to other reputable MOOCS considering the
fact that it has just set its foot marks in the year 2017. However the following
improvements are utterly necessary for reaching an internationally acclaimed stage:
• SWAYAM must provide a worldwide payment mechanism for encouraging and
facilitating foreign students to enroll the courses and hence increase the user base
as well as revenue.
• It must differentiate its courses into Basic, Intermediate and Professional level
with clear details mentioning the purpose of such bifurcation.
• SWAYAM must include a proper live question answer session through video
conferencing for better understanding of the subjects.
• Number of under graduate courses are less as compared to other MOOCs and
hence it must be looked into.
• Evaluation mechanism must include project completion and showcase to foster
practicality of a subject.
• The system of continuous evaluation mechanism must be introduced for better
learning.
• SWAYAM must introduce more free courses with credit facility to reach out the
financially backward class.
• Scholarships for financially poor students can be introduced considering the
falling GDP of the country.
• Courses must have free access 24/7 in order to help the users complete it at his or
her convenience.
• Career counseling must be provided to the students on a mandatory basis
irrespective of the course they undergo.
• SWAYAM must look for sponsorships from elite institutions to increase its revenue
base and also increase its user base by more accessibility towards the courses.
• Placement assistance must be mandatorily given to the students and if possible
placement guarantee. At least the 100 day work scheme of the Government of
India must recognize SWAYAM courses and have provision for placement from
the SWAYAM users.
• Drop out ratio can be lessened by overcoming language barriers and internet
facility. One must be made to understand the Economic benefit of SWAYAM.
9.10 Application of Computational Intelligence in MOOCS
As per the Horizon Report 2019, the key technologies to have greater impact on
teaching and learning practices from the year 2019 to 2022 includes mobile learning,
analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Assistants etc. [18]. AI comprises of the
large number of technologies such as machine learning, data mining, neural networks,
and algorithm. Machine Learning is the method to identify patterns and perform
predictive analysis. Data mining is the way of performing deep analytics on data for
better understanding and forecasting. The dynamic nature of AI has compelled the
education sector along with other significant sectors to explore the relevant opportu-
nities. Imparting education in personalized manner on the basis of learner’s abilities
can bring revolution in the learning process [19]. The digital learning content can
be made smarter by incorporating interesting features such as step-wise learning,
complexity level feedback at every step, hints at every step, key points about the
topic, audio and video demo explanatory lectures, virtual assistants to guide the
learning etc. Intelligent tutoring system can play very effective role in making the
learners grasp the concepts and master a subject as per their own learning speed and
capabilities. This would result in better goal achievement that is imparting educa-
tion that learners understand well. However, intelligent system design requires lot
of data about the learner, course content designer, course details, learner’s academic
background, performance record in earlier examinations as well as current progress
rate, number of questions asked, number of times a chapter lesson has been repeated
etc. Intelligent system can create a simulated environment for personalized learning
experience. It does so on the basis of the data gathered about the learner, course,
current learning path and previous performance in other courses with the help of
computational intelligence techniques such as neural networks, content analysis of

the learner’s data [20]. It also makes use of the concept of augmented reality to
create the virtual environment for the teaching and learning process [19]. Such envi-
ronment is very helpful for interactive and collaborative learning keeping the students
in MOOCs engaged effectively with the course. With the use of such advanced tech-
nologies, predictive model for learner can be developed. Such model can be very
helpful in predicting few important issues as mentioned below:
(a) Course engagement
(b) Understanding of the concepts
(c) Interaction rate
(d) Course completion probability
(e) Expected performance in examination
Intelligent systems for education can provide a boost to the effectiveness of
MOOCs. The integration of Intelligent Tutoring system with MOOCs can make
online learning more interactive, automated and adaptive as per the learner’s require-
ments making the system much more effective [21]. In the current scenario, MOOCs
do not have the flexibility to adapt to the needs of individual learner [22]. Therefore,
the drop out rate and dissatisfaction in learning outcomes is high. In order to make
MOOCs more effective, it should implement AI technologies to build an inherent
intelligent tutoring system with MOOC courses. Such system would require a front
end environment that deals with the learner and an inner intelligent environment
that can extract information from the data entered in run time, does data mining on
available data and then integrates the outcomes to prepare the system dynamically
ready for the next activity as per learner’s capabilities.
Intelligent Tutoring System Integration with MOOCs—a basic model.
9.10.1 Stage I—Learner Enrolment
Learner enrolls for a course

Learner Profile created—includes general details along with data about current
academic activities, previous courses attended, performance in courses, current
occupation, work experience, work profile etc.
Learner account (Log In id and password) is created.
9.10.2 Stage II—Proposed Model for Learning Process

in MOOCs
Considering the stages of recording data in the system mentioned in the above table,
a dynamic predictive model can be developed to integrate intelligent tutoring system
for overall improvement in MOOC courses and making it more effective. The data
recorded in the system can then be used for auto assessment of learner and also to
identify the probability of the learner completing the course (Table 9.6).
Table 9.6 Integrating MOOC with intelligent system

Front end Inner intelligent system
Learner Logs In their account and MOOC → Accesses Learner Profile and
user page opens ↓
↓
Course content list ← accordingly starts data mining to prepare the
↓ contents to be presented dynamically
↓
Learner selects a module/task → Task description can be created dynamically
↓ for selection of words, language complexity,
block diagrams & images, keywords etc. on
the basis of the Learner’s profile and
prediction about the understanding level
↓
Task description is deployed ← Steps to solve the task are generated
Learner starts the learning process and goes ↓
to steps of the task given
↓
Feedback about the task and the step may be → As per feedback, next step or hint for the
asked next step will be generated dynamically
↓ ↓
Learner completes the task ← Record the rating given by learner
Gives rating for the task and the steps ↓
provided
↓
Learner takes the Test Question → Test question is generated/chosen from the
question bank. The complexity level is
decided on the basis of the number of hints
taken by learner in learning task
Learner demands hints to solve the question ← Previous feedback and rating Acts as the
↓ basis to generate hint dynamically
↓
Learner completes the test → Evaluates and records learner’s performance
in terms of time taken, number of hints used,
reference to previous examples etc
↓
Records the whole activity in the Learner’s
activity for developing better predictive
model to assess next activity with more
accuracy
9.11 Limitations of the Study
The current research tries to evaluate the position of SWAYAM based on quantitative
analysis of course content. However not only the quantum of courses offered or the
availability of essential parameters of comparison is important but the quality of such
course content must also be taken into account. SWAYAM offers a host of courses
but the quality of such courses offered are not analyzed in this research. Moreover
the viability of a MOOC depends much on the economic environment of the country
in which it prospers. Due to paucity of resources and first hand information it was
not possible to compare the MOOCS in reference to the economic infrastructure in
which they prosper. Time being a limiting factor the realm of comparison was limited
to just 3 years of data. Application of latest technologies such as artificial intelligence
and rigorous data mining can provide better insights into learner’s expectations and
capabilities of learning on online environment. Thus, a system that integrates existing
MOOCs with computational intelligence may yield better results. In this study a basic
learning process model has been developed to show the integration. However, more
study is needed to develop software in this line and implement in real life scenario
to give more accurate inferences.
9.12 Future Scope
MOOCs are extensively used by students. There is an utmost necessity that we study
the viability of a MOOC from the perspective of a student as they are the main
stake holders. For this a research based on the opinion of students as primary data
regarding each parameter of a MOOC can be done. The Revenue earning capacity
of a MOOC is an important parameter for its sustainability however no conclusions
can me made regarding the favorability of MOOC if its earning is on the higher side.
The high earnings can be due to the expensive course fees which may be a hindrance
for a student availing a MOOC. Again quality maintenance of a course does require
money which may lead to a high quality MOOC to be expensive. Thus there is also
the need for researching on the cost effectiveness of SWAYAM in comparison with
other MOOCS. Computational Intelligence based system software system needs to
be developed to check the viability of integration of MOOCs with AI.
9.13 Conclusion
With the advent and prosperity of digitization, when the world is becoming virtu-
ally smaller every second and quality resources are increasingly becoming freely
accessible, it is necessary to have MOOCs. The importance of SWAYAM in this
scenario is huge. However since SWAYAM is relatively a new player the sustain-
ability of it is also a matter of concern. It is worthy to note that India has a population
of 315 million students [the highest in the world]. Out of this population only 0.4
million have enrolled for SWAYAM and more importantly only 8% of the enrolled
students have completed a course in SWAYAM. This data vividly proclaims the
non popularity of SWAYAM. But that in no way can reduce the importance of free
online courses in India. India being the sixth largest economy in the world but with
a striking figure of 23% of the world’s poverty dwelling in the country, the need
for free MOOCS in India is of utmost significance. SWAYAM is a significant step
to such a venture and hence the viability and its further expansion need to be done
urgently not only to increase the quantity of education sphere but also develop the
quality of the same. The sphere of SWAYAM must be able to touch the remotest
of the population to encourage education. The findings of our study proclaim that a
huge layback of SWAYAM is the expanse of its horizon. India has got the least no. of
users when compared to major MOOCS. The Indian economy at present is marked
by the highest demographic dividend in the world. Such work force can easily be
appointed after proper training for developing the course content of SWAYAM and
increase its horizon to the deserted zone. This requires career counseling as well as
placement assistance both of which are not present in SWAYAM.
The main objective of MOOC; to foster learning at any time and at any place can
only take place when the students are well aware what value addition to their life may
happen if they avail a MOOC. They must have a clear picture of their prospective life
once they have completed a MOOC. However such crystal clear vision can never be
possible without awareness or placement assistance. This is an area where SWAYAM
seriously needs to work.
It must also be noted that it is the duty of all the citizens of a country to not
only avail a bona fide initiative but also share such benefits with the fellow citizens
through awareness, experience sharing and pointing out the flaws of the initiative.
It is the users of SWAYAM on which rests the major duty of popularizing the open
online education system. This endeavor will not only make a knowledge base for the
country but will also add to the impetus of sustainable development.
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Chapter 10
Blending of Traditional System
and Digital Pedagogy: An Indian
Perspective
Ishita De Ghosh and Satrajit Ghosh
Abstract Proper embedding of digitized facilities in traditional teaching–learning

system is a salient characteristics of modern pedagogy. State-of-the-art computing is
greatly influenced by computational intelligence. The chapter is a study on changing
scenario of teaching–learning in India focusing on basic paradigm shifts. It explores
blending of traditional system with digital technology in Indian perspective. At first,
it gives a brief survey on blended learning. Then, it presents two teaching–learning
models incorporating digital technology. Intelligent School Network for Research
(ISNR) is a research-based teaching–learning model for school-level learners. It aims
to instil inquisitiveness and research orientation in young minds with the objective
that a number of socio-environmental problems can be resolved by indigenous ideas
of young scientists. Intelligent Feedback System for Classrooms (IFSC) is a feed-
back model for formative assessment of learners in classrooms. It thrives on intel-
ligent data analysis from CCTV-camera enabled classrooms. Though both models
are designed for school education system, they can easily be extended for higher
education systems.
Keywords Blended learning · Digital pedagogy · Artificial intelligence ·

Computational intelligence · School network for research · Formative assessment ·
Intelligent data analysis
10.1 Introduction
Due care of nature and her resources is essential for sustainability of human race and
its socio-economic activities. This is equally true for one-sixth of the global popula-
tion living in India, with its spectra of socio-cultural diversity and challenges. Recent
I. De Ghosh (B)
Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College, Kolkata 700120, India
e-mail: ishitade_ghosh@yahoo.co.in
S. Ghosh
Charuchandra College, Kolkata 700029, India
e-mail: gsatrajit@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_10
204 I. De Ghosh and S. Ghosh
spread of contamination caused by virus SARS-COV-2 and the related pandemic of

COVID-19 have triggered a standstill to the movement of this huge mass, resulting
in a deafening silence of on-site industrial production zones and vibrant academic
campuses. Digitized mode of communication appears to be the sole saviour of the
relentless endeavour of a dedicated teacher or a spirited learner to pursue teaching and
learning from the safety of home. The influence and significance of digital pedagogy
have never been so overpowering in India.
Along with proficiency in new technologies, originality of thinking, experimen-
tation with ideas and ability to optimize the efficacy of a team are essential qualities
to survive and succeed in the ever-changing socio-environmental scenario of today’s
world. It is a challenge to develop and instil these qualities among the learners.
Reports show that 13 lakh government schools face difficulties like inadequate infras-
tructure, low teacher-student ratio, and poor learning outcome, whereas 3.2 lakh
private schools are governed by examination boards that focus on rigid curricula and
rote learning capability [1]. But critical thinking, cognition, and active involvement
of learners are essential to learn science, mathematics, and any subject in general
as an old proverb says ‘tell me – I forget, show me – I remember, involve me – I
understand.’ Finally good amalgamation of ideas, experiments and innovations only
can take a nation to new horizons [2, 3].
Current chapter aims to explore the changing scenario of teaching–learning in
India in the light of digital technology. It focuses on basic paradigm shifts and not
on technical details. At first, it presents a brief survey on blended learning empha-
sizing on developments in Indian context. Then, it presents two models of blended
learning: (i) Intelligent School Network for Research (ISNR) and (ii) Intelligent Feed-
back System for Classrooms (IFSC). The first model ISNR is a research-based model
for school students that encourages the learners to identify environmental, social, and
economic issues and inspires them to come out with innovative measures to resolve
them. The basic idea centres on intelligent networking among students, teachers,
school authority and so forth. The second model IFSC is a feedback model for
formative evaluation of students. The model thrives on intelligent analysis of data
obtained from monitoring system enabled classrooms. It can also be used for esti-
mating emotional intelligence competency of the teacher. Both models makes use of
computational intelligence and supplements traditional pedagogy. Though they are
related to school education system, they can easily be extended to higher education.
The chapter is organized as follows: in Sect. 10.2, we give the basic philosophy of
blended learning and a brief account of some significant recent developments with
emphasis on Indian scenario; in Sects. 10.3 and 10.4, we present the models ISNR
and IFSC, respectively, and finally, in Sect. 10.5, we give the conclusion with some
future research directions.
10 Blending of Traditional System and Digital Pedagogy … 205
10.2 Blending of Traditional System and Digital Pedagogy:

An Indian Perspective
A brief survey on blending of traditional system and digital pedagogy and a brief
discussion on the rising era of computational intelligence in India is given now. Digital
Pedagogy (DP) is teaching and learning using contemporary digital technologies.
Blended learning (BL) is a paradigm in which students learn through digital media
as well as direct interaction with teachers. A pioneering scholar argued that mode of
deliverance in BL can be classified into four dimensions, namely space (face-to-face
or virtual), time (synchronous or asynchronous), sensual richness (high, all senses
or low, text only materials) and humanness (high human, no machine or low human,
high machine [4]. He also argued that flexibility enjoyed by the learners and, offered
by the institution can be classified into the four levels: activity, course, program, and
institution. He emphasized that depending upon its purpose, BL can be classified into
three types: enabling blends (focuses on access and flexibility); enhancing blends
(supplements traditional pedagogy); and transformative blends (aims to transform
pedagogy). Recent developments in BL in respect of different countries are available
in a number of work [5–7].
Digital Pedagogy initiatives in India is discussed now.
10.2.1 Digital Pedagogy Initiatives in India
India’s social, economic, cultural, and environmental diversity often poses complex
problems in education and other fields. Teaching–learning-related issues like (i)
language barrier, (ii) lack of interest in science, (iii) difficulty in mathematics or
physics teaching, (iv) shortage of laboratory equipments are often solved with indige-
nous ideas and local resources and some of them incorporate BL [8]. The influence
of BL within a diverse learning environment was realized in India for the last couple
of decades and government organizations have played important role in Informa-
tion and Communication Technology (ICT)-enabled learning. There are substantive
contributions of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), University
Grants Commission (UGC) and its Inter-University Centres (IUCs), Information
and Library Network (INFLIBNET), and Consortium for Educational Communi-
cation (CEC) which offer several digital platforms for this [9–11]. The e-learning
materials available in these platforms are prepared by eminent scholars in relevant
fields and are easily accessible to learners, researchers and teachers. The community
depends heavily on these e-materials when little access is available otherwise such
as the time of nation-wise lockdown period.
Some prominent government initiatives are described in brief now.
1. SWAYAM Online Courses were launched in 2014 to provide quality training
courses by AICTE, CEC, IGNOU, IIMB, NCERT, NIOS, NITTTR, NPTEL,
and UGC to more than three crores Indian students free of cost.
2. SWAYAMPRABHA is a group of 32 DTH channels providing curriculum-based

course contents covering diverse disciplines to all learners, teachers, and citizens
across the country interested in lifelong learning. These channels are free to air
and can also be accessed through cable operator. The telecasted videos/lectures
are also as archived videos on the Swayamprabha portal.
3. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform hosts learning materials of
the SWAYAM under-graduate (UG) and non-technology post-graduate (PG)
archived courses. The platform has the potential to deliver quality education on
a very large scale.
4. E-Pathshala hosts curriculum-based, interactive e-contents for school-level
learners. E-PG Pathshala hosts high quality, e-contents containing 23,000
modules (e-text and video) in 70 PG disciplines of social sciences, arts, fine
arts and humanities, natural, and mathematical sciences.
5. E-Content courseware in 87 UG courses with about 24,110 e-content modules
is available on the CEC website.
6. CEC-UGC YouTube channel provides access to unlimited educational
curriculum based lectures absolutely free.
7. National Digital Library is a digital repository of a vast amount of academic
contents in different formats and provides interface support for leading Indian
languages for all academic levels including researchers and life-long learners,
all disciplines, all popular form of access devices, and differently abled learners.
8. Shodhganga is a digital repository platform of 2,60,000 Indian electronic disser-
tations for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available
to the entire scholarly community in open access.
9. E-ShodhSindhu provides current as well as archival access to more than 15,000
core and peer-reviewed journals and a number of bibliographic, citation, and
factual databases in different disciplines from a large number of publishers
and aggregators to its member institutions including centrally funded technical
institutions, universities, and colleges that are covered under 12(B) and 2(f)
Sections of the UGC Act.
10. Vidwan is a database of experts which provides information about experts to
peers, prospective collaborators, funding agencies, policymakers, and research
scholars in the country. Faculty members are requested to register on the Vidwan
portal to help expand the database of experts.
11. DIKSHA-App was launched in 2017 to serve to teachers as a national digital
infrastructure. It enables teachers to create training content, in-class resources,
profiles, assessment aids, and connect with other teachers more seamlessly. It
can be used by both public and private institutions as per their own requirements
and capabilities.
State-of-the-art digital technology is greatly influenced by computational intelli-
gence, a discipline that falls under the purview of artificial intelligence. Its potential
applications in teaching–learning are discussed now.
10.2.2 Computational Intelligence: Applications in Pedagogy
Computational intelligence (CI) is the theory, design, application and development

of biologically and linguistically motivated computational paradigm [12]. Artificial
intelligence (AI) is a more of a general idea used to conceptualize machines which
can emulate human intelligence, behaviour, and actions. In this article, both the
terms AI and CI are used according to the context. They are used in three major
applications in education sector, namely (i) personalized learning, (ii) intelligent
tutoring, and (iii) assistance in administrative tasks [13]. In personalized learning,
the custom learning profile of every learner is created to identify and assess the
affinity, ability, individuality, and deficiency of the learner with the help of AI. Then,
this profile is used to customize the need-based learning material in an automated
manner. AI is also helpful to design a personal conversational education assistant
that can answer the query of the learner, assist him to complete assignments, and
reinforce the concepts by providing supplementary materials. It can even be used
to design intelligent digital tutors that allows every student to learn at his own pace
by using adaptive learning features. AI-incorporated software can assist a teacher to
perform tedious administrative tasks like processing papers for student-admission,
building or modifying class schedules, grading activities for evaluation and dealing
with various logistic-related matters.
With its digital and dynamic nature, AI is progressing worldwide at an accelerated
pace and a great impact is seen in education sector also. Till now, this sector in India
has not been explored much in respect of implementation of latest developments
adopted by its global counterparts. But it is predicted that in near future impact of
AI will increase greatly in education and other sectors of India [14, 15]. A multi-
lingual, multi-cultural country like India can be benefitted from AI applications
in various ways [16, 17]. Some examples are given now. (a) AI can help teachers
to create digital contents as per local needs of the students in different parts of the
country. (b) Incorporating AI in tutoring apps may replace the dependency of students
on their parents and teachers for guidance and tuitions. (c) Admission boards can
use AI for automated classification of huge number of students who want to take
admission in an institution, thus reducing admission-related burden on teachers.
(d) AI-enabled grading systems will save valuable time and effort of the teacher.
The systems are being designed to assess objective and subjective-type answers as
well. Other administrative cores can be done in similar way. (e) AI-powered learning
systems will enable students to access classrooms from anywhere in the world. (f) AI
will be learned as a subject to explore its full potential. In fact, it has been introduced
as a subject in class IX from the session 2019–20 in the schools affiliated with CBSE
[18]. It is expected that AI will spawn new jobs related to logistics, Web and app
design, system integration, customer experience, machine learning, big data, and
predictive analytics.
Now, two models of digital pedagogy incorporating CI are proposed one by one
now.
10.3 Nurturing Innovation Using Digital Technology
We all have experienced joy in our childhood by making things (e.g. clay dolls or
sand castles) or breaking things (e.g. a toy car, to see what is there inside). As we
grow up, we get habituated to the fact that there will not be such joy anymore because
a considerable part of our formal education remains examination driven. But such an
education system can hardly provide the learner essential courage and confidence to
explore and experiment. And for a learner, it is the creative activities that satisfy his
over-enthusiasm and give him joy and excitement. Education scenario is changing
in India with social and environmental needs. There are government initiatives like
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL), and Rashtriya Avishkar
Abhiyan (RAA) [19, 20]. The first two initiatives are for engineering students whereas
RAA is a convergent framework for school students that aims at nurturing a spirit
of inquiry and creativity. It focuses on connecting school based knowledge to life
outside school and emphasizes on innovation. Our first model can be viewed as an
extension of this model.
10.3.1 Proposed Model 1: Intelligent School Network

for Research (ISNR)
Intelligent School Network for Research (ISNR) originates from the idea that young
minds can help the country to identify and resolve some baffling socio-environmental
problems. Given below are a list such problems: consumption of fossil fuel and
non-renewable resources, depletion of ground water level, deposition of bio-excrete,
generation of non-biodegradable plastic waste, and execution of essential tasks at
hazardous/deplorable condition. Learners are encouraged to come out with proto-
type solutions like generation of green energy or renewable energy, groundwater
recharge, transformation of bio-excrete into bio-fertilizer, construction of durable
road with non-biodegradable plastic, generation of biodegradable plastic, use of
remote-controlled automated navigation system to perform hazardous tasks and
likes. Promotion of organic farming and eradication of chemical fertilizer, cultivation
of medicinal plants, design and development of drone for various ethical applica-
tions like environment monitoring and emergency supply of medical aids are also of
interest. The objective of ISNR is to create a suitable ambiance to impart inquisitive-
ness and independent thinking among school students and also to nurture originality
and innovation among them through school-level research. This requires blending
the traditional system with a new pedagogy in such a way that completing specified
syllabus in a small span of a trimester or semester does not become a hindrance. This
in turn requires a systematic planning and intensified effort. The model suggests a
self-contained framework for the same. It also includes a methodology to monitor
and assess the progress of the work.
The basic framework of the model is described now. In the beginning of an

academic session, each student is asked to identify two pertinent socio-environmental
issues of their surroundings in accordance with (but not limited to the) above-
mentioned guideline. Once the problems are identified, they are sorted out by the
teachers and merging or splitting is done according to their difficulty level. Feasi-
bility study is performed to explore the practical prospect of the project. Students
are divided into groups according to their interests, and once the problem-list is
finalized, each group is assigned a problem to work on throughout the year. After
a problem is allotted to a group, a teacher-mentor is assigned as the supervisor and
a group-member is selected as a project-leader. Supervisor divides the work among
the group-members. Project-leader coordinates the day-to-day progress of the project
and interacts with the supervisor as and when needed. The group can also take help
from any other teacher or senior student of the school through the supervisor. The
allotted work can be carried out in school or at home as per the convenience. Daily
progress is discussed among the group-members by direct interaction in school or by
online platform such as a social media group. This platform is also used to report to
the supervisor or to exchange ideas with group-members of similar projects via their
supervisor. The network of various groups working on similar projects are shown in
Fig. 10.1. Here, kth project consists of a group of students designated by S 1 to S 4 . One
of them is selected as the group-leader. This project is monitored and supervised the
teacher T jk . Teachers of a school have connections among themselves. And teachers
of different schools can connect via nodal officers N i .
Project-related experiments are designed by the group-members and approved
by the school authority. Equipments required for experiments are provided by the
school. School may procure them or use them from a tool-bank on rent. A tool-bank
ensures supply of essential tools at a small rent. This is conceptualized to ensure
reusability and bring down the cost of research. Experiments can be scaled up or
down or upgrade to a modified form as suggested by the supervisor. After comple-
tion, the project will be assessed by the school authority by a project-report and a
presentation or demonstration by the group-members. Best project from each partic-
ipating school gets a chance to showcase their project by an audio-visual media in
a district-level online exhibition. Good performance in these exhibitions enables a
group and its mentor to showcase their project in state-level and then in national-level
platforms. Best groups at each level can be given scholarships for their sincere effort
and hard work. Transmission and refinement of ideas are possible through a hierar-
chical networking among the learners, their mentors, and the governing authority as
shown in Fig. 10.2. The digital framework can be implemented by using a part of
budgetary allocation for ‘Innovation, Technology Development and Deployment’ of
DST, Government of India [9]. Digital technology and CI and can be used in various
steps for implementing the ISNR model. These are stated one by one as following.
(i) Each school provides an online platform for information exchange between
group-members, mentors, and school authority.
(ii) Scientific experiments can be demonstrated to a large audience by recording
and uploading of them in an online platform. Thus, the cost of organizing an
Fig. 10.1 Project monitoring and coordination in ISNR using mesh structure
Country
State State
District District District District
School School School School School School School School
Fig. 10.2 Hierarchical structure of the ISNR model

exhibition for evaluation purpose is reduced considerably. Moreover, it gives

the opportunity of viewing an experiment more than once.
(iii) Huge number of problems submitted by students in the beginning of the
academic year may be sorted out by using CI-based technology.
10.3.2 Case Study
A case study is described now where the lowest level of the model as shown in
Fig. 10.2 has been implemented. It has been implemented for under-graduate (UG)
project-work and post-graduate (PG) dissertation work in the computer science
department of the higher education institution one of the authors is affiliated to.
Students are grouped according to their interest, a supervisor is assigned to each
group and a group-leader is selected for each group. The maximum number of
students allowed is 2 and 4, respectively, for PG and UG groups. Several groups
under one or more supervisors can collaborate, even UG and PG groups may do
collaborative work if the supervisors agree. The assigned task is divided among
the group-members. Interaction and data sharing among the group-members take
place via social media platform facilities like WhatsApp, Skype, and conference
call via telephone network. Regular reporting of progress of work to the supervisor
is also done via these facilities. This is particularly helpful during the lockdown
period when physical movement is restricted. Finally, for interdisciplinary work,
groups from more than one department can collaborate. And the collaboration can
be extended to other institutions as well.
10.3.3 Benefits of ISNR Model
Benefits of ISNR model are manifold. They are stated below.

(i) Learners are benefitted through understanding a subject by active learning,
gaining confidence through contributing solutions to problems, and getting
early exposure to research and development.
(ii) Teachers are benefitted by incorporating innovation in mundane teaching,
earning rewards for sincere efforts, and contributing continuous development
of the subject taught.
(iii) School is benefitted by using existing infrastructure for future extension and
getting appreciation for good work.
(iv) Nation is benefitted by (a) getting a young pool of future scientists, engineers,
and technologists by giving them early exposure to planning, implementation,
and presentation of research ideas and (b) obtaining a probable simple and
cost-effective solution for some persistent global problems.
In next section, we discuss on assessment methods and our model for formative
assessment.
10.4 Computational Intelligence for Formative Assessment
In a teaching–learning environment, there are two types of assessment, summative

and formative. The first one sums up the achievements of a learner at the end of a
period of time, in respect of the learning goals and the relevant national standards.
The period of time may vary depending on initiatives of the teacher or the directives
of the school authority. There may be an assessment at the end of a topic, in the
middle or at the end of a semester, or at the end of an academic session. Summative
assessment essentially summarizes attainment at a particular point in time. It is
recorded in the form of individual and cohort data useful for tracking progress. And
it is also produced as a report to students, parents, school authority, and administrative
bodies like school or examination boards.
Formative assessment takes place on a day-to-day basis, helping the teacher and
the students to assess attainment and progress more frequently [21]. At the start
of a unit or a topic in a particular subject, it begins with assessing whether the
students possess prerequisite skills or knowledge or there are gaps to be filled in.
And it continues till the end of the topic in the form of questions, quizzes, work-
sheets, computer-based or other tasks, and oral or written tests. These provide direct
feedback to the teacher and the students. The feedback is then used to take appropriate
corrective measures for students who have not yet mastered the topic. Each of the
phases (teaching, assessment, and remediation) are planned, prepared, and managed
by the teacher who attempts to ensure that all the students masters the objectives
of the unit. Sometimes formative assessment is recorded to be reflected in the end-
semester evaluation, or to decide whether the teaching plans need to be amended to
reinforce or extend learning.
Formative assessment is carried out informally by observing the students in the
classroom during teaching, interaction among students, and during the whole-class
discussions that allow students to present different ways of understanding a task
or of carrying out an activity. An experienced teacher can monitor mental states
of his students by observing gaze pattern, facial expressions as well as by their
physical activity, or inactivity. Mental abilities like power of observance, perse-
verance, initialization, inquisitiveness, concentration, and the ability to work in a
team/group are important in learning and they help to create an enjoyable learning
experience. The student learns while he enjoys and vice versa. And the realization
that ‘I can learn’ generates self-confidence and responsibility in the student. This in
turn reduces distracting behaviour and improves the relationship between the student
and the teacher and also among the students. And all these together create a positive
atmosphere in the classroom and make a great impact on progress of the learners.
Therefore, in addition to evaluation methods like quizzes, worksheets and so on,
monitoring mental abilities and maturity of the learners help in the formative assess-
ment. But huge number of students, insufficient class-time, and the urge to complete
the syllabus in a specified time often prevents the teacher to do this effectively. Digital
technology can help the teacher in this.
A model called Intelligent Feedback System for Classrooms (IFSC) using digital
technology incorporating CI is proposed now.
10.4.1 Proposed Model 2: Intelligent Feedback System

for Classrooms (IFSC)
The objective of the model is to assist the teacher in formative assessment of the
students. It can also be used for assessing cognitive capabilities and learning affinity
of the students. Finally, it can be used for detection of unhealthy behaviour leading to
an unwanted situation in a classroom and thus preventing such situation. The model
can be of use to evaluate emotional intelligence competency of the teacher which
is an important quality for effective class management and proper use of valuable
class-time [22].
Affective and social cues in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) is well explored
[23, 24]. Ekman established that, human emotions (or affects) like happiness,
sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger can be accurately detected across cultures
[25]. Frequently used affective states for student monitoring are engaged concentra-
tion, frustration, boredom,, and confusion [26, 27]. Affects like confusion may be
beneficial for learning, but prolonged confusion may lead to frustration [28]. There
are studies which explore whether there are subtle differences in the way affects are
facially expressed in different cultures. A study shows the differences in facial expres-
sions of the students from eastern and western cultures in respect to affect confusion
in a game based learning environment [29]. Affective and social cues in Human
Robot Interaction (HRI) is of interest to the researchers. Increase in pace of learning
is possible with the help of ‘engagement cues or interaction events’. Automation
of the same is possible ‘supervised classifiers trained with social, physiological, or
task-based interaction features’ [23, 30–32].
IFSC is a feedback model which thrives on intelligent data analysis from CCTV-
camera-enabled classrooms. At the heart of the model is the assumption that in
a teaching–learning environment a learner’s engagement state can be inferred by
affective and social cues like gaze patterns, facial expressions, prosody, body pose,
proxemics, and physiological information (e.g. skin conductance), as well as task-
specific behaviours. Video-image sequence captured by CCTV-camera installed in
the class-room is the input to an intelligent system. The system supplies this data to
different sub-systems to perform tasks like face recognition, gaze detection, facial
expression detection, activity detection, and proximity detection. Output of these
sub-system will be fed to the main system which will use multi-modal fusion to
fuse the information and get a concise decision. The number of sub-systems can be
adjusted according to the requirement. Figure 10.3 shows the main system at the
centre and the sub-systems at the periphery. Each of the nodes use CI-based methods
to extract information from video-image sequences captured by the cameras. This
model could not be implemented due to infrastructural limitations.
Fig. 10.3 Main system and the sub-system of IFSC model
10.4.2 Benefits of IFSC Model
Benefits of IFSC model are stated below.

(i) Formative assessment of the students is done with the help of automation.
Students are benefited because the assessment is not teacher-specific. The
teacher is benefitted because this saves valuable time of the teacher.
(ii) Identification of unhealthy behaviour for ensuring safety and security during
learning-process is done easily.
(iii) Emotional intelligence competency of the teacher can be assessed by the
authority to enhance progress of learning.
10.5 Conclusion
The ability to explore innovative solutions for diverse types of problems is the
defining characteristics of the human civilization and its socio-economic activities.
And for a child or teenager learner, it is the creative activities that satisfy his over-
enthusiasm and give him joy and excitement. These qualities can be best used to
instil scientific temperament in young minds. Pedagogy is undergoing through a
paradigm shift in Indian perspective and digital platforms are playing a crucial role
in it. There are a number of areas to explore regarding this. The pace of learning gets
optimized, when it is learnt with joy, splendour, and excitement. This essentially
requires nurturing of over-enthusiasm and innovation of the young learners as well
as their mentor to create a favourable ambiance. Cognitive capabilities and learning
affinity of the students can be assessed effectively by an intelligent system.
10.5.1 Contribution of the Work
Teaching, especially science teaching should ideally be based on ‘do it yourself’

philosophy implemented by hands-on experiments, projects, and micro-teaching.
Inadequate laboratory facility, poor infrastructure, and huge number of students pose
a challenge to this philosophy. This chapter presents interesting models of pedagogy
to implement the philosophy using CI suitable for digital age. It proposes two models
ISNR and IFSC. ISNR is research-based teaching learning model that may be helpful
to address some socio-environmental problem through involvement of fresh minds.
Transmission and refinement of the ideas are possible through a hierarchical research
network amongst the learners, their mentors and the governing authority. IFSC is a
model to automate formative assessment of the students with the help of CI.
10.5.2 Future Work
Digital pedagogy initiatives by private sector organizations will be explored. Feasi-

bility study and cost–benefit analysis for proposed models are under development.
Case studies of both the models will be done. Possibility of ISNR model in an
automated learning network to reach the learners in remote areas of the country
will be explored. Possibility of IFSC model to assess the attention level of the
learners learning through a digital platform from home will be explored. It can also
be modified as a surveillance system at home to ensure security of learners.
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In: IEEE CVPR-AMFG W, June 2019
Chapter 11
Application of Internet of Things
in Digital Pedagogy
Monu Bhagat, Dilip Kumar, and Sushma M. Balgi
Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel idea in computing. The purpose of
IoT is to connect the objects that surround us through network. The main aim of IoT
is to access information from anywhere and at anytime. The development of IoT in
the pedagogy helps users to learn effectively, efficiently and flexibly. Smart education
depicts learning in the digital era. Learners can access resources through wireless
network using application in their mobiles. These days a huge number of electronic
devices are associated with the web. In this paper, discussion is made to significantly
improve education field by using IoT. A system is proposed that provides students
to interact with the neighboring objects. An experiment is conducted with the aim to
illustrate the use of IoT in education which improves the learning outcome.
Keywords IoT · Smart education · Digital pedagogy · Health care · IoNT
11.1 Introduction
The emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) has impacted many fields and
caused many disciplines to revise their vision. The Internet has impacted our lives
by connecting the people and objects to build smart environment. The thought of
Internet is rationalized to the thought of Internet of Things.
The idea of connecting devices occurred since 1970s. At that time, the idea was
called “embedded Internet” and “pervasive computing”. Kevin Ashton used the term
Internet of Things (IoT) in 1999. Kevin Ashton said “We need to empower the
M. Bhagat (B) · D. Kumar · S. M. Balgi

Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand,
Jamshedpur, Jharkhand 831014, India
e-mail: 2018rscs002@nitjsr.ac.in
D. Kumar
e-mail: dilip.cse@nitjsr.ac.in
S. M. Balgi
e-mail: 2019pgcscs10@nitjsr.ac.in

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_11
220 M. Bhagat et al.
computer with data, so that it can observe and listen the world itself. RFID and
sensor device technology allow computers to monitor, recognize and be aware of the
world, without the limitations of human entered data” [1].
Internet of Things is defined as a system of interconnection of computing devices,
mechanical machines, digital machines and entities which has unique identifiers
(UIDs) and is able to transfer data over the network without the intervention of
humans [2]. IoT devices are linked to the Internet with the purpose of controlling
them from anywhere. The device collects information from its surrounding and sends
it the base station [3].
The connectivity helps to capture more data from many places which ensures
increase in efficiency and improvement in safety and security. It helps to improve
performance through IoT analytics and security [4]. IoT finds its applications in
every field such as agriculture, health care, education, business management and
transportation [5] (Fig. 11.1).
Cisco has taken the Internet of Things concept to the next level called Internet of
Everything (IoE). According to Cisco, organizations have implemented networked
connections of things, i.e., Internet of Things (IoT) from many years, so some addi-
tional capabilities such as context awareness, energy independence and increased
processing power should be added to make Internet of Things as Internet of
Everything.
IoT is changing the world. It has the ability to perform device-to-device commu-
nication. Cities can be transformed into smart cities by the use of IoT. Smart traffic
lights, smart surveillance and so on help to improve the city. More the data collected,
smarter the devices. Using IoT, car owners can operate their cars such as preheating
the car before the driver arrives or remotely summoning a car by phone [5]. People
are adopting smart devices in their day-to-day life, and IoT connected devices are
becoming an element of the electronics culture. The rate of use of connected device
Fig. 11.1 Internet of Things [6]

11 Application of Internet of Things in Digital Pedagogy 221
has increased from 5 million to billion in just one year. The devices are becoming
smarter due to integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence [7]. In
current situation, more than 12 billion devices are connected to the Internet, and
researchers at IDC approximated that there will be 26 times more connected devices
than the number of people by 2020 and they have estimated that there will 21 billion
connected devices in 2020 [8]. According to Gartner, consumer applications will
drive the number of connected things, while enterprise will account for most of the
revenue. IoT adoption is growing, with manufacturing and utilities approximated to
have the largest installed base of Things by 2020.
11.2 Motivation and Contribution
Internet of Things is gaining rapid advancement in every field. We can use IoT to
implement smart learning environment that enhances the learning. In near future, the
Internet of Things will be further incorporated into the education system. Schools
in-corporate IoT in education system to store huge amount of data, save money and
prepare students to become tech literate. Our perceptive of education must change
if we want to assimilate IoT into the education. The intention of smart education
is to ameliorate student’s quality of learning. The encroachment of IoT in educa-
tion helps to develop individual in terms of skill, knowledge and experience. Also
students learning exposure could be intensified and extended. Thus, it helps indi-
vidual’s development in an all-round way in terms of affection, intellectual and
physical. Students can learn flexibly during their free time and working collabora-
tively in smart learning environments, and as a result, they could advance the progress
of personal and collective intelligence of learners. The main aim of IoT is to access
information from anywhere and at anytime. The development of IoT in the peda-
gogy helps users to learn effectively, efficiently and flexibly. Smart education depicts
learning in the digital era. Learners can access resources through wireless network
using application in their mobiles.
In this paper, discussion is made to significantly improve education field by using
IoT. A system is proposed that provides students to interact with the neighboring
objects. A case study is done to depict the usage of IoT in education, which has good
improvement in terms of learning, skill and knowledge.
11.3 Literature Survey
The study of the present smart systems, technology and their applications in educa-
tion proves that application of smart learning and Internet of Things in education is
dominant in 5–15 years. On the basis of research, we expect that IoT will actively
improve the various types of innovative pedagogy like teaching based on smart tech-
nology, learning and pedagogy, combined learning, learning by performing, learning
based on games, flipped classroom learning, pedagogy and so on [9].
Experiment is conducted with the aim to describe the usage of IOT in education
which improves the learning outcome. This experiment is conducted on 50 students,
among which 25 students are assigned to control group and remaining 25 students to
experimental group. Control group received conventional lectures and experimental
group worked in tools created using IoT. Based on various tests and analysis, it is
concluded that Internet of Things improves teaching process and learning outcome
[10].
The Internet of Things has increased the opportunity, usage of Internet, appli-
cations to expand technology and became Internet of Everything. The Internet of
Things has used various devices and applications to create a platform for sharing
knowledge and resources to students present in various parts of the world. Some
universities are providing distance learning environment. The Internet of Everything
is gaining importance, and it is carried out by the combined effort of government and
non-governmental organization [11].
The fast improvement in information technology paves a way to the introduction of
ubiquitous learning and ubiquitous age. For studying various technologies, learners
need the ubiquitous learning environment to get the needed learning contents at the
right place and at the right time so that they can achieve self-learning. Because of
IoT tools, knowledge can be gained from any place and at anytime. IoT plays an
important role in ubiquitous learning. This learning environment enables seamless
learning from anywhere and at anytime [12].
IoT is advancing very rapidly, and it has huge impact on every field.
In the education flied, usage of IOT has taken e-learning to the next level. The
improvement in smart learning helps to inculcate good skills and knowledge in the
individual and hence to create a better person. RFID chips are used to track objects,
gather information about them and store it in cloud. This is helpful to get conclusion
of data. This is mostly used by researchers. IoT devices are helpful for interacting
and controlling the system [13].
Lamri et al. authors have given the design of the BBA ELab platform. It provides
students to pursue their courses online and to carry out their experimental works
through IoT devices. This development in technology will add a new dimension of
teaching collaboration and convenience to more pedagogical tools especially those
associated with the use of laboratory resources. Administrating and operating of
ELabs in real time need more access to IoT [14].
The prototypes developed in context of MOSAIC project are touching campus,
touching cabinet, touching note and NFC interactive panel. Touching note uses near
field communication tag. This is located on the door of instructor’s office to give the
message whether the instructor is present or not. A place or entity in a space can
be tagged to give some relevant information to the learner by touching in touching
cabinet. For touching campus, the application presented is campus recommender.
This application gives suggestions to new people in the campus [15].
Maintaining machinery is one of the important tasks in manufacturing. Detecting

faults and predicting of equipment failure can be done using the concepts of IoT and
data science. For this task, sensors, communication networks and a small-scale IoT
test bed called IoT Platform for Engineering Education and Research (IoT PEER) are
required. The experiment is intended to gather sensor data from machines wirelessly
and store and analyze the data at Microsoft Azure cloud. Artificial intelligence (AI)
is applied on these data, and analysis is done to identify the failures. This technology
is beneficial to maintain the machines and recover from the failure when fault is
detected [16].
An experiment was done on students of humanities course. Students were given
training regarding the construction of IoT. Through step-wise construction, students
were able to think ideas for applications pertaining to their field. The result obtained
from this experiment is students who do not have science background can be trained
to the level at which they are able to create applications and can find solution to
the problems. These results were not possible in conventional way of teaching using
books. This method is predicted to expand application field in each area of expertise
involving people remotely related to the ICT field [17].
The authors presented a learning framework, which combines Internet of Things
and hardware and software technologies to build a new paradigm of learning. Internet
of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly. It is rising as the next generation of communication
infrastructure where sensors and various types of devices are connected to provide
computing and communication. Because of the fast growth in IoT, the demand for
experienced professionals in IoT field has increased. IoT course is offered in few
fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). So students
have very less exposure to IoT field until graduation. There is a less hope for adding
additional courses into existing STEM curriculum. So authors have presented a way
to transform STEM core courses by integrating IoT-based learning framework into
their corresponding laboratory projects [18].
Development in technology demands changes in education which requires new
methods to computer science education. Adding IoT as the core course of the first
year computing curriculum and opening it up for combined experimentation is a vast
improvement in conventional computer science curriculum. Educational initiatives
focus on graduate education. The conventional undergraduate education in computer
science begins with basic ideology, and it gradually levels up for experimentation.
Current online educational courses focus on topics that can be easily self-studied in
leisure time. By eliminating constraints, My Digital Life course provides a new way
for undergraduate computer science education [19].
Enhancement in Internet connection speed, development of technology, reduction
of equipment and software cost made learning resources available to everyone and
at anytime. These improvements have helped to make learning interactive and gain
experience compared to the existing one. Ubiquitous computing has impacted on
everyone. Anyone can store a vast amount of data, access data from anywhere and
can share data with anyone from anywhere even during traveling [20].
Study was conducted on 17 students. The aim was to familiarize students with the
basic Internet of Things concept and help them to solve problems. Training was given
to the students in three phases: introduction, details regarding tiles inventor toolkit
and the student review. The students were assessed based on the analysis, classroom
observation, test and review. The result of this study is students gained concrete expe-
rience, reflective observation, active experimentation and abstract conceptualization
[21].
Developing countries are concentrating more on smart cities. This causes require-
ment to educate engineers regarding Internet of Things. To solve this problem, IoT is
introduced as open elective course for eighth semester computer science undergrad-
uate course. The outcome of this course is the students are able to build smart waste
management, smart irrigation, smart lightning and so on. These pedagogy techniques
enhance the designing skill, implementation methodology, domain knowledge and
communication skills of the learners [22].
Flipped classroom method is used in some universities. In flipped classroom
method, teacher shares the video regarding the course to the students beforehand.
Students have to learn from the videos before attending the class. In class, teacher
discusses or gives test regarding the subject. This method is helpful because students
can watch video at his convenient time and space. Student can replay video any
number of times. Flipped classroom approach gave better results than the traditional
method [23].
Devices such as sensors, actuators and transponders are fixed to the entities such
as libraries, in and out gate, laboratories and classroom. These devices collect infor-
mation about the surroundings and send them to the database for storing. The infor-
mation is sent in wireless medium. To protect data from intruders, encryption is
done. Detailed analysis is done on these data. System controller which is in charge
of data analytic unit processes the user request and gives command to the devices in
an intelligent way [24]. To improve learner’s ability for gaining knowledge.
(a) Classroom-based differentiated instruction, in this approach students with
different abilities are taught together; (b) in group-based collaborative learning,
students are grouped with each group containing three to four students, and students
learn by discussing and experimenting within the group; (c) in individual-based
personalized learning, learning is done based on learner’s interest, experience and
learning ability; and (d) in mass-based generative learning, students are able to link
new information with the old and can build their knowledge [25].
The authors have introduced a new approach for educating students in computer
science. It is based on collaborating the concepts of Pervasive interactive Program-
ming, the Internet of Things, iCampus, Living Labs and a ‘Smart-Box’ model. IoT
is distributed system, so programming in IoT is a difficult task. To overcome this, the
authors have proposed a new framework to teach programming to the novice persons.
The framework is Pervasive interactive Programming (PiP). It has been evaluated
on 18 students, and the result of evaluation in individuals can master the skill and
understand the concepts quickly even if they have diverse background [26].
To overcome the problems of short duration of course, the authors have proposed
a study plan that combines IoT and technique of learning analytics to establish an
Environment for Lifelong Learning using Learning Analytics (ELLLA). The char-
acteristics of ELLLA are as follow students can access physical resources using
student ID, student’s records are stored and analyzed, teachers can obtain student’s
real-time activity and performance, discussions can be made online, information can
be shared and so on [27]. English pronunciation can be learnt using IoT without
the need of instructor. The image sensor takes pictures of learner’s mouth’s shape,
and then the software compares this image with the standard image which is stored
in the database. Voice sensors are used to analyze tone, frequency and voice when
the person pronounce. If the learner pronounces wrongly, then software corrects the
learner’s pronunciation [28].
Intelligence of Learning Things (IoLT) is learning platform. It is based on Internet
of Things (IoT). IoLT has increased the higher education quality with its creative
learning method and technologies in developing countries. IoLT gathers information
from contributor’s (such as teachers and students) smartphone, laptop, wearable
electronic gadgets to generate instructions that combines and share their ideas and
data using IoT. Hardware and software modules like web, mobile and embedded
system are used to improve quality of education [29].
The characteristics of mobile learning are authenticity, collaboration and person-
alization. The authenticity attribute highlights opportunities for contextualized,
participatory, situated learning. Collaboration attribute captures the often-reported
conversational, connected aspects of mobile learning. Personalization attribute has
strong implications for possession, organization and self-learning. The authors have
contributed a framework that highlights distinctive, current sociocultural qualities of
mobile pedagogy [30].
Ubiquitous learning is reinforced by ubiquitous computing. The goal of ubiquitous
learning is to make learning environment available in various circumstances. To
achieve this goal, an integrated approach of web-based education is needed; in this
way, a digital learning space can be utilized in different circumstances. Plasticity is
defined as the ability of digital learning space to be available for learning in varying
situations. Plasticity includes various aspects of context and adaptation [31].
The Internet of Everything concept can be extended to Internet of Nano-Things
(IoNT). This concept can be realized by integrating nano-sensors in different objects
and by using nano-networks. One of the applications of IoNT is in the field of medical
science. IoNT is able to access data from the areas where it is impossible to sense it
by means of instrument due to its size. This data collected improves the medical field
significantly by refining the existing information, new innovation and better medical
diagnosis [32].
11.4 Advantages of IoT in Education [6, 7]
11.4.1 Data Collection
IoT provides enormous data of the students to the teachers and the management at
the fingertips. IoT stores students’ performance in its database by which instructors
Fig. 11.2 Toward smart IoT-based classroom at Bradley University [9]
can track the progress of the student. Wearable RFID device records the student’s
attendance automatically, and it sends the notice to the parents if the student has less
attendance.
11.4.2 Personalized Learning
One of the problems in conventional education system is the lack of flexibility in the
course work. Every student is bound to take the same course even if the student is
not interested. In the classroom, the interaction is collective and does not consider
the needs of the individual. Using Big Data with IoT technology, each student can be
assessed on an individual basis. Weaker students are permitted to change the course
work which helps them to learn based on their interest and abilities (Fig. 11.2).
11.4.3 Security
Sometimes schools are the targets for attackers. So to avoid this, robust security
system is required. IoT can be used to provide security. The application of facial
recognition, GPS tracking devices, remote RFID checks and biometric can detect
and deny the trespassers. Using artificial intelligence (AI) in IoT, the devices can
even identify student’s or staff’s suspicious intents. It disallows them before any
potential damage is done.
Students can be supervised using various technologies such as 3D positioning.
Their presence can be reported at anytime. IoT contains button which alarms and
informs to the concerned persons if anything unusual happens. Smart cameras can
be used to monitor students.
11.4.4 Interactive Learning
In conventional education system, the learning is limited to textbooks and notebooks,

but nowadays, many textbooks are coupled up with web-based sites that provide addi-
tional images, videos, PDF materials, animations, etc. to aid the learning process.
This helps to gain a broader vision on new things with a better perceptive and interac-
tion with their friends and teachers. Using these resources, students can learn in their
flexible timing at their own place. Distribution of learning material from teachers to
students can be done using interconnected devices like smart pens, tablets and smart
boards.
11.4.5 Increasing Efficiency
In schools and colleges, instructors and clerks spend a lot of time on extra activities
which is not related to learning process such as marking attendance. Attendance
of students is taken for every subject, and attendance register is to be submitted to
the main office for various reasons. IoT can be used for this purpose in an efficient
way. Intelligent camera captures the presence of the student automatically based on
the students seating arrangement. This data is sent to the central office server, and
message will be sent to the parents if the student is absent. Due to IoT, the work
of instructors and clerks is reduced. This allows them to pay more attention toward
teaching and learning which is the core function of schools and colleges.
11.5 Implementation
The objective of suggested system is to enhance the result of the students learning
by considering their interactivity with resources that encloses them in their learning
space and their interactivity with those executed programs. Here, the resources are
complemented using the Internet of Objects idea.
Objects are embedded with QRCODE and NFC with unique tag. Each tag has
exclusive information that identifies the physical object uniquely, and it connects
to the virtual device. The physical objects can be accessed through mobile which
has the interface that contains QRCODE and NFC technology. The system supports
video, text, speech, audio, GIF, animations, image and so on. The server is accessed
via web socket with the purpose of minimizing the latency problems between the
HTTP, server and client.
Fig. 11.3 System architecture of IoT [33]
The database contains learning materials which are maintained by teacher via
Internet. The students access server through application which is installed in the
mobile (Fig. 11.3).
According to the instructor’s settings, the resource management interface provides
information regarding the augmented objects which is concerned to the learning
activity. To provide the data to the students, two databases are required. First database
will contain log in details, profile of the student and other related student information.
Second database contains data about augmented learning objects.
Physical objects contain interface based on QRCODE and NFC. It permits the
interactivity with physical object. When mobiles are near the tagged resources, the
students can log in to database through NFC or QRCODE. If NFC is chosen, then
the device collects the data present in the resource in NDEF format. An algorithm
decodes the NDEF and directs it to the server. As a result, the virtual object will be
displayed in the mobile using graphical user interface (GUI). QRCODE reading is
similar to NFC in terms of performance. The reader translates the tag data, and then
the user interface displays the learning material. The students know their performance
which will be stored in the database (Fig. 11.4).
The case study was done on the students who had taken the course Introduction
to Systems Engineering, provided by the University of Cordoba, Colombia. The
duration of this course was one term. The study was done on an activity called
identifying computer operations and hardware.
The task was designed with the aim to learn about the basic operation and to know
about the hardware related to the computer. The laboratory is embedded with the tag
containing NFC, which transmits the data to the mobile. The system will get to know
that the student is already in the location. So the student can obtain information about
the physical objects in the laboratory.
Fig. 11.4 Structure of IoT in education sector
Students formulate a set of readings of QRCODE or NFC tags attached to the

computer. The system and the learner interact with the different objects and send it
to the mobile devices which is associated with the augmented objects. It might use
video or animations engineered to illustrate the device at work. Thus, each augmented
object will explain how each component of the hardware operates, how it should be
installed for normal operation, etc.
11.6 Results
The experiment is done on 50 students who were enrolled in Introduction to Systems

Engineering course. Experiment is conducted with the aim to illustrate the use of
IoT in education which improves the learning outcome.
This experiment is conducted on 50 students, among which 25 students are
assigned to control group and remaining 25 students to the experimental group.
Control group received conventional lectures and experimental group worked in
tools created using IoT. Various types of tests were given to both the groups by the
teacher. The scores indicate the knowledge gained by the student.
To evaluate the knowledge of the student before the experiment, a pre-test was
taken. To know the knowledge gained by the student after the experiment, post-test
was taken. The below figures show scores obtained by the students in the test. Graph
is drawn based on the test score.
From the graph below, we can conclude that the usage of Internet of Things
in learning has increased the knowledge gain. From the data analyzed, the average
progress in learning for the control group is 1.1276 and the average learning progress
for the experimental group is 2.0716. In terms of score, good improvement is seen
in students who secured terrible results in the pre-test (Fig. 11.5).
Fig. 11.5 Graph based on pre-test and post-test scores [10]
A parametric experiment hypothesis was applied because there is proof of

normality of the data in the pre-test for the two groups. Table 11.1 provides the
statistical summary of the data. To get the mean scores of two groups, T-tests were
done. In this experiment, null hypothesis indicates that there is no difference between
the scores of the control and experimental group. The student’s t-test will indicate the
data is deviating or undeviating from this expectation. Presuming equal variances, we
get t = −0.281507 for p-value 0.77953. P-value is not less than 0.05, so we cannot
discard the null hypothesis. Post-test evaluation scores are given in Table 11.2. Here,
a non-parametric hypothesis test was used for evaluation in terms of the academic
Table 11.1 Pre-test score

Control group Experimental group
obtained by the control and
experimental group [10] Recount 25 25
Average 20,476 21,028
Confidence intervals 17,902; 23,050 179,050; 24,151
(95.0%)
Standard deviation 06,235 0,756,607
Coefficient of 304,522% 359,809%
variation
Minimum 103 103
Maximum 34 35
Range 237 247
Table 11.2 Post-test score

Control group Experimental group
obtained by the control and
experimental group [10] Recount 25 25
Average 32,752 41,744
Standard deviation 0,834,387 0,527,479
Medians 35 439
Coefficient of variation 254,759% 12,636%
Minimum 153 296
Maximum 459 49
Range 306 194
performance. We use W-Test Mann–Whitney (Wilcoxon) to compare medians. This

test is conducted by merging both the samples. Sorting is done in increasing order
on the merged data, and then the average of the two samples is compared. By evalu-
ating the values, we get W = 517.5 and p-value = 0.000071; therefore, the variation
between experimental and control groups is considerably static using W-test with a
confidence level of 95.0.
11.7 Conclusion
Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining rapid advancement in every field. We can use
IoT to implement smart learning environment that enhances the learning. In near
future, the Internet of Things will be further incorporated into the education system.
Schools incorporate IoT in education system to store huge amount of data, save
money and prepare students to become tech literate. Our perceptive of education
must change if we want to assimilate IoT into the education. The intention of smart
education is to ameliorate student’s quality of learning. The encroachment of IoT in
education helps to develop individual in terms of skill, knowledge and experience.
Also students learning exposure could be intensified and extended. Thus, it helps
individual’s development in an all-round way in terms of a section, intellectual and
physical. Students can learn flexibly during their free time and working collabora-
tively in smart learning environments, and as a result, they could advance the progress
of personal and collective intelligence of learners.
References
1. https://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/Internet-ofThings-IoT.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things.
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Monu Bhagat is currently working as a research scholar in

National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur. He did B.Tech
(2014) and M.Tech (2017) in Computer Science and Engi-
neering from WBUT and Kalyani Government Engineering
College respectively. He wrote many papers. His area of interest
includes Image processing, Machine Learning, Internet of
Things, Security etc.
Dilip Kumar is currently working as Assistant Professor in

Computer Science and Engineering Department at National
Institute of Technology Jamshedpur. He wrote many national
and international journals. His area of Interest includes Cloud
Computing, Optimization, Machine learning, IoT etc.
Sushma M. Balgi is currently pursuing her M.Tech degree

from Computer Science and Engineering Department at
National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur. Her area of
Interest includes Cloud Computing, Optimization, Machine
learning, IoT etc
Chapter 12
An Innovative Step for Enhancement
in Student Results
and Teaching–Learning Process Using
Educational Technology
Sudhanshu S. Gonge, Ratnashil N. Khobragade, Vilas M. Thakare,

Vivek S. Deshpande, and Manikrao L. Dhore
Abstract An education is an important part of daily lifestyle of student. A knowl-

edge can be gained through newspaper, television, Internet, books, etc. This formal
and informal way of learning education can also be done with the help of Internet
communication technology. There are various ways of delivering knowledge, viz. (i)
an ancient method of classroom teaching, (ii) journal and magazines and (iii) educa-
tion technology using varieties of applications. In this paper, a novel and different
methods and functions used for teaching by AI are being explained for enhancement
of student results, and outcome-based teaching–learning process using educational
technology and its statistical result analysis is described using T-test.
Keywords AI · Education technology · Teaching methods · T-test
12.1 Introduction
Teaching is a skill of teacher. Every teacher has different skill set. These skill sets
utilized by teacher are different for various subjects. Education technology helps
to teach and work in paperless format and helps in tracking records related to their
marks, attendance and various curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities
S. S. Gonge (B) · V. S. Deshpande · M. L. Dhore

Department of Computer Engineering, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, India
e-mail: sudhanshu1984gonge@rediffmail.com
R. N. Khobragade · V. M. Thakare
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University,
Amravati, India

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_12
236 S. S. Gonge et al.
[1–3]. Teaching methodology is also used based on the knowledge and quality of
delivering contents of subjects. It also depends upon ethics and utilization of modern
tools for subject. Many times teaching faculty does their student’s assessment and
evaluation in two types, i.e., formative assessment and summative assessment [1–6].
Flowchart shown in Fig. 12.1 shows the teaching process and assessment method
used for improvement of teacher as well as student. Teacher progress as well as
student progress evaluation is a continuous process. There are two methods, i.e., (i)
internal quality assurance cell and (ii) external quality assurance cell. The internal
and external qualities of student outcomes are based on the teachers’ quality teaching
and their assessment [5–7].
Start
Teaching Method Used by Teacher
Exams Taken by Teacher at College / University Level
Assessment Methods
Formative Assessment Methods Summative Assessment Methods
Result Declaration
Result Analysis Continue Process
Stop
Fig. 12.1 Flowchart of teaching process and assessment methods

12 An Innovative Step for Enhancement in Student Results … 237
12.1.1 Formative Assessments
In formative assessment, the student evaluation is done for improvement in their

skill that they have been learned in the teaching–learning process. This process is
being carried out after external exams are over and the results of that exam are being
declared [6–9].
12.1.2 Summative Assessments
The summative assessment is applicable for the practical evaluation to identify the
student skills’ effectiveness. Summative assessment is basically associated with the
evaluation of practical exams, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities [6, 9–14].
Assessment procedures vary based on the subject and the way of methodology
adopted at the class by teacher/professor. There are different methods used by
teachers/professors used in India as shown in Fig. 12.2. There are two main methods
of delivering knowledge used by teachers, i.e., one is formal type also known as
supervised teaching and other is informal type also defined as unsupervised way of
teaching [1, 3, 6, 8, 10]. Formal type of teaching pedagogy has different methods
like classroom teaching, blended learning, flipped classroom, ICT teaching, flash
card, books, magazines, journals, case studies, etc. which are being used [2–9].
Informal type of teaching pedagogy has more varieties of methods as compared
to that of the formal way of teaching. Informal type of teaching includes forum
discussion, distance learning, debate competition, conferences, exhibitions, semi-
nars, workshops, symposium, expert lectures, virtual laboratories, online courses,
libraries, etc. It also provides education through radio, television, industrial visits,
etc. which is totally connected to the outside world of classroom teaching [1, 11–13].
There are huge numbers of students who are learning through various modes. This
raised the problem of result analysis after examination.
To overcome this issue, there is need of AI-based computational intelligence s/w
for doing result analysis. This also helps teacher for concentrating on their teaching
skills and can deliver knowledge to students and achieve the outcomes. It also reduces
the manual calculation and physical work of teachers.
12.2 Literature Survey
Koehler et al. (2005) [1] explain knowledge content delivered by teacher in technical
way. It helps teacher to understand complicated content associated with different
educational technology used for delivering knowledge deeply. Chai et al. (2010) [2]
have done analysis of the technical knowledge and pedagogical content description
used for understanding the subject through ICT teaching methodology of teachers.
Methods of Delivering Knowledge by Teachers
Formal Type / Supervised Informal Type/ Unsupervised
Classroom Blended Flipped ICT Distance

Teaching Learning classroom Teaching Learning
Forum Discussion Debate Competitions
Flash Card
Magazines Journals
News Conferences Seminars

Books Case Studies
Workshops
Symposium Radio Television Expert Lectures Online Courses
Industrial Visits Virtual Labs
Exhibitions Libraries
Fig. 12.2 Tree chart for method of delivering knowledge by teachers
Archambault et al. (2010) [3] explain teacher pedagogy content and its knowledge
model used for judging teachers across the USA. It also explains about the benefit
gained by teachers and students including staff working in the administration of
teaching field. Various teaching–learning principles based on the content knowl-
edge explain teaching methods and cognitive thinking of teachers’ principle used for
evaluation [4].
Campbell et al. (1995) [5] define and explain the distance learning concept through
interactive way. Many researchers work on making enhancement in content delivery
to student for improving their knowledge and skills [6, 9]. The skill sets were statis-
tically interpreted with the help of education technology used for teaching in various
ways [6]. Brown et al. (2006) [7] introduced a novel way of teaching through pedagog-
ical knowledge for delivering the fundamental concepts of electrical and computer
engineering. Ismaili et al. (2008) [8] implement higher education ethics for the
development of teachers and students. Researches also works on a different way
of teaching–learning, which works for the different processes used to maintain the
quality of accreditation and excellent assessment of student [6, 9].
Schmidt et al. (2009) [10] developed an instrument for assessing the quality
improvement in teachers with respect to their subject knowledge, content delivery
and way of pedagogy used in the classroom. The Internet and education technology
also helps to reduce the physical work of teachers by conducting exam online. This
improves an exam conducting system in teaching–learning field [11]. Harris et al. [12]
tell about curriculum-based technology design for teachers and students. Korthagen
et al. (1999) [13] proposed the changing methodology of teachers with respect to their
curriculum subject and different trends in education technology used for teaching.
However, many researchers are also working on the artificial intelligence and its role
in the outcome-based teaching and improvement in the student skills. It is found that
AI provides the facility in terms of information based on the requirement of teachers
and students. AI has improved teaching–learning facilities and has great impact on
the education field [14]. Kandlhofer et al. (2016) [15] explain role of AI and their
functions used in education for developing skills of computer science students in
the field of AI and computer science. It also explains about the development and
utilization of AI-based softwares for all classes used for delivering the lectures.
Popenici et al. (2017) [16] describe the emerging technology developed by using
AI for teaching–learning process. Safiuddin et al. (2018) [17] clear the concepts
of engineering education. It also deals with technological development for data
processing using AI and innovative implementation for feedback control system.
Ciolacu et al. (2018) [18] explain the Education 4.0 by using AI and early recogni-
tion system for the development of student ability. It also deals with various machine
learning algorithms like SVM and neural networks used for the analysis of student
performance. Fauvel et al. (2018) [19] describe the agents requirement in AI research
for developing the massive open online courses. It tells about the way of student
involvement with full dedication. Muheidat et al. (2018) [20] proposed different
strategies used for teaching–learning process, which is implemented in US educa-
tion system. It describes different ways of learning methods in group or team for
making team formation.
Ciolacu et al. (2019) [21] describe the Education 4.0 system and AI role in IoT
subject taught for higher classes and challenges in higher education. Tich Phuoc et al.
(2019) [22] explain the learning system, which is used for delivering knowledge
to student. Furse et al. (2020) [23] explain flipped classroom teaching and QCF
model used for designing the instruction. Moreno et al. (2020) [24] explained about
assessment method for mathematics course using AI. Ali et al. (2017) [25] explain
the method of ensemble learning based on decision making. It also explains its
future scope and status of this technique. Rojarath et al. (2016) [26] describe the
improvement in classification of dataset feature based on voting technique. Verma
et al. (2015) [27] explain the classification of data using ensemble learning with
random forest tree algorithm. From this survey, it is observed that AI can play an
important role in education system.
Artificial Intelligence in Education
Automatic Grading Diverse Learning Identifying Weakness &

Strength of Class
Support Student Motivation to learn

Customized Help in Learning
Support Teacher
Fig. 12.3 Function of AI in education system
12.3 Artificial Intelligence in Education Field
There are various functions of AI in education system as shown in Fig. 12.3. AI works
on basic principles of environment culture, cognition and its system behavior [14].
The seven functions are being used by AI, for delivering lecture content to the class.
There is AI classroom s/w service called as Google Classroom developed by Google
[14–24]. It facilitates teacher to give online teaching material, assignments, multiple
choice questions and to-do list for teaches as well as for students. It helps teacher
to take exam and avoid physical work of monitoring class as well as reduces the
utilization of paperwork. It also provides support to student to upload assignments
and study anytime and anywhere in the network. It motivates student toward learning
the subject as compared to that of traditional way of teaching. An automatic grading
system of Google Classroom is handled by AI system, which facilitates good services
to teachers for providing grades to students [17–19]. It also helps in identifying
the slow learner and fast learner in the classroom based on auto-generated result
analysis. It also provides the diverse learning facilities for studying different subject
for different students at same time. Based on these, the statistical T-test is applied and
explained for the improvement of student skill set and teaching–learning process.
12.4 Role of Computational Intelligence in Result Analysis
A computational intelligence is subbranch of AI. It consists of various algorithms

used for computing based on the available dataset [20–24]. It is based on the type
of machine learning components, which work on three different learning concepts,
viz. (i) supervised, (ii) unsupervised and (iii) reinforcement. It is explained in the
following sub-sections.
12.4.1 Supervised Learning
The supervised learning is the function used for performing approximation task based
on the input and output values [18, 19]. It is used for two different methods, viz.
(i) classification and (ii) regression. The classification methods are used for result
analysis of the student after their exam as well as student who have re-attempted
the exam. It can be implemented using various algorithms, such as support vector
machine, discriminant analysis, Naïve Bayes and nearest neighbor used for classifi-
cation of data. The regression method is used by different kinds of algorithms, viz.
(i) linear regression, (ii) support vector regression, (iii) Gaussian process regression,
(iv) generalized linear model, (v) ensemble methods, (vi) decision tree, (vii) neural
network, etc. [15–20].
12.4.2 Unsupervised Learning
In unsupervised learning, the data do not have any target attribute; by using this
learning function, there is a need to enhance the data for obtaining required struc-
ture from the dataset. It is used for clustering purpose. It can be implemented by
using different algorithms, viz. (i) k-means, (ii) k-medoids, (iii) fuzzy c-means, (iv)
Gaussian mixture, (v) hierarchal clustering, (vi) neural network, etc. Generally, deep
learning uses the unsupervised learning function for clustering the data of similar
attributes, for prediction of image patterns and for unlabeled dataset [18–24].
12.4.3 Reinforcement Learning
It is a behavior of an agent that learns through trial and error method used in the
dynamic environment. It is an orthogonal learning function used for evaluating the
learner’s performance and providing the standard of correctness in form of behavioral
target [18–24].
12.4.4 Ensemble Learning Method
It is one of the machine learning techniques, which develop multiple model and
combined them to produce enhancement in the output results. Ensemble learning
method is used for the result analysis of students. It can be implemented on huge
dataset. It provides better result as compared to that of the single machine learning
algorithms. It provides classification as well as regression methods [25]. Ensemble
learning is implemented using two steps. (i) The same or different machine learning
algorithms are used. These base models of machine learning algorithms are imple-
mented for generating multiple machine learning model. (ii) These models are used to
perform basic task like classification, prediction, regression, etc. There are different
techniques, which use ensemble learning, such as (i) voting and averaging, (ii)
stacking, (iii) bootstrap aggregating and (iv) boosting [25–27].
In this chapter, voting and averaging technique is used with ensemble learning
method. However, voting technique is used for classification of student data, whether
he/she is passed/failed. Averaging technique is used in regression, to display and
compare the student result using regression analysis. In this research, parameters like
pass, fail, ATKT, above 60%, above 55%, below 55%, etc. are considered as depen-
dent parameters, whereas the number of students appearing for exam is independent
variable.
By using these techniques, result analysis is done as shown in Fig. 12.4. It shows
the classification of student with respect to pass and fail count, whereas regres-
sion analysis is used for predicting percentage scores after successful completion of
classification process. This is required because there are huge numbers of student
appearing for exam and need to identify the results of each subject for every class.
The chapter also explains the fundamental concepts of teacher that are required for
the teaching–learning process described in Sect. 12.5.
There are different pedagogies used by teacher for delivering the knowledge to
the student as explained in Fig. 12.2. The evaluation of the student assessment is
necessary which is described in Sect. 12.1. Hence, there is a need of result analysis
for the summative assessment and formative assessment. Result analysis is very
important to identify the student. There are three types of students, i.e., (a) fast
learner, (b) average learner and (c) slow learner. These student can be evaluated and
identified after result analysis. The workflow of result analysis is shown in Fig. 12.4.
This flowchart also helps to evaluate course outcome and program outcome. The
steps for result analysis are as shown below:-
1. Declaration of the theory practical results of exams by college/university teacher.
2. Depending upon the condition of passing, the students are declared as either pass
or fail.
3. If students are passed again, then the percentages of students are check based on
the condition put for result analysis.
4. If students are failed, then Allowed to keep terms (ATKT) condition is checked
for further evaluation of result analysis. Suppose the students fall in ATKT grade
or year down, then the remedial coaching classes are being conducted to improve
the skill sets of students. Otherwise, students’ percentages are calculated with
respect to class wise and subject wise, and grades are allocated to students.
These steps are implemented using ensemble learning method [25]. The advan-
tages of this method help to combine one or more machine learning models, which
can be used for result analysis, and improve the performance.
Start
University/ College Theory and Practical
Declaration of University/College Result
Yes No
Condition for Passing
Student Pass Student Fail
Percentage of Student No
Condition for ATKT
Yes Grade ATKT

Above 60%
Year Down
Required Remedial Coaching
Condition for
Above 55%
Distinction Calculate Second
Calculate Count
Class Count
Subject Wise
Yes No
Below 55%
Calculate Pass Class Count
Calculate
Distinction Count
Calculate First Class Count
Calculate Count Subject Wise
Calculate Distinction Count Subject wise Calculate First Class Count Subject wise
100% Student Passed
Stop
Fig. 12.4 Flowchart of result analysis
12.5 Fundamentals of Teachers’ Teaching
To get an enhancement in students’ skills, four parameters are important:

• Teaching model,
• Teaching skills,
• Teaching relationship with student,
• Reflection of student.
12.5.1 Teaching Model
A teaching model is an active process to improve the skill of the students and convert
it into outcome-based teaching–learning process. It is a real-time process conducted
by the teacher in classroom environment to interact with the student and increase the
learning interest about the subject [1, 6, 9, 11–13].
12.5.2 Teaching Skills
Teaching skills are the activities carried out by instructor in class either in direct
method or in indirect method. There are five properties of teaching skills that every
teacher may possess that are (a) patience, (b) creativity, (c) good communication, (d)
personality and collaboration and (e) self-discipline. These properties help teaching
skills to make good relationship with students related to their academics. Due to this,
student increases their interest in learning for that respected subject where these five
properties are present in the teaching skills [6–13].
Figure 12.5 shows the teaching skill and teaching model relationship. The student
reflections are based on the fundamentals of teachers’ teaching skills related to the
subject. There are four fundamentals of teacher teaching used for student reflection
which are described as follows:-
1. Focus—Teacher should be focused on curricular, co-curricular and extra-
curricular aspects with respect to academic syllabus and current scenario of
science and technology. The working and relationship of focus are associated
with teaching relationship with student and subject. It is also directly propor-
tional to the relation between student reflection, teaching models and teaching
skills [1, 3, 7].
2. Fundamental Outcomes—The outcome of teaching methodology must be correct
and chosen perfectly with respect to subjects and syllabus [1, 4, 8, 10].
Teaching relationship with student and subject
Teaching Skills
Teaching Model Student Reflection
Fig. 12.5 Teaching skill and teaching model relationship

3. Social Systems—The teacher should implement his/her skill which differentiates

from above-described techniques. The concepts of learning should be positive
attitude with ethics [1–9].
4. Practical Support Systems—The teacher should demonstrate his/her skill through
practicals, such as demonstration of computer programming and its execu-
tion. This improves the skills of computer engineering student. This method
of teaching also helps teachers to get the honest feedback of his/her teaching
skill [6–9].
12.5.3 Teaching Relationship with Students
There are basic five fundamentals of teaching relationship with student. They are:-
1. Teacher should able to provide activities that make them safe and fearless toward
their curricular and extra-curricular activities [1–9].
2. Teacher must able to make and maintain discipline with them and also respect
student [1–9].
3. Teacher should able to create an interest for their subject in their classroom [10].
4. Teacher should be passionate about his/her subject during delivering the subject
contents [11–13].
5. Teacher should able to solve their problems regarding class work and home
assignment assigned for them [13].
12.5.4 Reflection with Students
1. Teacher should provide study material like notes, books and content through
lectures punctually along with course plan and syllabus [6–9].
2. During teaching–learning process, students must have to be already prepared
with prerequisite for novelty learning in lectures [6–9].
3. Students reflecting toward teachers during practical, this can create a sign of an
outcome-based student development for that subject [6–9].
During this Covid-19 pandemic, the fundamentals of teachers’ teaching have
played an important role for delivering lectures. Many professors and teachers have
taken online lecture through Zoom, Cisco meeting s/w and AI-based software like
Google Classroom. It was found that the student’s attendance was more as compared
to the traditional way of teaching carried out in classrooms. It also found that the
time of teachers was saved and used by them for enhancing their skills.
Many quizzes were conducted through Google quiz. This helps teachers for
completing their syllabus through combination of Internet technology and AI-based
softwares. These lectures were recorded and shared with student through Google
Classroom for enhancing their computer science and engineering skills. This results
in the improvement of the student skills which is explained in Sect. 12.6.
12.6 Statistical T-Test Analysis of CSE Students

for Outcome-Based Teaching–Learning Process
To evaluate OBE teaching methodology, based on the exam taken before pandemic
using classroom teaching and after pandemic using educational technology. A
random sample of 10 students are being selected from a class based on their atten-
dance in traditional classroom and online learning process as shown in Table 12.1. The
formative and summative assessment is consider for mid-semester marks obtained
by student after attending classes through traditional way and end-semester marks
of students achieved by using educational technology after attending the classes by
student through online lectures conducted through Zoom, Google Meet and Google
Classrooms.
The ten samples of student from a class of computer science engineering student
are taken for analysis. Let us consider X score of students scored in the mid-semester
through traditional classroom teaching and Y is the end-semester marks scored by
the students using educational technology.
With respect to the samples taken in Table 12.1, the null hypothesis is considered
for the improvement of teachers’ teaching skills along with enhancement of students’
learning approach toward the subject. Mathematically, hypothesis can be written as:-
H 0 : μ1 = μ2 which is equivalent to test H 0 : D = 0.
H p : μ1 < μ2 (as case study explained in this paper is consider for the novel and
different methods used for teaching are being explained for enhancement of student
results obtained by teaching–learning process using educational technology.) Since
after mid-semester, the assessment is done by the students and their evaluation is
carried out after result analysis process.
Table 12.1 Statistical T-test calculation

Students Mid-semester score (X) End-semester score (Y ) Difference D Difference
out of 30 marks out of 70 marks = (X − Y ) square D2
1 12 42 −30 900
2 14 36 −22 484
3 15 35 −20 400
4 15 29 −14 196
5 5 44 −41 1681
6 7 42 −35 1225
7 9 46 −37 1369
8 6 40 −34 1156
9 8 39 −31 961
10 5 36 −31 961
2
Total n = μ1 = 96 μ2 = 389 D = −295 D = 9333
10
√
t = D − 0/σ diff n (1)
To perform T-test analysis for above samples, first calculate the value of ‘t’ given
in Eq. 1. Equation 1 has deviation and the mean difference. The value of the ‘D’ can
be calculated by using the equation of deviation of difference as shown below:

D = D/n = −295/10 = −29.5 (2)
The value of σ diff, i.e., the mean can be calculated by using the equation of
deviation of difference as shown below:

σdiff = D 2 − (D )2 ∗ n /(n − 1) (3)

diff = (9333 − (−29.5)2 × 10)/(10 − 1) = 99.614256 (4)
√
t = (−29.5 − 0)/ 99.614256 10 = −29.5/315.007936 = −0.093648 (5)
The degree of freedom can be computed as:-
d f = (n − 1) = (10 − 1) = 9 (6)
As H p is consider as one-sided, thus one-tailed test is applied on the left side. Since
H p is not greater than type i.e. (μ1 < μ2 ) for evaluation and determination of the region
which can be rejected at 10% level of significance which comes under t-distribution
table of 9° of freedom as: R: t < −1.383. The computed and observed value of t is −
0.0093648 which is less as compared to the value of t-distribution table. Thus, H p at
10% level is rejected because it falls in the region of rejection. This concludes that
there is improvement in teachers’ teaching and enhancement in students’ learning of
computer engineering student skills using educational technology.
12.7 Conclusion
In this paper, the role of AI and computational intelligence in education system is

explained. The paper described the ensemble learning method used for the result
analysis. It explains AI, and computational intelligence reduces the manual work
of teachers and provides 24 × 7 learning service to students. It explains about the
AI-based softwares used for delivering lectures. The paper describes the teachers’
teaching models and different innovative ways to improve the learning skill of
computer science and engineering students with the help of educational technology.
It deals with the case study of the teaching–learning model used for the improvement
of teachers’ teaching style and enhancement in student skills based on the assess-
ment methods used by teacher. It also explains the result obtained after using educa-
tional technology has increased as compared to that of results achieved by students
in traditional teaching–learning process. This shows that there is enhancement in
outcome-based teaching–learning process. It also proved that there is increment in
student results by doing result analysis and statistical analysis with the help of T-test.
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ENCE.2017.7943141
Chapter 13
Digital Pedagogical Paradigm
in Language Lab-Based English Teaching
for Higher Technical Education
Sadhan Kumar Dey and Alice Dey
Abstract National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of India in compliance with

the policy decisions of Washington Accord has created a landmark event in the
current decade as envisaged in the emphasis on ‘digital pedagogy’ in higher tech-
nical education in India today. NBA in compliance with the basic tenets of the Wash-
ington Accord has made accreditation of ‘professional courses’ compulsory across
the length and breadth of India. Therefore, ‘Digital Pedagogy’ is sine qua non of the
present situation in higher technical education. The proposed book chapter is a serious
attempt to present a model for teaching of English for Technical Communication
using Digital Pedagogy in higher technical education as prescribed by NBA (India).
In spite of the prescribed course planner of NBA (India), English faculty members of
various technical universities of India still continue with the traditional pedagogy of
‘chalk and talk’ due to lack of insightful training in digital pedagogy. The proposed
digital pedagogical model specifies how to handle Digital Language Laboratory to
develop English Communicative Competence of UG students in higher technical
education in India and abroad. Digital Language Laboratory is often misunderstood
and misused as an alternative smart classroom. The proposed book chapter would
focus on how NBA—prescribed norms can be maintained adeptly using Digital
Language Laboratory as a teaching aid or grand digital Realia. The proposed book
chapter would also showcase digitized strategies for English language teachers so that
they can handle digital pedagogical paradigm by following the legacy of ‘continuity
in change’ through proper application of digital pedagogy.
Keywords Digital · Pedagogical · Paradigm · Language lab-based · English

teaching · Higher · Technical · Education
S. K. Dey (B)
Department of Engineering Science and Management, RCC Institute of Information Technology,
Kolkata, India
e-mail: deysadhan.rcciit@gmail.com
A. Dey
Department of Law, Kalinga University, Raipur, Chhatisgarh, India
e-mail: alicede838@gmail.com; deysadhan.rcciit@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_13
252 S. K. Dey and A. Dey
13.1 Introduction
Digital pedagogy is the central pivotal concept that is attached to all Online Courses
offered by most advanced universities of the world through Coursera1 MOOCs.
NPTEL2 Online Courses of several Indian Institutes of Technology/universities or
research institutes of India that are offered through SWAYAM3 also use the digital
pedagogical norms for successful implementation of these Online Courses. During
the first two decades of the current century, traditional pedagogy has faced a plethora
of mega challenges and dramatic changes in the field of English Language Teaching
for Higher Technical Education across the globe. Driven by innovations in the field
of Information and Communication system, Electronic advancement and Information
and Communication Technology (hereafter referred to as ICT), classroom pedagogy
has adopted a new paradigm shift in higher education. Technical education has expe-
rienced these innovations in the field of ICT and introduced new technologies that are
evolving in great speed. These cutting-edge educational technologies have not only
altered the constraints of space and time but also reshaped the way students of higher
education learn, think and communicate in Academia and Industry today. Rapid
advancement in Information Technology and digital system has started reshaping
the digital ecosystem of innovations in ICT. Now, people can transmit information
widely within a second propelling the growth of new urban communities through
linking distant places and diverse areas of endeavour in productive new ways. Few
decades ago, this was quite unimaginable. The present chapter has primarily focused
on the two interrelated issues as pointed out below:
a. How technical education in India under the provisions of Washington Accord
has executed the transition from the traditional pedagogy to the digital peda-
gogy?
b. How two overriding principles known as the principle of ‘variety’ and the prin-
ciple of ‘flexibility’ have become integral parts of digital pedagogy of English
teaching?
Recent world wide turmoil due to global Lockdown4 on account of COVID-19 set
glaring example in front of all doubtful eyes that Digital Pedagogy based on www
along with Web Tools Weblog and Appliances are the only saviour in Academics and
Administration be it an issue of teaching–learning of Law, Literature or of English
Language.
1 Coursera Inc. (Stanford, USA) which is famous for launching Massive Open Online Courses on
different subject domain across the globe.
2 National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (India).
3 Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Mind (India).
4 That inter alia started the culture ‘work from home’ across the globe.
13 Digital Pedagogical Paradigm in Language … 253
13.2 Language Lab-Based English Teaching Across Time

and Clime
The first experiment of using Language Laboratory for language teaching was
undertaken at the University of Grenoble, France in 1908. USSR and Germany
also used Language Laboratories in 1950s and 1970s, respectively. CELT5 recom-
mended the use of Language Laboratories for focussed learning/acquisition of
English as the Second Language. But these primary attempts failed to earn reputa-
tion due to frequent breakdowns and limitations of technology. At present, language
labs are well equipped with advanced technologies such as ICT and IT-enabled
Web tools. The English Language Lab is a technological breakthrough for imparting
almost all needful language skills and sub skills of English due to application of
Digital Pedagogy. It offers an exclusive result-oriented and efficient way to enrich
English language learning process. Multimedia-based language lab helps to learn and
enhance language proficiency by sharing course materials within seconds. These are
developed on the methodology of LSRW skills. The language laboratory is a very
helpful tool for practising and assessing one’s speech, testing four skills, learning at
their own pace without teachers. At the same time, it builds the motivation of learners
reducing fear, and it makes students feel comfortable [1].
Language lab software, in the present century, is one of the essential tools used
in teaching and learning Communicative English to the students. Language lab is
a practical approach which boosts the self-learning by providing self-guided and at
the same time well-structured training in order to achieve the objective set by the
education body. It functions as complementary to the classroom teaching through
which the students can reinforce the material learned in class by putting them into
practice. It is a great help to the teachers in monitoring and evaluating the progress of
the students and mentor them about their weaknesses. It has been observed that the
students learn much faster in the language lab compared to the classroom where they
are taught traditionally. Language lab allows the teachers to bring more diversified
activities in order to keep the classroom interesting. They also offer a great tool to
foster the communication in the classroom as it allows to chat—send a message
and interact in the group. Language lab software devices are mainly used for the
following purposes:
Multiple options for communication: There are multiple ways a teacher can
communicate with the student. There are various inbuilt features which make commu-
nication one to one either through audio, video or text. Intercom feature lets you
send text messages, or through audio–video, one can directly communicate with the
student. There are unique tools in the software lets the teacher communicate with
the individual student, selected students in a group or to a whole class. It is one-
way communication provided only to teachers. Instant messaging, audio and video
chatting are the different forms that the teacher communicates with the students.
5 Communicative English Language Teaching Method is popularly known by that name.

Incognito monitoring: As the name suggests, the teacher can monitor student
activity in real-time discreetly. Incognito supervision of students’ activities takes
place through the supervisor feature.
Inbuilt applications: The teacher can make customized e-lessons with the help
of specially designed tools to make the lessons interesting and engaging. There are
various inbuilt applications like Lesson Studio, e-Reader, Billboard, e-Writer, Net
Flick, X-Play, Video Streaming, Conferencing, Live Classroom, e-Assignments
to create customized lessons creation and implementation.
Inbuilt mechanism for lab class: The list of implementation tools include incog-
nito monitoring, customized e-lessons creation, instant evaluation and feedback,
listening comprehension practice and pronunciation practice. Personalized, interac-
tive video quiz, proctored assignments and progress tracking will safeguard students’
engagement and involvement in English Language Lab class.
Instant evaluation and feedback facility: Assessment of speaking, listening and
all the other assignments addressed to the students are corrected, and the evaluation
and feedback are given instantly at a single click of a button.
Listening comprehension practice facility: Language lab provides a platform for
the teachers to skilfully use the resources available in the software to the best fit. The
technology provides various comprehension modules for different levels and helps
the students gradually move to the tougher lessons successfully.
Pronunciation6 practice facility: Language laboratory lay stress on pronunciation,
stress, intonation and expression in the guided mode where the student can monitor
their progress report on each stage. This helps to fill the loopholes in the ability to
understand the right way to spell a particular word or the expression.
Personalized interactive video quiz facility: Implementing a personalized and inter-
active video quiz in the learning module develops self-learning and enables the
students to reach the expected progress for the module quickly. Visual aids play a
vital role in bringing out the best in the students that make the learning exciting and
fun.
Assignments and progress tracking facility: Each student is continuously moni-
tored through his completed tasks and assignments. There are alerts set in the soft-
ware to remind the students to expedite the backlogs quickly. Progress report for
each assignment is available to the teacher on the main screen. The teacher can set
deadlines for a particular assignment and offer help based on his progress chart.
Students’ active involvement: The most important output the teacher receives at
the end of each session is the student’s participation and active involvement in the
assignments in every stage of her/his progress. Collaborative learning and interac-
tion enhances the student’s active involvement in the lessons and stays concentrated
6 Mainlyof RP (Received Pronunciation of Standard British) variety or ARP (American Received

Pronunciation).
on completing the given assignments. The language laboratory is very useful for
assessing students’ speech. It provides students with the technical tools to get the
best samples of the pronunciation of the language. The electronic devices used in
the laboratory will stimulate the eyes and ears of the learner to acquire the language
quickly and easily. The laboratory’s collection is designed to assist learners in the
acquisition and maintenance of aural comprehension, oral and written proficiency,
and cultural awareness.
Integrated facilities: The language laboratory offers broadcasting, television
programmes, web-assisted materials and videotaped off-air recordings in the target
language. In short, a learner can get the experience of having interaction with native
speakers through the laboratory. Hence, the language laboratory has become the need
of the hour in any language learning process for communication.
13.3 Digital Lesson Plan for Lab-Based English Teaching
Technical Education in India has been brought under the provisions of Washington
Accord since 2010 which has prescribed the transition from the traditional pedagogy
to the digital one.
Two overriding principles for standard course planning as well as lesson planning
are known as the principle of ‘variety’ and the principle of ‘flexibility’ [2].7
The term ‘Variety’ in the context of Digital Lab-Based English Language
Teaching refers to involving technical students of higher education in a number
of various types of Internet-based or Web tools-based Digital Learning Activities
(DLA).
It necessitates formal introduction of key functionalities to the students of higher
education so that they can opt from available wide selections of relevant Digital
Study Materials through a number of Realia (i. e. Teaching Aids) as displayed in
Fig. 13.1.
Side by side the term ‘Flexibility’ refers to non-rigid approaches that come into
application when Engineering English teachers deal with the NBA—designed Course
Planner in classroom teaching. The NBA course plan is based on Major Grad-
uate Attributes of English Communication that is included in the above mentioned
Washington Accord.
Lesson planning for digitally programmed Engineering English Teaching in a
Lab situation should take up the challenges of the recently designed NBA Course
Planner (See Annexure 1 and Annexure 2 for details) so that learning Technical
Communicative English becomes ever—interesting and never—monotonous one for
the Engineering Students.
7 International Journal of English Literature and Language Skills.

Language Lab Rialia
INTERNET
Digital Digital
CD /DVD Projector InteracƟve LAN/WAN Teacher’s Talk
Ac vity Flip Audio –
Player Smart Board /A V Lectures
Sheets Video
Materials
Digital Digital Cue Over Head

Graphics or Cards / Flash LCD Projector Projector WEBINAR Podcast
Charts Cards (OHP)
MAN
Computer –
Aided
Language
Laboratory
Fig. 13.1 English language lab realia at a glance
The Lesson Plan for a particular day or a session in the Engineering English
Language Lab class may not be appropriate for that class. There may be a number of
reasons behind the failure of a lesson plan in a Digital English Language Lab class.
Some probable reasons are (Fig. 13.2).
The flexible Engineering English teacher must be able to change the Lesson Plan
in such a situation even if it requires minor adjustments with the prescribed NBA
Course Planner.
Flexibility at the implementation level is the prime requisite that a genuinely
adaptable and dynamic teacher may never disregard as shown in Fig. 13.3.
Recent surveys, done in the field of English teaching, have highlighted the fact
that technical students are hyperactive. Most of the Engineering students need to
know the purpose behind a certain task for they need to know why they are doing
some language activity and what they will achieve after completing the given task/s.
The Lab-based Lesson Plan should specify the purpose which may be ‘Commu-
nicative Activities’ or development of receptive skills (listening skill and reading
skill) and productive skills (speaking skill and writing skill) or orientation to technical
and business situations in real life.
Engineering English faculty members of engineering institutions must have a
purpose for all the activities they organize in a class or in Digital Language Laboratory
for that matter throughout a particular session or semester. They should communicate
that purpose in their Session Plan which should also be available as an appendage
to the syllabus and curriculum of the university concerned.
One must not forget that a technical class of higher education may include a
number of intellectually advanced tech-savvy personalities with diverse learning
Among the
students/faculƟes
Odd RouƟne Lack of

Timings Proficiencfy
Lack of pre-
Session Lack of
MoƟvaƟonal coordinaƟon
AcƟviƟes
Lack of instrucƟon Lack of

in Flip materials CooperaƟon
Non – Contextual Lack of

Texts organizaƟon
Fig. 13.2 Probable reasons for failure of lesson plan in lab-based teaching
experiences and stylistic preferences based on their different world views and their
respective diverse socio-economic and ethno-cultural backgrounds.
As a result, the language activity of English that is specifically appropriate for
a fresher Undergraduate may not be ideal for a Diploma holder with certain real-
life industrial job experience. Therefore, Engineering English faculty members who
vary their teaching approaches from time to time may be able to satisfy most of
their Engineering students [1].
The doctrine of Variety8 as it is used in the field of Educational Psychology refers
to a pedagogic principle that applies especially to a series of advance level English
language classes. For example, English faculty members will try to implement a
series of digitized learning activities (see Conclusion for details) in the technical
class by following the doctrine of variety during a particular semester.
8 The
doctrine of variety has its origin in B. F. Skinner’s concept of “Operant Conditioning” for
maximum learning within minimum time frame [3].
Fig. 13.3 Sub skills in digital pedagogy of English teaching
The principle of variety applies to a lesser extent to a single class period also.
Although there are some activities that can last for fifty minutes, it seems generally
true that changes of activity during that time are advisable. An additional introductory
session of a new language item or an aspect of English language that requires another
period of fifty minutes would probably be counter-productive. It is noticeable how
an over-long accurate reproduction stage creates fatigue in technical students and
fails to achieve any effective outcome.
We would not expect, either, to ask the students to engage in ‘Reading Compre-
hension’ for the entire period of the digital class. We might, however, be able to use
the entire class on one reading passage if we introduce various facets and planned
activities that we can intertwine with the reading exercise. Thus, we might get students
of higher education to read to extract specific information.
This reading for comprehension may be followed by some topic-based thematic
discussion, some intensive tasks and some kind of written or oral follow-up integrated
tasks.9 Adult learners of technical education, especially, need to do a variety of tasks
9 Based on Task-Based Language Teaching Approach of Communicative English Language

Teaching.
in fairly quick succession as they will generally not be able to concentrate on one
activity for a longer stretch of time than 8–10 min.
The teacher who believes in the doctrine of variety will have to be simultaneously
flexible as the only way to provide variety is to use a number of different techniques.
All of these may not fit into one method or approach and may not be synchronous
all the time. Teacher administrator should be immediately suspicious of anyone who
says all the students have been able to answer to language-related problems. This sort
of generalized over-positive feedback will imply a lack of flexibility and variety in
digital pedagogy.
Digital Session/Lesson Planning is a pedagogic art of mixing teaching tech-
niques, digital tool-based activities and deployment of TLM/LTM10 in such a way
that an ideal balance is maintained for the ELT11 class. In a general language course,
there will be work on the four skills. Although a teacher will probably come to a deci-
sion about the relative merits of each skill, there will be presentation and controlled
practice, roughly tuned input of receptive skill work and communicative activities.
Different student grouping will be used.
If the lab-based English faculty members have a large variety of techniques and
activities that they can use with students, they can then apply themselves to the central
question of session/lesson planning:
‘What is it that Engineering English students will feel, know or be able to do at
the end of the session/class that they did not feel or know or were not able to do at
the beginning of the session/class?’.
It may be presumed that the technical students will feel more positively involved
in active learning of English at the end of the class than they did at the beginning as a
result of activities that were enjoyable. One may say that the students will know some
new language usage that they could not learn before their involvement in Digital Lab-
based English class. For example, one may presume that the target technical students
will be able to write a type of Business Letter that they were not able to write before
they got exposure to digital pedagogy which entails digital tool-based peer-reviewed
practice sessions. (See Session Plan for details).
It goes without saying that English teacher will create the objectives for the
class at the outset. Students may be involved in a game-like activity because the
teacher’s objective is to have them relaxed so that they may feel more positive about
their digital English Lab classes. The students may be given a reading passage to
work on because the teacher’s objective is to improve their ability to extract specific
information12 from written text/s in context.
Storytelling activity may be introduced if the objective is to enhance ‘speaking
skill’ of the students by enhancing speaking sub skills called reference skill of the
past and the present in context.
10 Teaching and Learning Materials/Learning and Teaching Materials.

11 EnglishLanguage Teaching.
12 By using the Reading sub skill known as ‘Skimming Skill’.
Fig. 13.4 Sample session plan of digital English teaching
Let us look at a sample Session Plan designed upon English Language Labora-
tory syllabus of an advanced technical university13 as shown below (→marks denote
digital focus) (Fig. 13.4).
Under Outcome-based Education (OBE) scheme, introduced by NBA, technical
students need to know the purpose behind a certain task. The technical students need
to know why they are doing some Digital Lab activity and what they will achieve
after completing the given task.
13 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (formerly known as WBUT), West Bengal,
India.
13.4 Pedagogical Progress of English Teaching Across

the Globe
Let us very quickly review the global progress of pedagogical paradigm of English
teaching from traditional classroom pedagogy to digital pedagogy. The first five
features were mostly practiced in higher education from the Eighteenth century to
the twentieth century.
A. Teacher/s → Communication → Learner/s
Classroom communication played an important role in traditional classroom
situation. The mono-directional arrows clearly show that the Lecture Method is
followed in such classroom practice. The focus of teaching English was ‘learning
English’ for Reading and Writing. A number of technical colleges all over the
world follow this model for teaching Technical Communication in English till
today.
B. Teacher/s → TLM/Content + Communication → Learner/s
In continuation with the traditional classroom pedagogy as shown above, teacher
played an important role by preparing Teaching Learning Material (TLM).
The mono-directional arrows clearly show that the Authoritarian14 practice is
followed in such situation. The classroom remained teacher-centric and teacher-
dependent. The students still practiced ‘rote learning’ as a widely practiced
method of learning. A number of technical colleges all over the world follow
this model for teaching Technical Communication in English till today.
C. Teacher/s → Method/s TLM/Content + Communication → Learner/s
In most cases, faculty members decided the teaching method/s to be used for
making the Business Communication class interesting. The mono-directional
arrows clearly show that the Method was solely decided by the concerned
faculty. Moreover, scientific method was hardly followed in such classroom
situation. All over the world, most of the technical colleges and universities
including MIT15 follow this model for teaching Technical Communication in
English till today.
D. Teacher/s → TLM/Content + Communication LE + Realia → Learner/s
Authoritarian English Communication faculty members maintain strict disci-
pline, and Learning Environment (LE) is hardly student-friendly. Students
are allowed to follow teacher’s dictation from the TLM16 or old notes of the
concerned faculty. Unlike digital pedagogy Realia are hardly used. Few tech-
nical colleges follow this model for teaching Technical Communication in
English till today.
14 The practice of Teacher-centered teaching when the teacher is considered as infallible authority.
15 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
16 Teaching Learning Material, i.e. the material that is shared in between the language teacher and
the technical students of higher education.

E. Teacher/s → Test → Learner/s

English Communication faculty member played the role of Test Administrator
and Evaluator. The mono-directional arrows clearly show that the Authoritarian
practice is followed in such situation where the students had no say regarding
Test Design and Evaluation process.
Most of the virtual technical colleges and universities across the globe including
Harvard University, USA and Leeds University, UK, follow this model for
teaching Technical Communication in English till today.
F. Teacher/s → Interaction ← Learner/s
Behavioural psychology was brought in the domain of technical education as
a pedagogical paradigm during the last century. At present, English Technical
Communication is taught using Interactive Discussion Method. The class-
room interaction takes place in a student-friendly Learning Environment (LE),
and technical students find their place equal to the faculty member. The face
to face directions of the arrows clearly prove this point. A handful of technical
colleges and universities in India and other developing countries across the globe
follow this model for teaching Technical Communication in English till today.
G. Teacher Variable ← → Teaching Style
Digital pedagogy depends on the capacity of the Technical English Communi-
cation faculty. Teacher variability has been regarded as one of the key factors for
progress of the Management study. Therefore, standard Management colleges
arrange for FDP17 to en-skill and improve the teaching style of the concerned
faculty member/s. Very few technical colleges and universities across the globe
including Australian and Canadian universities follow this model for teaching
Technical Communication in English till today.
H. Learner Variable ← → Learning Style
Digital pedagogy has paved the way for the Technical English Communication
faculty to emphasize the diverse learning style of Management students. As a
matter of fact, learner variability has become the buzz phrase and one of the key
factors for progress of the Management study. Therefore, standard Management
colleges arrange for Faculty Development Programme/s FDP to en-skill and
improve the teaching style of the concerned faculty member/s on the basis of
different learning styles of Management students. Few technical colleges follow
this model for teaching Technical Communication in English till date.
I. Learner/s ← → Evaluation → ← Teachers
Digital pedagogy has established the norm that technical students are primary
stake holders of their education. Technical Communication is not an exception.
Technical Communication students are aware of the Evaluation criteria from
the very beginning of the course. Moreover, they may consult the concerned
faculty member/s to adopt digital evaluation as a norm for better implementation
of Evaluation yardsticks.
Few technical colleges follow this model for teaching Technical Communica-
tion in English till today.
17 Faculty Development Programme/s.

DigiƟzed
Realia
DigiƟzed DigiƟzed
Teaching Learning
Language
ICT
Lab
Fig. 13.5 Displaying digital pedagogy
J. Digital Pedagogy in Focus

Digital pedagogy believes in Constructive Method of English Language Teaching
and believes in the proposition that learning is student’s responsibility and teacher
is a facilitator of student’s learning (Fig. 13.5).
Driven by ICT18 digital pedagogy is primarily concerned with Digitized
Teaching which includes proper use of digitized Realia in student-friendly lab-
based Digitized Learning Environment for teaching English Technical Commu-
nication. Lab-based digital pedagogy faced a shock wave of crisis during the recent
lockdown phase due19 to pandemic COVID-19 health hazard round the globe. But
when the practice of digital lab-based English teaching got an online launching tool
like Zoom or CISCO Webex, it could easily adapt to digitized Web tools and proved
its worth.
Digital pedagogy must ensure the Digitized Learning in digitized process in
higher technical education. Only a handful of technical colleges follow this model
for teaching Technical Communication in English.
The Digital content may be focused through the following (See Conclusion for
details) (Fig. 13.6).
Digital lesson plan should specify the target outcome/s which may be
‘Communicative Activities’ or development of receptive skills (listening skill
and reading skill) and productive skills (speaking skill and writing skill) or
Technical-cum-Business Orientation.
Technical English Communication faculty members of higher technical insti-
tutes must have a specific purpose for all the activities they organize in a class or
in Digital Language Laboratory for that matter, and they should communicate that
purpose in their lesson plan. Lesson plan should also be available as an appendage
of NBA course plan.
18 Information and Communication Technology.

19 Started from March 2020.
i. Select CD /DVD Player
ii. Audio –video Lectures
iii. E Graphs / Charts
iv. Language Lab Class
v. E-language Lab -based AcƟviƟes
Fig. 13.6 Digital tools of English language laboratory
13.5 Teaching English for Technical Communication
A paradigm shift has been observed globally in the pedagogy of English for its
extensive use for technical communication along with the application of IT in the
process of teaching and learning of the English language. Digital literacy has been
added as one of the essential components of general literacy. Every20 passing day
brings new technology, innovative means and tools of teaching and learning of the
English language. The problem remains
Have we got enough training for the matured use of digitized technology in English
Language Lab?
According to the global reports of Digital 2019, there have been more than 400
million Internet users recorded in November 2019 in which there were 34% users’
penetration was registered for the said year. The report further states that there are
250 million active social media users and mobile users have touched 230 million
milestones as active mobile users. The facts reflect that the people of India have more
usage of hand-held devices compared to other countries. The figures also advocate
that there has been significant research work carried out in the field of education
technology in the last decade. Many private and public universities have made use of
language lab mandatory for students. The ICT tools have enhanced English language
teaching and could remove the limitations of time, space and pace of traditional
teaching. ‘Integrating ICT tools in teaching can lead to increased students’ learning
competencies and increase opportunities for communication’.
Scientific advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence and systematic use
of Web tools have produced several innovative products to assist the self-learning
process. Innovative products such as digital multimedia control, wireless headsets
20 Information Technology.
and microphones and the interactive response pad are very useful for students learning
languages for communication. These interactive tools are designed to enhance not
only language teaching but also classroom grading and distance learning. With the
focus on language, communication and culture, English language teachers are contin-
ually searching for better ways of accessing authentic materials that will improve their
students’ knowledge and skills in the targeted areas. As the technology of the Internet
has transformed communication around the world, it is natural that it should play
a major role in a multimedia language laboratory for developing English language
skills.
BBC21 had started providing regular online lessons on English language learning.
However, the crucial factor that leads to the failure of Computer-Aided Language
Lab (CALL) or any other technology used in language education is not the failure of
technology, but the failure to invest adequately in the growth of a person as a teacher
and teacher training [4].
ICT22 is the demand of the time. ICT has a revolutionary role in modern commu-
nication. In each field, the use of ICT has boomed for digital literacy. In India,
particularly, we are in a transition phase, moving from conventional to innovative,
and that is why the older generation is yet not ready to cope with this rapid shift. In
the field of education too, the same is the situation. For most young teachers, it is
more comfortable to use ICT compared to the older ones. Government is also taking
many such initiatives where through training and upgrading people’s skill this gap
between users and non-users of technology can be reduced. ICT helps to make the
globe easy to reach, easy to access. Anyone sitting in any corner of the world can
generate, share and retrieve any information through just one click. ICT enables to
share social, cultural, economic and scientific knowledge worldwide. Television, cell
phone, Internet, video conferencing, teleconferencing, digital database are examples
of ICT being used at each and every walk of life. We are living in the age of ‘Infor-
mation Revolution’ and ICT being a powerful tool brings rapid upgrades and updates
in the society. The field of education is also not an exception. Every discipline, every
subject does have its digitally stored bulk of information worldwide, which is open
to easy access. So far as language learning is concerned, most school going kids are
now very much aware of using the mobile phone and tablets to learn and to play
with. Language learning has always remained a common stratum for each and every
person as per one’s own need and requirement. ICT has entered into this phase too.
Today, many software and applications are available for learners of different age
groups, starting with school children to adult learners.
A paradigmatic shift has recently been globally observed towards the fact that
English language must be learnt and not taught. Teaching English as the Second
Language in higher technical education has become quite challenging for the
teachers. Higher Technical Education teachers do not have enough time to prepare
lesson plans.The teacher–student ratio is too high to follow the traditional pedagogy
21 British Broadcasting Corporation.

22 Information and Communication Technology.
of ‘Chalk and Talk’ Technical students do not get enough time and opportunity to
get their queries solved in the traditional classroom.
Moreover, the learning material which is provided is not updated and not apt
to address the heterogeneous class. As a result, the students fail to stay connected
and attached to the traditional classroom. A thorough, result-oriented assessment
and analysis of the students is difficult when the number of students is more than
60 in a technical UG or PG class. Under these circumstances, one can find English
teaching is going on in the language classroom, but unfortunately, the learning is
found missing in such traditional class.
13.6 Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Strategies in Operation
With the advent of technology in education, one can feel the paradigm shift in peda-
gogical innovations. The experts, in their research, could find the gap and vacuum
in the area of teaching language through technology rather technology-enabled
language teaching. Many creative teachers and corporates have come up with plenty
of platforms which suffice the needs of the learners and teachers concerning language
learning. One can find and filter the language lab software as per the needs and wants
from the huge list of available options for language lab software. Let us be acquainted
with some language lab software for the future reference (Fig. 13.7).
Activity-based English Language Learning (ABELL) is the new adaptation of
Task-based English Language Teaching (TBELT) introduced first by the Commu-
nicative English Teaching during the fag end of the twentieth century. Let us discuss
how digital pedagogy is operated through some language lab software samples that
are available in global market. The highlighted ones in the table above have been
taken up for detailed discussion for hands-on operation of Digital Pedagogy.
AI-based language lab software: FluentU (Ref: iii, Fig. 13.4): FluentU is a product
of FluentFlix Limited based in Hong Kong. A team of passionate language teachers
have come up together and designed this application which can assist the language
teachers in teaching language. FluentU deals with nine different languages, i.e.
Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Russian, Korean and English.
FluentU offers one of the richest libraries of 6000+ videos, which helps in broad-
ening the learning experience of students. These videos have been selected from the
various categories like Music, Movies, Television Commercials and News Clips.
Inbuilt Features: FluentU has been uniquely designed language laboratory software
which has many distinguished AI-based features:
Amazing Video Player: FluentU offers an amazing video play which provides the
scripts as subtitles, and on hovering the word, it shows the concerned image along
with the word promptly.
Authentic Content Commensurate—in-Class Platform: The learners can find the
phrasal verbs, collocations, contextual explanations, examples for each word so that
DIGITAL LAB APPLIANCES / SOFTWARE
i. CACM Smart English Lab: IIT, Kharagpur

ii. ETNL Language Lab Software
iii. AI26-based Language Lab Software: FluentU
iv. Sanako
v. Language Lab India (Comp-Point)
vi. Orell Interactive Digital Lab Studio
vii. CaLabo EX
viii. i-LOTUS
ix. Zybro
x. Words Worth
xi. Digital Language Lab
xii. SANSSpace
xiii. OpenSim.
xiv. Multimedia –Based English Language Lab
xv. DiLL
xvi. Skill Junction Interactive Smart Device
xvii. Repeat After Us
xviii. Global Arena
xix. AI-based Virtual English Communication Lab
Fig. 13.7 Language lab software at a glance
• Online Home Work

• Offline Home Work
A
• E-Reader and E-Writer. This feature helps the student to do their
assignments/homework from the college itself when they are logged
B into the network.
• Offline Home Work This opƟon helps the teacher to create homework
and to assign it to students. The students can download these files and
work at their convenience and upload to the teacher aŌer finishing
C their work
Fig. 13.8 Displaying software-based home work facilities

they can be aware of all the dimensions of using the same word. FluentU also offers
the option of managing personal vocab lists.
Effective Personalized Video Lesson: FluentU offers an interactive platform ‘for
videos which can be converted into an effective personalized video lesson. The
learners can watch the video, learn the words by hovering on the progress bar of the
video and can test his/her knowledge by answering the multiple choice questions
mentioned on the canvas of the platform.
Assignment Tracking: One of the most useful features of FluentU is the language
teaching activities like whether the learner has watched the video, learnt the lesson,
his/her accuracy and overall progress for the assignment/s.cher can assign the tasks
to the learners and can track the progress of the learners’.
Oréll Interactive Digital Lab Studio (Ref: vi, Fig. 13.4): Oréll is digital language
software that helps the student’s accents and dialects effectively synonymous to
native speakers. The headquarters of Oréll TechnoSystems (India) Private Limited
is at Cochin. Overseas offices are in Sharjah, UAE and Colorado, USA. It is an ISO
9001:2008 certified company with 1 million delighted benefactors worldwide. There
are more than 3000+ installations across 40 countries. Software Features: Oréll is
comprehensive language lab software that gives multifaceted benefits to teachers and
students alike. An overview of the software is given below for better understanding.
Function Tools: The Function Tools contain multiple functions that help the teacher
to manage learning activities in language labs. Function Tools include the following
operations:
a. Class View: This feature allows the teacher to view the total number of students
in a class. The students who have logged into the application are enabled with
their picture and name as icon, whereas the absentees are indicated by a shadow
dark profile.
b. Screen Viewer Intercom: Grouping if the teacher wants to communicate some-
thing to an individual student, they can make use of the INTERCOM feature.
Here, the teacher has an option to conduct three modes of communication, i.e.
through audio/video/text
c. Class View: Communicator: The Communicator function is a one-way commu-
nication for the teacher. The teacher can communicate with selected students, a
group or a whole class. The teacher can communicate with one or more students
through instant messaging and audio and video chatting
d. Sharing and Class View: Class View: Class View: Supervisor: This is one of the
most interesting tools which can be used by the teacher for real-time monitoring
of students’ activity. Incognito supervision of students’ activities takes place
through the Supervisor feature. Besides, the teacher can listen discreetly to the
voice of the selected students and view the webcam image of the student
e. Interactive Teaching Tools: The interactive teaching tool includes various
teaching aids. Interactive Teaching Tools control the operations as given below:
i. Lesson Studio
The teacher can create her/his own audio/video lessons with the help of this
feature. Even if a particular faculty member wants to go out on leave, s/he
can assign the pre-recorded lesson, and the normal class working hours
will never get interrupted.
ii. E-Reader
iii. Billboard
iv. e-Writer
v. Net Flick
vi. X-Play
vii. Video Streaming
viii. Conferencing
ix. Live Classroom
x. E-Assignments: This audio recording can be sent to the Board for evalu-
ation. The e-Assignments feature enables the teacher to view the assign-
ments submitted by the students. Here, there are two windows, the first
one is called as Feedback to be sent that contains the lessons that have
to corrected and to be sent back to the student/s, whereas the Feedback
sent contains the previously corrected assignments of various students.
The following types of assignments deserve special mention:
xi. Assessment of Speaking: Here, the teachers can group the students and
then assign topics to them for discussion. The discussion can be recorded
and then downloaded.
xii. Assessment of Listening: Here, online exams can be conducted based
on the assigned audio/video lessons. The teacher has an option to create
questions in the form of MCQ, True or False, Fill in the blanks or Match
the following. The submitted exams can be corrected, and the scores can
be generated as per the CBSE format at a single click of a button.
f. Generating Reports: English Language Lab teacher can generate performance
report of the students concerned.
g. Alert Function: The Alert function enables you to view the list of students who
tried to call the teacher. Besides, when the student tries to call the teacher, an
alert message will appear on the teacher’s desktop. If the teacher does not like
to respond immediately, then he can click on the button ‘Not Now’. Else he can
click on ‘Go To Alert’.
h. The e-Board: Digital Board better known as e-Board is another exciting feature
that helps the Teacher to emulate an ordinary classroom whiteboard, where the
teacher can type or draw on the board and send that to a single, a group or all
students. It lets the teacher write or draw on the board, and the students selected
by the teacher can view this.
i. The ‘Controller’: The ‘Controller’ allows the teacher control the student’s
computer from their desk. The English Language Lab teacher can perform the
following functions:
a. Shutdown students’ system/s
b. Reboot students’ system/s
c. Log off students’ system/s

d. Lock students’ screen/s
e. Enable Input (keyboard and mouse) in students’ system/s
f. Disable Input (keyboard and mouse) in students’ system/s
j. Home Work: The feature enables the teacher to set homework to students.
The following functions are available in Homework feature (Fig. 13.8).
k. Things-To-Do: The Things-to-do feature enables the teacher to create and
assign lessons/works to selected students, a group or to a whole. Oréll
provides complimentary study materials in English worth more than 5000 h,
and the lessons here are arranged into 25 modules.
Multimedia–Based English Language Lab (Ref: xiv, Fig. 13.4): K–Van solutions
is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company which offers various range of products like
Application development, Education, Web solutions, Data Solutions and Graphic
Design. Multimedia English Language Lab is one of its products which come under
the umbrella of educational services under which the company offers two labs;
i. Multimedia English Language Lab and
ii. Advanced Communication Skills Lab.
Both English and Communication Skills labs have their distinct features, respec-
tively. The labs are cost-effective, easy to install, and it has got a user-friendly inter-
face. The advanced communication lab has been divided into two parts, i.e. Students’
Module and Teacher’s Console for effective and impactful management of learning.
Functional Tools23 are as smart as depicted above under Oréll Interactive Digital
Lab Studio.
AI-based Virtual English Communication Lab (Ref: xix, Fig. 13.4): Designed
by experts in the field, AI-based Virtual English Communication Lab deals in the
linguistic and functional grammatical areas that require random practice sessions for
the technical students of higher education. The areas that have achieved recurring
emphasis in Virtual English Communication Lab are listed below (Fig. 13.9).
13.7 Adapting Digital Pedagogy in Technical Education
Technical students of higher education will be able to write a type of Business Letter
or Technical Report that they were not able to write before attending the digitized
lab-based Technical Communication class.
23 See Oréll Interactive Digital Lab Studio → Functional Tools (a.-K.) for details.
i. English Vocabulary Skill

English vocabulary skill is accepted as the requisite knowledge and skill of using English
words and understanding of English word meanings. This skill is considered as a prime tool
for gaining command over English communication.
ii. English Grammar Skill
English Grammar Skill refers to the methodical study and description of the structure of
English language. This skill is considered as a primary tool for gaining command over
English communication.
iii. Common Errors in English Communication
The Common Errors in English is intended to provide guidelines to technical students of
Higher Education so that they can avoid the common mistakes made in their day to day use
of the English language for formal and informal communication.
iv. Business Communication Skill
Business Communication refers to context-based communication that promotes a product, a
service or an organization in order to enhance future prospects of the commodities or services
of the company. Understanding ‘Business nuances’ and ‘Business Communication’ is
essential for technical students who are budding enginers.
v. Communication Skills
Communication is the activity of exchanging meaningful information. Technical students
require the following communication skills in English for abademic excellence and
professional success:
a. Intrapersonal Communication Skill
b. Interpersonal Communication Skill
c. Extra-personal Communication Skill
d. Group Communication Skill
e. Intra-organizational Communication Skill
f. Inter-organizational Communication Skill
g. Local Communication Skill
h. Global Communication Skill
i. Online Communication Skill
j. Digital Communication Skill
vi. Active Technical Listening Skill
Active technical listening is a form of listening that emphasises on focussed listening to what
a person or system says and involves an understanding of the context of the message as well
as the emotions underlying a particular talk or speech. This module aims at focussed listening
of the budding engineers to different situations and place –bound announcements.
vii. Active Technical Reading Skill
Active technical reading for comprehension involves a measure of how well an individual
grasps what s/he has read as focussed item.
viii. Active Technical Writing Skill
Active technical writing is required for technical written communication in English. It
provides guidelines to adopt a style of writing which enables technical readers to understand
a technical process or a scientific concept.
ix. Active Technical Speaking Skill / Presentation Skill
Active technical speaking is required for technical oral communication in English. It provides
guidelines to adopt a style of speaking which enables technical audience to understand a
technical process or a scientific concept by paying heed to a SOP or LOP.28
Fig. 13.9 Virtual English communication lab in operation

In answering the moot question, Technical English Communication faculty

members are required to create the outcome-based objectives for the language lab-
based Technical English Communication class. Students may be involved in game-
like communication activities because the teacher’s objective is to have the Tech-
nical English Communication students highly motivated to adopt digitized lab-based
English class.
TCA24 and BCSA25 may be introduced for advanced technical English commu-
nication if the objective of the concerned faculty member is that technical students
should acquire the following sub skills of technical English communication skill
through proper adaptation of digitized Web tools and application of digital pedagogy:
Enriching English Vocabulary Skill: The ‘Vocabulary Module’ is to be designed
to enhance the repertoire of technical English vocabulary of the students. The visual
vocabulary is one of the essential features of the Web tool-based language lab which
is essential in digital pedagogy.
Providing Inbuilt Multi-lingual Dictionary: As English is still treated as a foreign
language in certain remote parts of India, many students feel shaky at the beginning
of their technical class in the first few semesters. Therefore, the digital lab provides
multilingual English dictionary which is inbuilt as virtual/visual dictionary along
with pronunciation key so that the students can learn, remember and use the words
appropriately.
English Grammar Skill: Special technical lessons should be designed under the
Grammar Module that can guide the technical students in enhancing the grammar
consciousness of the students. The provision of providing automated grammar usages
for random practice is one of the essential features of Digital Language Lab.
Reading Comprehension Materials: Reading comprehension is the best way to
gauge the learners’ understanding the proficiency level of English language. The
digitized language lab provides ample examples and practice materials so that the
technical students can master the reading comprehension skill within a very short
time. The skill set that the students would acquire after random practice of technical
Reading Comprehension Passages are as listed below:
Global Comprehension Skill: This Reading/Listening sub skill guides to figure
out the main format-related understanding of the Reading/Listening passage.
i. Scanning Skill: This Reading/Listening sub skill guides to figure out the main
points and major issues through Critical Reading/Listening
ii. Skimming Skill: This Reading/Listening sub skill guides to elicit examples
and facts from the passage.
iii. Reference Skill: This Reading/Listening sub skill guides to refer to the past
anecdotes.
24 Technical Case Analysis.

25 Business Case Study-based Activities.
Integrated Skill Practice: Skill integration is highly beneficial for digital lab-
based pedagogy. The following skills will get enriched if digital pedagogy is applied
in digitized lab:
i. Comparison/Analogical Skill. This Speaking/writing sub skill guides to
compare between two or more business situations.
ii. Arguing/Debate Skill. This Speaking/writing sub skill guides to put forward
logical argument/s in favour of the sustainable decision using proper digital
platform and debate style.
iii. Phonetics/Phonological Skill. Language Lab facilitates the learners with
different types of phonetics like Articulatory Phonetics, Acoustics Phonetics
and Auditory Phonetics for guiding the students for picking up standard
pronunciation of RP variety of English for technical communication.
iv. Group Discussion Skill. This compound skill includes a number of
‘Listening/Speaking sub skills’ for grasping fundamental concepts and details
of group discussion and to integrate the ability to master many interesting topics
on which the learners can ponder and present their views for 15–20 min.
v. Resume and Interview Skill. Preparing the students for placement requires
mastery over the sub skills of Resume/CV writing and facing Interview.
Multimedia English Language and Advanced Communication Skills lab enable
the students in writing their Resumes and also prepare them with common
interview questions.
vi. Telecommunication Skill. In this fast-moving era, when telecommunication
is essential for day-to-day communication, the students get hands-on practice
for telephonic conversations and tips for effective telecommunication.
vii. Technical Writing Skill. This module assists the students in developing their
writing skills as it covers Official/Formal Letter writing, short/long Technical
Report Writing and preparing Presentation Slides for Business Presentation.
viii. Presentation Skill. For many technical students, the ‘presentation’ has
become the matter of present ‘tension’ due to lack of practice and confidence.
Hence, there is a special module on presentation, which involves the careful
planning and tips for effective presentation of one’s best self.
13.8 Conclusion
Dynamic lesson planning is the art of mixing and matching digital techniques, digi-
tized learning activities and learning and teaching materials in such a way that an ideal
balance is maintained for teaching Technical English Communication in a flipped
class or online class in real time. During lockdown phase26 due to COVID-19, real-
time digital online classes using different platforms like Google Duo, Zoom or Cisco
WebEx became sine qua non in global academics including India. In other words,
26 From March to May, 2020 (GoI: Phase 1).

lockdown phase in India ushered in the boom of digital pedagogy, and it opened the
lock gates of AI-based Virtual Lab for Higher Technical Education in India.
In a general English language teaching course, faculty members often emphasize
on teaching the basic four skills namely Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing
(LSRW). Digital pedagogy of Technical English Communication focuses on presen-
tation skill and digitally controlled practice sessions of roughly tuned input/receptive
skill activities or communicative activities that centre round the issue of real-life
problem solving. Different student grouping models may be used for ensuring group
dynamics and team work in digital framework based on AI-based Web tools.
If the technical English communication faculty members have the scope of using a
large variety of digital techniques and SBA27 , then the former can apply their honest
effort for upgrading lesson plan to cope up with the requisite standard of digital
pedagogy.
In a digitized learning environment, Technical English Communication learner
may feel positive about learning Technical English Communication in digital mode.
They can finish their digital learning activities and take part in digitized evalua-
tion process at their own pace and own urge. The technical students do never feel
good about Humanities and Social Science classes as well as Law and Management
classes due to theoretical approach followed in classroom situation under traditional
pedagogy. As a result of DCA28 or SBA that are enjoyable, the technical students
of higher education will learn useful communication nuances of English for tech-
nical communication within the scheduled period of time that they could never learn
before in a traditional setting.
Finally, we must not forget to boot that Digital Pedagogy will work effectively
only if the control of operation is in the hands of a well-trained English faculty who
is well-trained in both traditional and digital pedagogy and who is in possession of
teaching sub skills as displayed in Fig. 13.2. To exemplify the statement, we may
share the analogy of ‘leaving the students with e-study materials and not guiding
them how to extract those for solving real life problems’ will have the same effect
as ‘supplying the digital tools to the students without specifying the outcomes and
providing training of effective handling of these Web tools’. English can be taught
most effectively as technical English communication by using SBA and DCA. Digital
tech-savvy learners of higher Technical Education need to be continuously monitored
with the digital tools, and proper measures are to be taken by using control tools for
effective application of digital pedagogy (Fig. 13.10).
27 Software-Based Activities.
28 Digitized Communicative Activities.
Abbreviation Full Form

ABELL Activity –Based English
Language Learning
AI Artificial Intelligence
CALL Computer –Aided Language
Learning
CELT Communicative English
Language Teaching
DCA Digital Communicative Activities
DLE Digital Learning Environment
ELT English Language Teaching
ICT Information & Communication
Technology
IT Information Technology
LSRW Listening Speaking Reading and
Writing
LE Learning Environment
MCQ Multiple Choice Question
NBA National Board of Accreditation
RP Received Pronunciation
SBA Software-Based Activities
TBELT Task –based English Language
Teaching
TLM Teaching Learning Material/s
Fig. 13.10. Abbreviations-used in the context of digital pedagogy
References
1. Dey, S.K.: Teaching of English, 2nd Ed. 2014. Pearson Education, New Delhi (2013)
2. Dey, S.K.: Lesson Planning for Engineering English: NBA Course Planner Reviewed in the Light
of Digital Lab-Based English Teaching in Engineering, vol 5, Issue 1, pp. 137–140. IJELLS.
April 2016.
3. Skinner, B.F. The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. New York, London (1938)
4. Hirsch, B.D.: Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics. Open Book
Publisher, New York (2012)
Chapter 14
A Novel Outcome Evaluation Model
Blended with Computational Intelligence
and Digital Pedagogy for UG
Engineering Education
Arpan Deyasi, Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee, and Soumen Mukherjee
Abstract According to the guideline of Washington Accord, accreditation of every

engineering curriculum is necessary in order to reach the minimum criteria set
as the benchmark. In this context, data analysis is required based on the several
input parameters which will ultimately lead to satisfy the program outcome. In this
context, a novel model is proposed which reveals the importance of computational
intelligence applied over specific input data so that the required benchmark can be
achieved. Different blocks are shown for identification of phase-wise analysis, and
corresponding to relevant blocks, specific soft computing techniques are applied so
that the desired input data can be extracted which will be further processed in order
to obtain desired human resources fit for both academia and industry. Novelty of
the proposed model also lies in the fact that it also considers the change of didactic
for benefit of the students, if necessary, whereas other literatures made their analysis
based on specific pedagogical techniques. Role of academic and psychological coun-
selor is taken into consideration as a part of feedback mechanism, and meaningful
outcome may be obtained through proper implementation.
Keywords Outcome-based education · Computational intelligence · Digital

pedagogy · Engineering education · Program evaluation parameters
14.1 Introduction
Technical education has become a topic of experiment in last few years owing to the
demand of new generation’s choice of learning methods [1] as well as the requisite
A. Deyasi (B) · A. K. Bhattacharjee · S. Mukherjee

RCC Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata 700015, India
e-mail: deyasi_arpan@yahoo.co.in
A. K. Bhattacharjee
e-mail: arupk.b@gmail.com
S. Mukherjee
e-mail: soumou601@gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8744-3_14
278 A. Deyasi et al.
of new-age industries as well as academics. Several bodies are formed worldwide to

combat with this requirement, and different outlines are proposed [2–5], which ulti-
mately produced Washington Accord [6] and is now widely accepted across different
countries due to its overall established significance. In the juncture of changing educa-
tional scenario for input–output-based system to outcome oriented system though
the introduction of pedagogy following Washington Accord, data analysis becomes
an integral part for evaluation for the students and corresponding upgradation of
curricula. Because of large volume data generated in every academic semester, it is
not possible to analyze it manually, and in this context, different soft computing and
machine learning approaches become essential to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate
data. Outcome obtained for every student can be classified for different categories
which are related with course outcome, program outcome and moreover, can be
mapped with institutional vision and mission. Thus, implication of modern data
analysis approaches is extremely crucial in this point of view, and also relevant in
present day context.
14.1.1 Digital Pedagogy: Significance in Present Education

Scenario
Pedagogy is now become the essential part of education system, replacing the conven-
tional input–output-based techniques, where sophisticated technical tools and inven-
tive schemes are intermixed with the obtained data for further upgradation to produce
better quality of human resources. It is a truly a scientific approach where didactics is
revolutionarized by introduction of technology. Teaching methodologies are changed
through introduction of active/flipped/blended/adaptive/authentic learning methods
for producing better outcome. As per the guideline of Washington Accord, every
student has to satisfy the program outcome as dictated before initiation of the course,
at least partially in each of them. Therefore, strategic principle has to be adopted at the
beginning of each course where the planning or more precisely, program educational
objective, will critically depend on the geographical, financial, and socio-economical
class of the students they have received [7]. In this context, analysis of data should
be considered as a very important part of redefining program outcome and also of
objective [8].
Pedagogy is a modern science where engineering didactics is conceptualized by
introduction of technology through proper amalgamation of experimental, computa-
tional, and self-learning methodologies in information-based teaching for producing
better outcome. With introduction of appropriate pedagogical technique, it has been
observed in different published reports that outcome and moreover, acceptance of the
students are increasing in both academia as well as industrial sectors [9]. There exists
the relevance of pedagogy, and when it is perplexed with digital mode [10], learners
will be provided added flexibility where they can set their time and pace to adopt the
14 A Novel Outcome Evaluation Model Blended … 279
concepts. Thus, learning becomes out of the classroom binding, and effective utiliza-
tion of time with the availability of Internet creates a different level of environment,
which suites the present-age students. Here lies the success of digital pedagogy, and
that gives the concept of outcome-based education (OBE) model, accredited by all
the educational Institutions, to measure the performance of students at the end of
course. This will be discussed in the next part.
14.1.2 Outcome-Based Education
Outcome-based education (OBE) is a new model of learning which is adopted to

renew the conventional educational policy. OBE comes with lot of advantages as
well as challenges for the academicians. OBE is implemented worldwide to support
policy reform in education and has gained recognition internationally.
The main objective of OBE is to determine whether students learn successfully
or nor and what they learn rather than when and how they learn [11]. In this process,
course curriculum is designed to emphasis more on the learning outcomes, that is, to
determine the gap in learning of the students and what necessary skills are expected
from the students before they join work force. And in this process, backtracking
takes place of the entire system to redesign the curriculum, mode of instructions,
delivery modes, and assessment techniques. Hence, the total course and program
design are evaluated. Reform of education sector is in high demand for fulfilling the
gap between industry needs and skill developed by the fresh graduates coming out
of the colleges. Countries like USA, United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand
to name a few who implemented OBE irrespective of much criticism [12–15]. Even
there are reports, where universities have successfully implemented OBE and they
have used the learning outcomes to design their curriculum. In fact, there are few
cases where OBE has failed and was abandoned [16].
One term which is highly associated with OBE is Washington Accord. As
per Washington Accord, the signatory countries must update and maintain their
curriculum in such a way graduates of all accredited programs in the member states
must met the academic requirements for entry in any member nation. OBE approach is
strongly associated with e-learning approach which is conducted online. Study mate-
rial, assessment, feedback, and grading all are performed with the help of Internet
and in recent time, computational intelligence is also added to make the system more
strong.
14.1.3 Role of Computational Intelligence in Output

Prediction
Recently, several works are done on student learning outcome predication using
computational intelligence (CI). These can be achieved in more perfect way
when learning occurs in online instead of traditional classroom-based teaching–
learning methodology. In traditional classroom teaching–learning, identification and
recording are somewhat difficult. Online educations are nowadays taking more
concrete form due to emergence of Massive Open-Online Courses (MOOCs) and
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) [17]. Student engagement predication is easy
if some input variables are present like student educational pre-requisite and quali-
fication, intermediate and final assessment score, number of assignment submitted,
number and frequency of page viewed the number and frequency of clicks in item,
time and frequency of study hour, etc. Machine learning (ML) is a useful tool in
student output prediction. In machine learning, support vector machine (SVM), arti-
ficial neural network (ANN) [18], decision tree (DT), etc., are some of the useful algo-
rithms. Some of the issues in this research are, is it possible to model student output
prediction using ML algorithms, is it possible to predict most important features of
student activity, what is the relationship of the student score with these features. Other
than the different machine learning approaches, educational data mining (EDM) also
holds a key role in student learning and engagement output prediction [19]. Several
online open-source dataset are present to validate the model and result. Researchers
are also generating their own dataset for their research work. Under graduate educa-
tional systems generally have three community components: student, instructor, and
degree administrator [20, 21]. Pervasive computing-based software agent can be used
to convert student passive learning skills to active learning skills. In some research
work, big data technology is coupled with EDM to predict actual student learning
patterns and student success rate [19]. As the world is living in a digital era, so,
possible connection in between e-education and computational intelligent is to be
identified properly to make a better model [22]. Educational data mining contributes a
major role in student performance predication [23–29]. In last decade, due to Wash-
ington Accord and standardization in education system throughout the world and
emergence of the terms like PO, CO, and PEO, the usefulness of EDM and CI is
growing exponentially. The proper mapping in between PO and CO with PEO can
be modeled using EDM and CI.
14.1.4 Why Outcome Measurement Is Important in Today’s

Perspective?
Educational area is not an exception where soft computing approaches are not used.
Pedagogy in the digital era also explores soft computing techniques for the uplift-
ment of education system [30]. Related to this context, the question arises about
measurement of outcome and its significance in the big picture. It has been shown by
the survey of various industries that engineering students after completion of under-
graduate course are not suitable enough for the job (www.nasscom.in), and that
creates huge amount of unemployment. However, it was noticed that only change in
curriculum does not provide the desired result at all. Therefore, need of the hour is to
change the approach of teaching–learning, as the existing input–output-based system
does not satisfactorily map the performance of the learners. Henceforth, through
involvement and incorporation of all the stakeholders [31] and the prolific utilization
of the knowledge in real world, new pedagogical methodologies are adopted where
conventional system is replaced by outcome-based model, defined as OBE model.
Here, we have tried to focus the different explored methods already utilized by
various researchers and educationists for the said purpose. Artificial intelligence is
essential for large data set analysis, where human intervention is not necessary. In
online activity-based learning system, several students get enrolled, which is much
larger than traditional class room teaching. The different features of student and
faculty members are automatically being recorded in the system. This dataset can
be of huge dimension, which is manually not possible to analyze. Computational
intelligence can be used for student’s performance and faculty feedback analysis.
Here, comes the significance of measurement, and the didactical methods are reported
in the next section.
14.2 Literature Review
With progress of time, teaching–learning procedure and corresponding didactics have

undergone a lot of research, primarily due to the poor quality of human resource
generation which are not suitable with change in technology [32, 33], requirement
[34, 35], or with the need of the hour for a short span of time-period. Didactics
in conventional input–output system is not at par with the invention of scientific
progress, different innovative teaching methods are recently proposed like activity
learning [36] where project-based curriculum design is prioritized, flipped learning
[37] where classrooms are used for solving assignments and doubt clearing sessions
through peer-share method, blended learning [38] as a part of modified flipped
learning on constraint-specific scenario. In the next section, details of different
approaches are discussed wit their relevance in Indian technical education context.
14.2.1 Related Works on Digital Pedagogy
Among different pedagogical methods, flipped learning is most popular where class-
room and assignment submission procedure are reversed, and students can set their
own time for learning. Assignments are solved in the class after their acquaintance
of knowledge [39] and ‘think-pair-share’ methodology is applied for the solving
design problems. However, the hindrance of this pedagogy is requirement of inter-

rupted Internet at every learner’s home, which is a severe constraint. Also statistically,
it is considered that every earner grab the concepts from the video lecture, which
is nothing but a over-simplistic assumption, and therefore, expected outcome will
grossly vary depending on the socio-economic status of the students. A much-needed
solution is provided by active learning where over-dependence of internet is elimi-
nated through project-oriented curriculum [40]. A mix of both the didactics is also
implemented as experimental basis, called blended learning [41] where part of the
flipped learning is considered through online elarning, and assignments are mostly
converted into short-term projects, considered as active learning-based approach.
Authentic learning is recently proposed which is a modified active learning method-
ology [42] where instructions are pre-set for execution of certain type of work.
Different outcomes are reported by implementing various pedagogical techniques
where geographical location of the learners, facility and infrastructure, resource
availability make profound impact.
14.2.2 Related Works on Computational Intelligence Applied

to Digital Pedagogy
Even though application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education (AIEd) is not

a new term, it is there for more than 30 years and AI is adding various advantages
to pedagogy, especially in the recent years. And still there is lot of scope where AI
applications can make lot of contribution to teaching at higher education. In fact,
like role of AI on every other field viz. engineering, medicine, literature, science,
etc., application of AI in education is also on rise and is receiving lot of attention in
current years.
Different subparts of AI [43] are applied to education, namely (a) Collaborating
learning with the help of AI-based software, (b) AI-based software which behave like
private tutor known as intelligent tutorial systems (ITS), (c) software which assist
learners by generating virtual reality.
AI-based collaborative learning is a bit complex where some model is prepared
that support group interaction or some discussion forum that helps the students on
those topics which requires some group activity kind of work instead of one to one
interaction [44, 45]. ITS can interact with a student in the form of dialogue and make
certain decision based on certain algorithms to prepare a model to decide about the
learning procedure of a student. This model is found to be very successful where one-
to-one student, facilitator interaction is not possible like in distance education or open
school environment [46–48]. Finally, intelligent virtual reality (IVR)-based education
involves virtual agents like remote laboratories, etc. Even teachers or students may act
like virtual agent. Nowadays, game-based learning is becoming very popular which
is also a form of IVR environment [49]. In addition to these three categories, AI has
huge role in assessment and feedback system. Various machine learning algorithms
like neural network can accurately predict the student’s achievement [50].
When developing AI-based application for pedagogy, the orientations of these
apps are either learner centric or facilitator centric or system centric [51]. Learner
centric tools are developed considering the students needs like assistance in learning
subjects where as in facilitator centric tools are developed to assist teachers in their
teaching, administrative jobs, or any other role they play in their institution. System
centric software is for the institution authority or administrators who monitor the
entire organization including teaching, assessment, feedback, etc.
Since AI has huge influence on developing applications that support and maintain
academics and administration in teaching, data mining in academics and research
associated with it, is very popular now a day’s [52]. Researches in this domain concen-
trate mostly in the area of teaching, students’ achievements, admission, feedback,
and dropout.
Content creation for the text or reference books to support customized learning
known as ‘Smart content’ are introduced at all levels starting from elementary to post
graduate level [53, 54]. This concept is extensively used and it is possible because
of AI. Such smart content-based guide books supports creating chapter contents,
summaries as well as content which can be archived for future use. Some of the
well-known smart content developers are Cram101, Netex Learning. These plat-
forms support facilitators to master new technical skills as well as to assistant those
to improve the performance of their students based on continuous assessment and
feedback, thus increasing the productivity [55]. Hence, computational intelligence
tools offer students an environment which is judgment free and thus supports trial
and error learning. This computational intelligence-based digital pedagogy tools have
made a radical change in education industry regardless of experience and expertise
of teachers [56]. So these new technology-based teaching helps in managing and
improving the standards of education. AIEd have also made a huge contribution in
laboratory-based courses, popularly known as virtual laboratories [49].
14.3 Measurement of Outcome
As per the guideline of Washington Accord, every student has to satisfy the program
outcome as dictated before initiation of the course, at least partially in each of them.
Therefore, strategic principle has to be adopted at the beginning of each course where
the planning or more precisely, program educational objective, will critically depend
on the geographical, financial and socio-economical class of the students they have
received. In this context, analysis of data should be considered as a very important
part of redefining program outcome and also of objective. The outcome expected
is that the learner, after completing the curriculum, should be considered fit for
respective industry or academia, and that measurement should be accepted globally.
Henceforth, measurement of outcome becomes a prioritized task, and computational
intelligence should be deeply involved for near-accurate estimation [57, 58].
Analysis of the data leads to predictive outcome, and also suggests the essen-
tial modifications required. With advancement in the field of artificial intelligence,
machine learning, and deep learning propelled by the growth in hardware technology
like GPU and with the availability of huge primary and secondary data, it is easy for
the data scientist to work on them. This also substantiates the need of curricula devel-
opment/modernization/restructuring. Based on the data received from the outcome
of conventional educational system, intelligent diagnostic and feedback system are
developed which will change the teaching strategies and corresponding teaching–
learning process. Interactive teaching dashboard is therefore proposed in this purpose,
from which one can easily map the relation between Program Outcome (PO),
Program Specific Outcome (PSO), Course Outcome (CO), and Program Educational
Objective (PEO).
14.3.1 Relation Between PO, PSO, CO, PEO for Outcome

Evaluation
Evaluation of curriculum is the result of achievement of different outcomes as defined

by ABET. In this context, we have to think about the rubrics formed between PO,
PEO, PSO, and CO. These rubrics are made in departmental level, and some of the
findings are communicated to the institute level to set the vision and mission of the
institute for next few years. In this chapter, we have proposed a model for outcome
measurement in the present engineering curriculum in India, as described in Fig. 14.1,
and use of computational intelligence is incorporated in later stage. In this section,
we will define the complex relationship between the objectives and outcome, and in
the next section, we will define the role of input parameters for the process.
According to the Fig. 14.1, all the outcomes and corresponding objectives are
defined for any arbitrary department. Program outcome for any specific discipline
should be limited to 12 as per the guideline framed by Washington Accord, followed
by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). The variable is represented
by ‘i’. Objective can be set in order to satisfy the outcome, which is a case of reverse
engineering process. The variable for PEO is defined by ‘j’, which can be limited to
6. Any program or discipline should consists of several courses, s by further splicing
the PEO, we will get the courses. Every course should have some defined objectives,
indicated by the variable ‘k’, and that can also be varied between ‘3’ and ‘6’. As per the
pedagogical process, learner has to achieve a meaningful output at the end of every
class, be theoretical, practical, or sessional. Henceforth, unit-level objective (UO)
setup is very much required which will be limited per unit class. The corresponding
variable is defined by ‘q’. It may be better if we can define the module objective which
will be comprised of a few units, and that will help to structure the course. The block
consists of PEO, COb (Course Objective), UO and MOb (Module Objective) sets
the guideline and the direction of teaching-learning process, as indicated by Block
6.
Vision of
1 Institute 3
Academia Institute
Change
Curriculum Industry Mission of
Institute
SWOT
Analysis
2
Vision of
DAB Department (n)
5 Suggestions Department (n)
4
Mission of
Guardian’s Department (n)
Input SWOT
Analysis
Alumni
Feedback
Program
Outcome
(i=1,........,pi)
Program
Program Specific Educational
Outcome (o=1,...,po) Objective (j=1,...,pj)
8 Y Course (m)
Objective (k=1,...,pk)
N
Failed
Satis Unit level
to
fied? Objective
meet
(q=1,...,pq)
Course (m) Teaching-Learning

Outcome Process
(l=1,...,pl)
Change
Facilitator’s Didactic Pedagogical
Re-join Non-performance Method
Course Academic
Counsellor 7
Student’s Psychological
Failure Counsellor
Fig. 14.1 Proposed didactic model

Program outcome is obtained after SWOT analysis by department, and that is

considered as input variable for Block 6. It has also received data from Program
Specific Outcome (PSO), which is nothing but the outcome learners will get just
after completing the course, defined under Block 8. Henceforth, an optimization
procedure is run to set the PO, after the initial setup.
PSO is obtained from CO, only when learners are satisfied. Otherwise, a feedback
loop is proposed for both learners and facilitators separately. These are separately
discussed in the next section. In this context, it may be defined that number of PSO’s
should be less than number of PO’s owing to the fact that
POs are generalized outcome, and valid over a longer time duration, whereas
PSOs are instantaneous measurement.
14.3.2 Relevant Parameters Required for Estimation
For outcome measurement, we have considered various input parameters. Block

1 represents input from academia and industry, which, according to the feedback
of the institute, can also actively take part in curriculum design. This block has a
bi-directional relationship with the Institute.
Block 5 consists of input from alumni, Guardian, and DAB. These inputs are vital
for SWOT analysis of department, and therefore, may be considered as critical input
parameters. They play a pivotal role in setting mission and vision of the department.
Block 7 comprises of input parameters for teaching–learning process. The major
component of Block 7 is the pedagogical process, which controls the TLP. Initially,
one pedagogy is adopted, however, if found not suitable, then it is modified for better
outcome. Role of academic counselor and psychological counselor is very crucial in
this regard, as also mentioned in the National Assessment and accreditation council
(NAAC) process, in the Indian scenario.
Summative assessment of mission and vision of different departments set the
vision and mission of the Institute, respectively, and henceforth, these variables w.r.t
department may be considered as dependent inputs.
Consisting all these functional blocks and inputs, now, we add the computational
intelligence for proper evaluation of outcome, which is discussed in details in next
section.
14.3.3 Role of C.I. for Outcome Evaluation
Every under graduate and post graduate programme under university curriculum has
several PO and CO. The PO and CO are derived from the Mission and Vision of the
educational institution like University and colleges, which are also, derived from the
current industry needs. The definition and mapping between Mission, Vision, PO,
CO and PEO as per the input from government, industry, academician, psychologist,
economist, teacher, parents, alumni, and student community are not an easy task. It
requires several efficient machine learning algorithms and computational intelligence
designed by the domain expert and data scientist. Educational data mining holds the
key in designing those machine learning algorithms.
Different machine learning (ML) or computational intelligence (CI) application
can be used to the different section of the proposed model, shown in Fig. 14.2.
In SWOT analysis, machine learning algorithm like decision tree (DT), support
vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), etc., can be used to properly
classify between strength (S), weakness (W), opportunity (O), and threat (T). There
might be some fuzzy overlapping between the strength and weakness or opportunity
and threat, which can be easily identified by fuzzy logic tool.
In case of Industry/Academia, input text mining can be use to find the important
terminology from the input from industry expert and academician.
Data cleaning which is a useful tool in data mining can be used to eliminate
erroneous input from alumni/student/guardian feedback.
Reasons of student’s failure can be estimated by using intelligent learning
management software (LMS) which is directly related to teaching–learning process.
Program/course outcome and teacher performance can be used to classify excel-
lent, good, average, and below-average performing student and teacher using
supervised and unsupervised algorithms like classification and clustering.
Selection of proper pedagogical method and psychological counseling can be done
by different computational intelligent educational feature selection methods (e.g.,
forward feature selection, backward feature selection) and feature ranking method
(e.g., ReliefF, minimum correlation etc.).
It may be mentioned in this context that inter-relations between different
components are not shown in Fig. 14.2 in order to avoid mere repetition.
14.4 Application of Model for Institute-Level Accreditation
The present model involves a comprehensive feedback mechanism from the student’s
point of view as well as the rectification methods for both students as well as faculties.
As per the guideline of Washington Accord, feedback mechanism is a mandatory part
of the teaching–learning system, which can be used at the end of semester. However,
the present model incorporates the same at any ongoing session as well as the end-
semester mechanism so that it can eradicate the drawback when the system runs. For
that purpose, role of academic counselor and psychological counselor are pivotal.
They can provide the expert advice as a part of the continuous process for the students
which effectively enhance the outcome fulfillment, and therefore, employability of
the batch increases. Actually, role of these two counselors is mandatorily invoked in
the present accreditation procedure, but normally Institutes seem a little bit reluctant
for implementing these things. It can be visualized from the proposed model that
proper incorporation of counselors at the appropriate level can help the institute to
a DAB
Suggestions
Guardian’s
Input
Data
Cleaning Alumni
Feedback
Block 5
Academia
Change Text
Curriculum Mining
Industry
Block 1
Teaching-Learning Intelligent
Process LMS
Psychological Change
Counsellor Didactic
Pedagogical
Academic
Method
Counsellor
Feature selection/
Ranking
Block 7
Fig. 14.2 a CI applied in Block 5. b CI applied in Block 1. c CI applied in Block 7. d CI applied

in Block 2. e CI is applied to PSO and performance of facilitators
Fig. 14.2 (continued)

d
Institute
SWOT
Fuzzy Logic Analysis
Department (n)
Block 2
e Program Specific
Outcome
Classification &
Clustering
Facilitator’s
Non-performance
achieve its vision and mission. Here lies one of the novelties of the proposal for
accreditation purpose.
Obviously another major novelty of the model is the incorporation of machine
learning techniques at different levels of data analysis. Normally, when an institute
seeks for accreditation, they have considered all the available data for measurement.
However, different soft computing approaches can be adopted at different levels to
find out the correlation matrix, which will not only help to found the meaningful
information, but can also help to achieve the desired goal in a scientific way. In
Fig. 14.2, those approaches are vividly mentioned, and therefore, can rightly be
considered as an important aspect of the proposal.
14.5 Setting Guideline for Future TLP
Teaching–learning process, as per the modern pedagogical process, is always learner–

centric. Henceforth, special care is to be required for learners who cannot cope up
with the ongoing processes, owing to various reasons, may be psychological or socio-
economical. But it is not generally possible by teachers due to large number of batch
sizes. Here comes the role of academic counselor which can suggest the change of
pedagogical processes for those small numbers of students, and faculties will be
helped to identify them and arrange different learning methods. This is one possible
guideline may be espoused by the institute.
Another major guideline lies in the proposal is the flexibility in terms of incorpo-
rating pedagogical techniques. Normally, one institute can adopt a single pedagogical
method for TLP, so that they can set a definite outline and reference all the measure-
ments. However, in the present socio-economic scenario, it may not be possible for
all the faculties to adopt the same due to geographical locations or infrastructural
availability to their residence. As a consequence, outcome of those faculties will be
different from others. The present model suggests a change of didactics for those
faculties so that they can overcome their non-performance. This is crucial in terms
of computing overall outcome, and has direct impact on the accreditation process.
Henceforth, new TLP method an also implement it, subject to the provision of the
institute within its existing constraints.
14.6 Conclusion
A novel model is proposed for evaluation of outcome in present technical education

scenario for undergraduate students. The uniqueness of the model is that at different
levels of data input, help of computational intelligence is taken so that outcome will
be more authentic by minimizing the errors. Blocks of different levels are considered
for ease of computation, and parameters, which will form the rubrics, can successfully
be evaluated. The model is completely in accordance with the Washington Accord,
and henceforth, can safely be applied in the ongoing technical education system.
Though results are not provided, however, it may be stated that choice of pedagogical
method critically affects the final outcome. Henceforth, for best output, proper choice
of didactic as well as input from different stakeholders and counselors are vital, and
there lies the success of this proposal.
14.7 Future Scope
The proposed model can be validated by sufficient input data, and can be collected
from any educational institution, better for any Indian universities. The model will
give best-fitted output with the proper application of computational intelligence, and
therefore, can effectively help any institute/department for accreditation purpose. A
few more complex loops can be added depending on the situation, and that is why
diagnostic survey at the beginning and end-semester survey will play the pivotal role.
One very crucial factor is that the roles of academic counselor as well as psychological
counselor become very important for attainment of outcome, and thrust should be
given at this juncture also. The process is optimizing, and can only be improved with
rerun in consecutive semesters.
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Intelligent Systems Reference Library 197

Arpan Deyasi · Soumen Mukherjee ·

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8578

Anirban Mukherjee Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee

ISSN 1868-4394 ISSN 1868-4408 (electronic)

Arpan Deyasi dedicates to

Soumen Mukherjee dedicates to

Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee dedicates to

Arindam Mondal dedicates to

I am sure that this much-awaited compilation will be widely received by edu-

In modern science and engineering, didactics is primarily shaped and conceptual-

In the chapter titled Personalization in Education using Recommendation

SWAYAM courses to make it more user-friendly and effective for personalized

Kolkata, India Arpan Deyasi

1 Authentic Pedagogy: A Project-Oriented Teaching–Learning

3 Multimedia-Based Learning Tools and Its Scope, Applications

6 Automation of Attainment Calculation in Outcome-Based

8 Digital English Language Laboratory: Roles, Challenges

9.9.2 Theoretical Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

11.4.3 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

13.6 Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Strategies in Operation . . . . . . . 266

Arpan Deyasi is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of

Arup Kumar Bhattacharjee did his graduation from University of Calcutta,

Dr. Arindam Mondal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer

Arpan Deyasi, Swapan Bhattacharyya, Pampa Debnath,

Abstract Authentic learning is a typical organized and systematic learning strategy

Keywords Traditional approach · Transfer of learning · Authentic learning ·

A. Deyasi (B) · P. Debnath

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1

product available or required in the demand situation. Role of teacher is converted

challenging, and performance should be assessed both in formative and summative

1.2 Comparative Studies Between Pedagogic Principles

Till date, a group of academicians proposed in favor of implementation of flipped

Implementation of active learning, as an alternative of flipped learning, is more

1.3 Procedure of Authentic Learning

Education of students either in school level or in degree courses is a really complex

1.4 Incorporation of Statistical Analysis

For authentication of the findings obtained through different pedagogical techniques,

1.5 Results and Discussions

P-value 0.17133 0.037712 0.040468 0.841592 0.391982 0.038087 0.051898

R-Value 0.516544 0.808944 0.01331 0.015559 0.24914 0.807736 0.766049

P-value 0.014467 0.007663 0.120221 0.00133 0.005146 0.029309 0.00546

R-Value 0.897102 0.932131 0.607378 0.978673 0.947784 0.837428 0.945704

1.5.2 Quality Analysis

Table 1.9 Comparative study of attendance, result and placement attributes

Table 1.10 Comparative analysis of student’s feedback under flipped mode

Fig. 1.1 (continued)

Confused 1.1163113 0.306989

Boring 4.800266 0.003

Table 1.12 t-test result for

Table 1.13 t-test result for

Table 1.14 t-test result for

findings as represented in this chapter. Only first year of engineering students is

119(17), 1483–1492 (2018)

Soumili Dey, Suchandra Datta, Anal Acharya, and Debabrata Datta

Abstract With the advancement of network technologies, Internet users including

Keywords MCDM · AHP · PCA · E-learning evaluator

S. Dey · S. Datta · A. Acharya · D. Datta (B)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 21

2.2 Related Work

2.3 Proposed Model

2.3.1 Parameters Considered for Evaluation

3. Representational information quality: This refers to the representation of infor-