Transforming educational insights: strategic integration of federated learning for enhanced prediction of student learning outcomes

Numerous educational institutions utilize data mining techniques to manage student records, particularly those related to academic achievements, which are essential in improving learning experiences and overall outcomes. Educational data mining (EDM) is a thriving research field that employs data mining and machine learning methods to extract valuable insights from educational databases, primarily focused on predicting students’ academic performance. This study proposes a novel federated learning (FL) standard that ensures the confidentiality of the dataset and allows for the prediction of student grades, categorized into four levels: low, good, average, and drop. Optimized features are incorporated into the training process to enhance model precision. This study evaluates the optimized dataset using five machine learning (ML) algorithms, namely support vector machine (SVM), decision tree, Naïve Bayes, K-nearest neighbors, and the proposed federated learning model. The models’ performance is assessed regarding accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score, followed by a comprehensive comparative analysis. The results reveal that FL and SVM outperform the alternative models, demonstrating superior predictive performance for student grade classification. This study showcases the potential of federated learning in effectively utilizing educational data from various institutes while maintaining data privacy, contributing to educational data mining and machine learning advancements for student performance prediction.