Factors Influencing the Difficulty Level of the Subject: Machine Learning Technique Approaches

Abstract

The difficulty level of a subject is needed either to understand the student acceptance of the subject and the highest level of student achievement in it. Some factors are considered, what kind of instructions, the readiness of the instructor and students in teaching and learning, evaluation and monitoring systems, and student expectations. Many factors are involved, and educators should know this. It is better if they can discern which are the prime factors and which the secondary factors. The purpose of the study is to find out the determinant factors in establishing the difficulty level of the subject from the students’, teachers’ and infrastructure point of view using three machine learning techniques. The MSE and the variable importance measurement were used to predict between some factors such as Attendance, Instructors, and other factors as independent variables and the difficulty level of the subject as a dependent variable. The study result showed that Gradient Boosting Machine obtained the MSE value result 1.14 and 1.30 for training and validation dataset. The model generated five variable importance as an independent factor, i.e. Attendance, Instructor, The course can give a new perspective to students, The quizzes, assignments, projects and exams contributed to helping the learning, and The Instructor was committed to the course and was understandable. The Gradient Boosting Machine is superior to other methods with the lowest MSE and MAE values results. Two methods, Gradient Boosting Machine and Deep Learning, have produced the same five main factors that influenced the difficulty of the subject. It means these factors are significant and should get intention by the stakeholders