Predicting student academic outcomes from e-learning interaction data using hybrid machine learning models

Abstract

The rapid growth of digital learning platforms has generated large volumes of student interaction data, providing opportunities for intelligent prediction of academic outcomes. Beyond educational analytics, such prediction tasks are relevant for reconfigurable systems, embedded platforms, very large scale integration (VLSI) accelerators, and internet of things (IoT)-enabled edge devices in smart learning environments. This study proposes a hybrid machine learning framework for predicting student performance using the e-learning student reactions dataset, which captures engagement patterns, behavioral responses, and interaction dynamics. Eight classifiers— eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), multilayer perceptron (MLP), radial basis function (RBF), and deep neural network (DNN)—are evaluated using both an 80–20 train–test split and K-fold cross-validation to assess accuracy and generalization. Results show the RBF model achieves the highest accuracy of 1.00, demonstrating its ability to capture complex, nonlinear behavior. From a systems perspective, the framework can be mapped onto field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or embedded devices, leveraging parallel computation for low-latency inference, and integrated with IoT-enabled smart classrooms for real-time edge analytics. These findings confirm that hybrid machine learning models not only improve student performance prediction but also serve as practical workloads for reconfigurable, embedded, and VLSI-based intelligent systems in digital education.