# A Domain-Driven Framework to Analyze Learning Dynamics in MOOCs through Event Abstraction
## 5 Case Study: Successful Student Sessions in Coursera
### Case Study & Framework
For instance, 39.9% of the former engaged in at least one Assessing or Retaking activity. However, it is noteworthy that 40.4% of cases belonged to students who just completed Skimming and then ended the session. This reveals that a considerable proportion of students only signed up to explore the questions without completing the overall evaluation. In terms of content dynamics, the Progressing activity was the one that typically started the sessions in which it featured, and it was usually followed by assessment activities, particularly Assessing. This reflects variations from the initial stages of the course, when the user preferred to study or repeat topics more frequently. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Q1** & **Q2** & **Q3** & **Q4** & **Q5** \\ \hline \% of cases & 19\% & 20\% & 19\% & 19\% & 22\% \\ \% of events & 23\% & 23\% & 20\% & 18\% & 16\% \\ N\({}^{\circ}\) of cases & 1366 & 1429 & 1371 & 1359 & 1562 \\ N\({}^{\circ}\) of events & 4120 & 4097 & 3655 & 3303 & 2854 \\ Mean case duration & 49 min & 46.9 min & 38.3 min & 36 min & 28.9 min \\ Median case durations & 28 min & 16.5 min & 8.9 min & 5.8 min & 0 min \\ Variants & 446 & 395 & 336 & 298 & 228 \\ Most common variant & \begin{tabular}{c} Progressing \\ (18.23\%) \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} Skimming \\ (21.27\%) \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} Skimming \\ (27.64\%) \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} Skimming \\ (32.52\%) \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} Skimming \\ (40.4\%) \\ \end{tabular} \\ Mean activities per case & 3.02 & 2.81 & 2.61 & 2.43 & 1.83 \\ Median activities per case & 2 & 2 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Statistics on sessions by quintile. Furthermore, it should be noted that even at the end of the course, the Progressing activity appeared more frequently than the Echoing activity and for a longer average time (23.5 minutes versus 9.6 minutes). Similarly, the practice of continuing to study while missing an assessment significantly reduced its incidence, accounting for only 2 incidents, or 0.1% of these sessions. RQ3: What Types of Mooc Sessions Do Successful Students Go Through and How Do They Differ from Each Other? Using the results from the processes outlined in Section 4 for determining the number of clusters, the number that best segregated the data was deemed to be four. The duration, average number of activities, and number of cases classified in each cluster are shown in Table 5, while the results for each variable after z-score normalization are shown in Figure 11. Each cluster's differences and distinctions are detailed below. It is worth noting that two outliers were detected and deleted from the sample. These two cases in particular had the two longest sessions at 334 and 252 min, respectively, and the cases with the most activities per session at 89 and 73. Both sessions were completed in the middle of the course by the same user and described behavior similar, although exaggerated, to Cluster 3. _Cluster 1_ accounts for the majority of the behavior observed in the log, with relatively short (<20 min) sessions containing one or two activities. Given the small number of activities in each session, the z-score for each dimension is expected to be somewhat low. Consequently, the activities with the lowest z-scores in this cluster are Skimming (\(-\)0.702) and Retaking (\(-\)0.653). When determining the point in the course at which the cases of this cluster appear, it is striking that, despite the low z-score of activities associated with assessment, the sessions of cluster 1 are mostly located in the course's final quintile (25.92%), while the initial quintile only has 16.43%, and quintiles 2, 3, and 4 have values ranging from 18.68% (Q2) to 19.67% (Q4). Despite the fact that the majority of cases belong to this cluster, at event level, these account for just 42.13% of the reduced log. Figure 9: Initial sessions, or the course’s first quintile.