Learning analytics research has used both knowledge engineering and machine learning methods to model student behaviors within the context of digital learning environments. In this paper, we compare these two approaches, as well as a hybrid approach combining the two types of methods. We illustrate the strengths of each approach in the context of…

Rachlin (2012) makes two general assertions: (a) "To be human is to behave as humans behave, and to function in society as humans function," and (b) "essential human attributes such as consciousness, the ability to love, to feel pain, to sense, to perceive, and to imagine may all be possessed by a computer'. Although Rachlin's article is an…