提出新方法纠正教育数据选择偏差,提升知识追踪准确性
Temporal Smoothness Doubly Robust Learning for Debiased Knowledge Tracing

- 结合倾向性模型与误差填补模型,实现任一准确即无偏的双重鲁棒机制
- 引入时间平滑正则,降低估计方差,避免长期训练中误差累积
- 在多个真实数据集上验证,显著提升主流知识追踪模型性能
知识追踪(KT)是智能教育系统的核心,但依赖于存在选择偏差的教育日志。由于习题推荐和学生选择非随机,传统方法基于观测日志进行经验风险最小化,导致掌握度估计偏差并引发后续推荐错误累积。为此,本文提出一种双重鲁棒(DR)KT框架,融合倾向性模型与误差填补模型,理论上保证只要其中任一模型正确即可实现无偏估计。进一步发现,在序列化KT场景中,估计器性能受方差驱动的随机波动影响,随时间累积造成训练不稳与性能受限。通过推导泛化界,识别出时间平滑性是控制方差的关键因素。据此提出时序平滑双重鲁棒(TSDR)框架,联合优化预测器与填补模型,并引入平滑正则项,在保持无偏性的前提下有效降低方差。多组真实数据集实验表明,TSDR能持续提升多种先进KT模型的表现,凸显了合理偏差校正在知识追踪中的关键作用。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Knowledge Tracing (KT) is fundamental to intelligent education systems, yet relies on educational logs that are selectively observed. The non-random nature of exercise recommendations and student choices inevitably induces severe selection bias. Most existing KT methods neglect this issue, training on observed logs using standard empirical risk, which yields biased mastery estimates and accumulates errors in subsequent recommendations. To address this, we introduce a doubly robust (DR) formulation for KT that integrates a propensity model with an error imputation model, theoretically guaranteeing unbiasedness if either model is accurate. Beyond unbiasedness, in the sequential setting of KT, we identify that the estimator's performance is compromised by variance-dependent stochastic deviations that accumulate over time, thereby causing training instability and limiting performance. To mitigate this, we derive a generalization bound that explicitly characterizes the impact of estimator variance and identifies temporal smoothness as a key factor in controlling it. Building on these theoretical insights, we propose the Temporal Smoothness Doubly Robust (TSDR) framework. TSDR jointly optimizes the KT predictor and the imputation model with a smoothness regularizer, effectively reducing variance while preserving the unbiasedness guarantee of DR. Experiments on multiple real-world benchmarks demonstrate that TSDR consistently enhances various state-of-the-art KT backbones, underscoring the vital role of principled bias correction in KT.
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