Student Tips |Teacher Tips

ES-Builder Web is quite easy to use with no prior training, but there are some things you can do to make your expert Systems work just a little better.

Here are some simple tips for creating Expert Systems using ES-Builder Web:

For Students:

1. Don�t use questions for attributes. Finishing sentences is much more user-friendly and the rules read much better.

   Instead of saying:

   • What size is the box?
     • Big
     • Small.

   Say:

   • The box is...
     • Big
     • Small
2. Image files are not stored on ES-Builder Web. You must enter a valid hyper-link to an existing image on the internet for it to appear in your project. Be aware that images randomly disappear from the internet when not controlled by you.
3. When designing your Expert System in the Decision Tree Editor, any node that is not part of a correctly constructed branch will have a red exclamation symbol appear before it. To check that you have a valid tree, make sure all these red markers are eliminated.

For Teachers:

1. Have your students submit their expert systems projects to you electronically. Schools that have an Annual Subscription Licence to ES-Builder Web are able to have students download their completed projects as a zip file that includes all the separate files required to make up a standalone web site of the Expert System. This way you can save on all that paper. Exporting the expert system to HTML creates a project that fits in one folder, on a USB or attached to an email. Having the projects presented this way offers a number of benefits.
    
   • easier to mark, because web sites are structured for easy navigation.
   • all required data in the same place.
   • much less printing. Think of that student who prints everything out just to find a mistake and repeat the printing process all over again
   • the web site format can be extended to improve the research component of expert system projects and allow such things as including hyper-links to further information in conclusion notes.
      
2. Set your projects to be diagnostic expert systems, rather than classification exercises. This results in a more challenging assessment exercise. It also strengthens the need for a sound research component to the project which assists in providing a discriminating criteria for separating students.
    
   • Instead of asking "What bird is that?" or "What flag is that?", ask "What is my problem?" and then give a solution in the conclusion notes. eg, "My pot-plant is looking sick, what do I do?".
      
3. Check out the Resources page