The Use of Data Mining Methods for Analyzing and Evaluating Course Quality in the Moodle System

The work describes investigation of data mining methods and techniques for evaluating quality and successfulness of a course realized in the e-learning system Moodle. We showed what kind of data can be collected, how to perform the previous data preparation, how to apply appropriate methods on the data, and how to use the discovered knowledge. The focus is on the use of data mining methods and techniques as a tool for discovering those parts of activities than cannot be obtained from polls filled in by users. For the research presented in this work we chose and analyzed data on the course Programmable logic devices for the school year 2008/2009. The course was realized under the open source platform Moodle, which represents one of e-learning systems and environments for distant learning. We analyzed data on students’ activities, generated from the Moodle system database. The basis for the described research is theoretic knowledge in the field of data mining, educational data mining and practical knowledge in the field of usage of educational models in electronic education.