5.2. The Dataset

The following activities will use an artificially generated data set. Download and unpack the zip file dataset.zip in a folder in your personal computer. The folder should have the following files: student_list.csv, midterm_results.csv, forum_participation.csv, blended_participation.csv and all_data.csv. These files have been derived from the previously described scenario.

This the information contained in each file:

File student_list.csv

A file with information about 500 students and the following column names:

  • SID (Student ID)

  • Identifier (an auxiliary field),

  • email,

  • Surname,

  • GivenName,

  • MiddleInitial,

  • Full name,

  • Gender,

  • Course Code,

  • Program, with one of the values FSCI, FEIT, FASS or SMED,

  • Enrollment Type, with one of the values HECS, Local or International, and

  • Attendance with values either Full Time or Part Time.

File midterm_results.csv

File with information about 461 students with the following columns:

  • SID (with values identical to those in the previous file),

  • email,

  • Last Name,

  • First Name,

  • Columns Q01 to Q10 with the result of the 10 multiple choice questions (1 means correct, 0 means incorrect), and

  • the column Total with exam score (over 100 points).

File forum_participation.csv

File with information about 500 student and their participation in the discussion forum in the course. The columns in this file are:

  • SID (with values identical to those in the previous files),

  • The columns Days online, Views, Contributions and Questions replicated four times for weeks 2-5 with the week number as suffix for the column name, and

  • the accumulated values for Days online, Views, Contributions, and Questions without any suffix.

File blended_participation.csv

File with information about learner engagement with the videos and questions complementing the videos for weeks 2 - 5 in the course. The columns in this file are:

  • SID (with values identical to those in the previous files),

  • Columns with names Video_N_WM contain the percentage of the video with number N in week M that has been visualized. For example Video_2_W4 is the percentage of the second video in Week 4 that has been visualized.

  • Columns with names Questions_N_WM contain the number of questions from group N in Week M that have been answered. There are five questions per block.

  • Columns with names Correct_N_WM contain the number of questions from group N in Week M that have been correctly answered.

File all_data.csv

This file is simply the union of all the columns from the previous files.

The format of all data files is Comma Separated Values or CSV. This format assumes that 1) the first line has the names of the columns separated by commas, and every line below that one contains the data for a row with the values also separated by commas. This format is used to store information with a structure similar to a table (rows and columns).

5.2.1. Key columns

There are certain columns that are of special interest. If a column has a different value for each of the rows it is called a key column. The reason why are important is because once one value is selected it unequivocally identifies one row in the table. For example, educational institutions typically assign a unique identifier (SID) to each student. If a table contains information about a set of students (one student per row) and one column has the student ID, that column is then a key column.