International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control ICIC International c °2006 ISSN 1349-4198 Volume 2, Number 2, April 2006 pp. 465—479 DEVELOPING AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM TO ACQUIRE MEETING KNOWLEDGE IN PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Akcell Chiang Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering TungNan Institute of Technology No.152, Sec.3, PeiShen Rd., ShenKeng, Taipei 222, Taiwan akcell@mail.tnit.edu.tw Mohd Sapiyan Baba Faculty of Computer Sc. & IT. University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia pian@um.edu.my Received July 2004; revised June 2005 Abstract. MALESAbrain[1-3] is an intelligent algorithm which originally is designed for problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Similarly, the algorithm proposed in MALESAbrain can be used to deal the problem of conducting a meeting among learners to solve problems. This project adapts the original MALESAbrain definitions and algo- rithm to create an intelligent learning tool; then testing the tool in a students’ meeting to discuss“To build up programming skills for computer science students, do you agree JAVA is a proper language in the first year foundation course for computer science stu- dents”? Consequently, this paper concludes that MALESAbrain is a new methodology for meeting, which (1) reduces the unnecessary human intervention and (2) changes a meeting atmosphere from debate to problem-based learning for the knowledge acquisition. Keywords: Problem-based learning (PBL), Knowledge acquisition, MALESAbrain, Artificial knowledge cell (AK-cell) 1. Introduction. In solving real world problems which are complex and uncertain, sound decisions are often made collectively by groups of people who possess different expertise rather than just a single individual [4-6]. Once decisions have been made and entered into the execution phase, new factors may arise and affect the execution of the task. The executive (who may be a single individual) may need to make some on-the-spot decisions but s/he still needs to continuously seek support from the group to ensure mutual understanding and agreement. This is considered the key factor in determining the success of the meeting decisions [7-9]. In the realm of group-based decision making, there is evidence to support the superiority of computer-mediated group decision making over traditional face-to-face group decision making [7, 8] but the converse is also true in some cases [9, 10]. The advantages gained in using a computer-mediated tool over face-to-face discussion are not always obvious and the outcome is often highly related to context. Therefore, it is safe to claim that there is 465