Fuzzy C-Means: A Fuzzy Approach to Clustering in Educational Contexts
Software Engineering: Emerging Trends and Practices in System Development: Proceedings of 14th Computer Science On-line Conference 2025. Vol.1. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems. Vol.1558 2025
Sadaquat Ali, Biswaranjan Senapati, Nodira Mansurova, Alexander Nikulushkin, Nataļja Muračova, Roman Tsarev

The paper addresses the analysis of data on students’ educational activities that determine their involvement in the educational process, aiming to enhance their efficiency and improve their academic performance. The Fuzzy C-Means algorithm was used to cluster students characterized by different levels of engagement. It is a fuzzy clustering algorithm that allows to consider the possibility of students belonging to multiple clusters with varying degrees of membership, which is essential in an educational context. The clustering problem was solved using a dataset containing various parameters related to the learning activities of 150 students. The dataset contained values of parameters such as course IDs, time spent in courses, assignments completed, participation scores, and levels of interest. The Fuzzy C-Means algorithm identified students categorized into clusters of high engagement, moderate engagement, and low engagement. It calculated the degree of membership for each student in each cluster. The visual representation of the degrees of membership facilitates a visual analysis of student engagement information and provides a more nuanced understanding of their engagement patterns. The results demonstrate the flexibility of fuzzy clustering, in particular Fuzzy C-Means, in analyzing educational data where students exhibit a variety of behaviors. The proposed approach offers significant insights into student engagement, facilitating targeted interventions to improve their academic performance.


Keywords
C-Means; Cluster; Dataset; E-learning; Education; Engagement; FCM; Fuzzy C-Means; Fuzzy Clustering; Involvement; Motivation
DOI
10.1007/978-3-032-03406-9_18
Hyperlink
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-03406-9_18

Ali, S., Senapati, B., Mansurova, N., Nikulushkin, A., Muračova, N., Tsarev, R. Fuzzy C-Means: A Fuzzy Approach to Clustering in Educational Contexts. In: Software Engineering: Emerging Trends and Practices in System Development: Proceedings of 14th Computer Science On-line Conference 2025. Vol.1. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems. Vol.1558, Russia, Moscow, 1-3 April, 2025. Cham: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025, pp.278-289. ISBN 978-3-032-03405-2. e-ISBN 978-3-032-03406-9. ISSN 2367-3370. e-ISSN 2367-3389. Available from: doi:10.1007/978-3-032-03406-9_18

Publication language
English (en)
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