# Monitoring Students at the University: Design and Application of a Moodle Plugin
## 1 Introduction
### Characteristics of Teaching in Blended Learning Environments  
Currently, a high percentage of teaching, whether classroom-based or online, is done in blended learning mode using Learning Management Systems (LMSs). LMSs are modular and collaborative digital environments such as Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) [9]. The effectiveness of these environments at facilitating the development of metacognitive skills [10; 11] among students and, therefore, learning acquisition, has been demonstrated through both conceptual and procedural content construction [12]. These spaces provide learners with the possibility of developing a mental scaffolding for task resolution which promotes both effective and practical learning [13]. In addition, if used in the LMSs, hypermedia resources will increase Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) because these resources promote planning, supervision, control, and personal reflection upon the learner's own practice [14]. All these approaches encourage the participation of learners in their own learning processes--hence, the use of NICT for the adaptation of teaching to the specific characteristics and needs of each student. In addition, direct feedback in real time can be provided from the LMSs on the resolution of a task (process and product) [15]. These learning environments also enhance SRL [16]. Thus, all these aspects together will bring added motivation [17; 18; 19]. However, to obtain those benefits a good pedagogical design for curricular planning will be in need of the following [16; 20]:  
* Monitoring actions through the development of dynamic activities that include hypermedia resources. These actions facilitate monitoring progress through the systematic checking of goals. This is a process that contains assessment, the proper identification of information, the evaluation of the content of responses to goals, and self-questioning. Machine Learning techniques are used to perform the analyses. * Discrimination between effective vs. ineffective learning strategies. Procedures for detecting task difficulties are analysed and tasks at varying degrees of difficulty are presented to learners. * The development of help-seeking behaviour through data that can be used to analyse time and effort in planning, the degree of task difficulty, and interest shown towards the scope of the task. In addition, recent research in e-learning [21] supports the hypothesis that these environments are more effective at achieving deep and high-quality learning if they include hypermedia resources [12], which can be adapted to the learning pace of each student and increase the use of metacognitiveskills. Additionally, these resources need to be supported by the use of educational Data Mining techniques [22]. The project-based learning (PBL) approach is a methodological tool (it refers to a constructive and collaborative environment in which it is believed students acquire a deeper knowledge through problem solving or practical assumptions related to each discipline when it is applied) with which a good design for this sort of work can be implemented [23; 24; 25]. In this methodology, a systematic method of teaching is applied that can help students build deep learning [25]. The method is based on the use of research questions that help students build their learning and increase their learning outcomes. In addition, this methodology uses process-oriented feedback [26] in a collaborative learning framework, a type of feedback that promotes effective learning outcomes. The reason for its effectiveness is that it helps students to use SRL [27], which increases their motivation towards the learning object [19]. Moreover, if applied through the LMSs, the effects of this methodology are enhanced due to student-student, student-teacher, and students-teacher interactions within these learning environments [28].