Can school enrolment and performance be improved by maximizing students' sense of choice in elective subjects?

Lewis, Rhyd ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1046-811X, Anderson, Tom and Carroll, Fiona 2020. Can school enrolment and performance be improved by maximizing students' sense of choice in elective subjects? Journal of Learning Analytics 7 (1) , pp. 75-87. 10.18608/jla.2020.71.6

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Abstract

This paper explores a system that attempts to maximize high school students’ sense of choice when selecting elective subjects. We propose that individual schools can tailor the combinations of subjects they offer in order to maximize the number of prospective students who can study their preferred subjects, potentially increasing enrol- ment numbers and academic outcomes while also reducing administrative overheads. We analyze the underlying computational problem encountered in this task and describe a suitable AI-based optimization algorithm that we have made available for free download. We also discuss some outcomes of using this method on a small number of case study schools.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Mathematics
ISSN:	1929-7750
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 April 2020
Date of Acceptance:	9 January 2020
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 12:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/130997

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