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Business Intelligence tools and web development
tools. Considering the context in which this project
takes place, the selected development tools integrate
the Microsoft environment. The SRM system
prototype validation has been done through the
execution of a set of application cases, taking place
in different Higher Education Institutions (Piedade
and Santos, 2009).
4 APPLICATION CASE
The data used in this application case was gathered
in a graduate course of a Portuguese Higher
Education Institution. This course, in the
engineering area, is composed by a set of curricular
units. The selected unit, with 70 students, is
integrated in the first graduation year. The teaching
method adopted is based in a presential component,
and on an e-learning component supported by the e-
learning platform available in the institution. The
presential component includes different types of
classes (theoretical, practical and tutorial
orientation). The activities included in the theoretical
classes are related with the curricular subjects’
presentation and explanation. The activities included
in the practical classes are related with exercises and
problems solving in a laboratory environment. The
activities included in the tutorial orientation classes
include students’ individual work support and
orientation and subject clarification. The e-learning
component includes activities related with the
distribution of relevant information and materials
(unit general information, curricular contents,
exercises and project guidelines), and, also,
communication activities (messages that are
automatically or manually sent and discussion
forums). The unit assessment includes two distinct
methods: the normal assessment period and the
exam assessment period. The normal assessment
period integrates a written test and a project with
individual discussion, with weights of 40% and
60%, respectively, in the final mark. The
quantitative mark scale comprises values among 0 to
20. In both assessments, 8 is the minimum mark that
needs to be obtained by the students in order to be
possible the calculus of their final mark. This final
mark results from the application of the weights
associated with the test and the project and needs to
be equal or higher than 10 to guarantee success in
the unit. The exam assessment period only
comprises a written exam. To pass the unit, the
student must obtain a positive mark (value greater or
equal then 10). In the exam evaluation, we
frequently have students who have failed the normal
assessment and/or students that missed the normal
assessment. The available data, about each student
and his/her involvement in the teaching-learning
process, was: (i) provided by the institutional
academic system (like students’ personal
information and unit information); (ii) provided by
the unit teachers (include students presences in
classes, developed activities and the corresponding
student marks); (iii) provided by the e-learning
system (information related with the student-unit
interaction using the e-learning platform).
The analysis of all the available data allowed the
identification of the data subset considered in this
application case. This data subset includes:
student number; student registration year; and
student phase of admission to higher education. The
phase information is only related with first year
students and can have the values first or second.
This attribute is also used to identify the students
that are repeating the unit (value rep), as a
consequence of a previous failure; and, worker/full
time students information. In order to maintain the
students’ privacy, all the information that allows
his/her identification is ignored or codified.
unit identification; unit designation; unit
curricular year and semester; and associated course.
class type identification; class type description;
class start hour; class duration; and, class week day.
assiduity rate associated with each student and
each class type. The assiduities values were
transformed in the following classes:
Low (< 50%),
Acceptable (≥ 50 and < 70%) and High (≥ 70% and
≤ 100%).
assessment activity identification; activity
description; weight in the final mark, mandatory
information; and, marks (obtained by each student).
To represent some specific situations, negative
values were used. In the project assessment results
the value -1 mean that the student misses the project
individual discussion; the value -3 mean that the
student did not implemented the project work. In the
unit final results, the value -1 mean that the student
was not submitted to any type of evaluation (test,
project or exam); -2 mean that the student failed the
unit, but he/she was submitted to any one of the
activities includes in the unit assessment (test/
project/exam). The final marks were also classified
in qualitative terms, using for that purpose the
following attributes: Satisfactory (between 10 and
13), Good (between 14 and 16) and VeryGood
(between 17 and 20).
number of distinct days that each student
interacted with the unit using the e-learning
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION - Managing the Relationships with Students
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