BANTER: A Bayesian network tutoring shell

We present an educational tool for bringing the information contained in a Bayesian network to the end user in an easily intelligible form. The BANTER Shell is designed to tutor users in evaluation of hypotheses and selection of optimal diagnostic procedures. BANTER can be used with any Bayesian network containing nodes that can be classified into hypotheses, observations, and diagnostic procedures. The system enables one to present various types of queries to the network, to test one's ablity to select optimal diagnostic procedures, and to request explanations. We describe the system's capabilities by illustrating how it functions with two structurally different network models of real-world medical problems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.