Using Convolutional Neural Network to Recognize Learning Images for Early Warning of At-Risk Students

This article proposes two innovative approaches, the one-channel learning image recognition and the three-channel learning image recognition, to convert student's course involvements into images for early warning predictive analysis. Multiple experiments with 5235 students and 576 absolute/1728 relative input variables were conducted to verify their effectiveness. The results indicate that both methods can significantly capture more at-risk students (the highest average recall rate is equal to 77.26%) than the following machine learning algorithms—support vector machine, random forest, and deep neural network—in the middle of the semester. In addition, the innovative approaches allow minor subtypes of at-risk student identification and provide visual insights for personalized interventions. Implications and future directions are also discussed in this article.