Work in progress - creating expert systems in engineering education

Author

Chen, Wei-Fan

Author_Institution

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

18-21 Oct. 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

This study presented a model of constructing expert system knowledge base for an undergraduate computer networking class. This model included (1) identifying a suitable problem, (2) defining the problem domain, (3) specifying goals or solutions, (4) specifying problem attributes and values, (5) generating rules and examples, and (6) selecting the right tool. In addition, the effectiveness of this problem-based learning approach was verified by an experimental study. Results indicated that students creating their own expert decision-making system based on IF-THEN rules achieved significantly higher scores than students guided by an expert system already developed by experts (F=5.042, p< .05) when they were solving story problems. The same instructional technology can be applied to other disciplines that focus on teaching engineering problem solving.

Keywords

decision making; engineering education; expert systems; teaching; IF-THEN rules; decision-making system; engineering education; expert system knowledge base; problem-based learning approach; undergraduate computer networking class; Computer networks; Decision making; Design engineering; Design for experiments; Engineering education; Expert systems; Personal communication networks; Problem-solving; Statistics; Testing; Engineering problem solving; Experimental design; Expert systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers in Education Conference, 2009. FIE '09. 39th IEEE

Conference_Location

San Antonio, TX

ISSN

0190-5848

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4715-2

Electronic_ISBN

0190-5848

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.2009.5350809

Filename

5350809