Benefits of Educational Data Mining

Abstract

We live in a world where we collect huge amounts of data, but if this data is not further analyzed, it remains only huge amounts of data. With new methods and techniques, we can use this data, analyze it and get a great advantage. The perfect method for this is data mining. Data mining is the process of extracting hidden and useful information and patterns from large data sets. Its application in various areas such as finance, telecommunications, healthcare, sales marketing, banking, etc. is already well known. In this paper, we want to introduce special use of data mining in education, called educational data mining. Educational Data Mining (EDM) is an interdisciplinary research area created as the application of data mining in the educational field. It uses different methods and techniques from machine learning, statistics, data mining and data analysis, to analyze data collected during teaching and learning. Educational Data Mining is the process of raw data transformation from large educational databases to useful and meaningful information which can be used for a better understanding of students and their learning conditions, improving teaching support as well as for decision making in educational systems.The goal of this paper is to introduce educational data mining and to present its application and benefits.