Integrating expert system in managing basic education: A survey in Ghana

Abstract

Management of basic education in developing countries like Ghana is a major challenge as resources are not adequately available for effective teaching and learning in schools. Careful planning and prediction using available data is also a major challenge as there are inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the available data. An investigation into the use of an Expert System for easy management of the resources is carried out in this research to know the level of readiness to accept an ES to assist in management. Stakeholders of education are contacted to solicit their views. With 216 districts for managing education in the country, a minimum of 3 participants were selected from each district to constitute a sample for the survey. In all 648 participants data were analyzed. The unstructured interview was also conducted using 9 members of an executive position in management. A thematic analysis was done on the responses and presented in diagrammatic form. The Acceptance Model for Educational Expert System (AMEES) is also presented. The results showed the majority of respondents agree with the use of an Expert System (ES) to assist in managing basic education. The use of data mining techniques to filter the data in an ES and help in easy prediction for decision-making accuracy is a necessity.

Keywords

• Expert system
• Datamining
• Management
• Education
• Decision-making
• AMEES