Deep Learning for Educational Data Science

With the ever-growing presence of deep artificial neural networks in every facet of modern life, a growing body of researchers in educational data science – a field consisting of various interrelated research communities – have turned their attention to leveraging these powerful algorithms within the domain of education. Use cases range from advanced knowledge tracing models that can leverage open-ended student essays or snippets of code to automatic affect and behavior detectors that can identify when a student is frustrated or aimlessly trying to solve problems unproductively – and much more. This chapter provides a brief introduction to deep learning, describes some of its advantages and limitations, presents a survey of its many uses in education, and discusses how it may further come to shape the field of educational data science.