Feedback generation using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps to reduce dropout in situation-aware e-Learning systems

E-learning is becoming increasingly popular among learners of any age, thanks to its many advantages related to the possibility to learn anywhere and anytime and the low costs. Despite this success and diffusion, the student dropout rate of e-learning systems is very high. The main reason is the lack of motivation and engagement of the students with the online course. An adequate design of the e-learning system and its capability to adapt to the characteristics of the learners can reduce the dropout rate. In this work, we propose an approach, based on Fuzzy Cognitive Map, to identify the situation of the learner (mainly in terms of motivation and engagement) and to provide the learners with a set of feedback aiming at improving the retention of the learners in a situation-aware adaptive learning system. A prototypical system is proposed to preliminary verify the feasibility and utility of the approach.