USE OF KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY IN SCHOOL DATABASES TO ENRICH THE LEARNING PROCESS

The process of data mining, also called knowledge discovery from databases, is not new. It involves analyzing data from different viewpoints and making it into knowledge nuggets that are short and snappy but loaded with insights. Data mining is being pursued by many industries such as banking, manufacturing, retailing and other services. But it's usage in the education front is still to gather momentum. Theoretically, in the process of data mining correlations or patterns amongst variables in databases are captured. It allows users to analyze data from many different dimensions or angles, categorize it, and summarize the relationships identified. This is of immense importance in education, wherein we have large databases of our learner which is seldom worked on to understand the evolving patterns of our learner and utilized to enhance the course of learning. In education, decision making is much more complex now than it has been in the past, this is because of the ever increasing complexity in the system. In India, at present, the complexity in the system is multiple and not homogeneous. We are in the midst of an epochal change. This revolution is giving us a new outlook of educational reality. There are a number of emergent concerns which cannot be treated in an overly simple and linear style of functioning. Also, the solutions arrived at yesteryears cannot be treated as fossilized. There is an urgent need to think of new possibilities to address the emergent issues. Amongst these issues, there is the growing concern on assessment and the accompanying demands for validation of an internal and an external method of assessment. To state that the most difficult challenge being faced by the educationist at present relates to students' assessment is to utter the obvious, even the trite. Assessment to understand learning may be viewed as a continuous process aimed at accepting and enhancing the present level of learning. It is not an activity which is severed and detached from the process of learning but it includes or embraces the entire learning process. It involves scientifically accumulating, analysing, and inferring evidences to determine student performance and also using the information to document, explain, and improve the performance. Assessment when it is embedded effectually within educational systems helps to focus attention, examine assumptions, and create a shared academic culture committed to assuring and improving the quality of learning. The purpose of this research is to use data mining for creating a robust and valid student assessment.