A Case Study of Using the Structural Topic Model to Grasp Actual Learning through Free-Writing Reports

Tatsuya Tsumagari; Yoko Nakazato; Takashi Tsumagari

doi:10.52731/ijirm.v8.i1.836

Tatsuya Tsumagari Seigakuin University
Yoko Nakazato Kagoshima University
Takashi Tsumagari Prefectural University of Kumamoto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52731/ijirm.v8.i1.836

Keywords: First-year education, Career education, Learning assessment, Actual learning, Structural topic model

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an analysis using structural topic model (STM) of career awareness to examine learning in first-year career education courses. The subject of this study was a first-year career education course offered by a required course at public University A in Japan. The free-writing reports of 1,780 first-year students were included in the analysis.

We examined students' career awareness from two perspectives using STM. First, we examined stable career awareness that does not fluctuate from year to year. We identified whether stable career awareness was created by the same syllabus through changes in external factors. Second, we examined the impact of differences in student types on learning.

Fifteen topics were extracted as career awareness. Among those topics, six topics were found to be stable career awareness topics regardless of year. In addition, when students were classified into five types according to their interest in the lectures, eight topics were found to apply to constant career awareness, regardless of their interest. The three topics were independent of both year and student type.

The analysis of students' free-writing reports using STM is useful as an assessment method for grasping the reality of student learning.

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