The Use of Knowledge Preconditions in Language Processing

If an agent does not possess the knowledge needed to perform an action, it may privately plan to obtain the required information on its own, or it may involve another agent in the planning process by engaging it in a dialogue. In this paper, we show how the requirements of knowledge preconditions can be used to account for information-seeking subdialogues in discourse. We first present an axiomatization of knowledge preconditions for the SharedPlan model of collaborative activity (Grosz & Kraus, 1993), and then provide an analysis of information-seeking subdialogues within a general framework for discourse processing. In this framework, SharedPlans and relationships among them are used to model the intentional component of Grosz and Sidner's (1986) theory of discourse structure.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, uses ijcai95.sty, postscript figure

Professional Learning Communities in the Expanded Learning Field

This white paper uses twelve evaluation reports of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) initiatives, as well as interviews with PLC participants and facilitators, to better understand how the PLC model is used in the Expanded Learning field, to demonstrate the benefits to participating staff and expanded learning programs, and to share best practices for youth-serving organizations interested in using PLCs

Changing Stakeholder Needs and Changing Evaluator Roles: The Central Valley Partnership of the James Irvine Foundation

This case study describes the evolution of the evaluator's role as the program evolved and developed, and as the needs of the client and intended users changed over time. The initiative aimed to assist immigrants in California's Central Valley. The case illustrates important tensions among accountability, learning and capacity building purposes of evaluation

Group Inquiry

Group agents can act, they can have knowledge. How should we understand the species of collective action which aims at knowledge? In this paper, I present an account of group inquiry. This account faces two challenges: making sense of how large-scale distributed activities might be a kind of group action, and understanding the division of labour involved in group inquiry. In the first part of the paper, I argue that existing accounts of group action face problems dealing with large-scale group actions, and propose a minimal alternative account. In the second part of the paper, I draw on an analogy between inquiry and conversation, arguing that work by Robert Stalnaker and Craige Roberts helps us to think about the division of epistemic labour. In the final part of the paper I put the accounts of group action and inquiry together, and consider how to think about group knowledge, deep ignorance, and the different kinds of division of labour

Forging Structures, Systems and Policies that Work in Communities: Stories and Lessons from Building Healthy Communities

In this case study series, we explore successes, opportunities, challenges and transitions experienced "in place" as communities endeavor to create and sustain healthy communities for children and families

Rich environments for active learning: a definition

Rich Environments for Active Learning, or REALs, are comprehensive instructional systems that evolve from and are consistent with constructivist philosophies and theories. To embody a constructivist view of learning, REALs: promote study and investigation within authentic contexts; encourage the growth of student responsibility, initiative, decision making, and intentional learning; cultivate collaboration among students and teachers; utilize dynamic, interdisciplinary, generative learning activities that promote higher-order thinking processes to help students develop rich and complex knowledge structures; and assess student progress in content and learning-to-learn within authentic contexts using realistic tasks and performances. REALs provide learning activities that engage students in a continuous collaborative process of building and reshaping understanding as a natural consequence of their experiences and interactions within learning environments that authentically reflect the world around them. In this way, REALs are a response to educational practices that promote the development of inert knowledge, such as conventional teacher-to-student knowledge-transfer activities. In this article, we describe and organize the shared elements of REALs, including the theoretical foundations and instructional strategies to provide a common ground for discussion. We compare existing assumptions underlying education with new assumptions that promote problem-solving and higher-level thinking. Next, we examine the theoretical foundation that supports these new assumptions. Finally, we describe how REALs promote these new assumptions within a constructivist framework, defining each REAL attribute and providing supporting examples of REAL strategies in action

Engaging Youth in Community Change: Outcomes and Lessons Learned From Sierra Health Foundation's REACH Youth Program

Assesses the REACH: Connecting Communities and Youth for a Healthy Future program's outcomes, including new skills and community awareness; lessons for the field, including the role of coalitions and adult supporters; and suggestions for funders

Trends in LN-embedding practices at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) in 2019

In this report, we describe the trends in literacy-embedding practices of level-2 and level-3 tutors who worked in vocational contexts at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), and who completed the New Zealand Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education (NZCALNE[Voc]) in 2019. We analysed 19 observations, following constructivist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2014), to produce 1302 descriptive labels that highlight literacy and numeracy practices integrated into tutors’ teaching intentionally pursued in a collaborative and mentored training process. Of the initial 12 categories, we conflated the mapping of LN course demands and identifying learners’ LN needs to arrive at a final 11. We then used these categories in an axial analysis (Saldaňa, 2013), categorising the 1302 labels as binaries (i.e. if the label was related to the category, 1 was coded; if not 0 [zero]). The matrix of 14322 ratings of 1s and 0s was then analysed. We calculated the frequency of 1s by category. We argued that the axial analysis allowed us to develop a more holistic perspective which showed how the 1302 labels were configured in relation to the 11 categories of analysis. We concluded that the 11 categories represented key aspects of vocational teaching and training emphasising that LN-embedding practices have to be seamlessly integrated into general pedagogical approaches. A key construct for new tutors is to shape their understanding of seamlessly integrated versus bolted-on LN practices. Our recommendations remain within the whole-of-organisation perspective proposed in the 2017-2018 report (Greyling, 2019)

In-service Initial Teacher Education in the Learning and Skills Sector in England: Integrating Course and Workplace Learning

The aim of the paper is to advance understanding of in-service learning and skills sector trainee teachers’ learning and propose ways of improving their learning. A conceptual framework is developed by extending Billett’s (International Journal of Educational Research 47:232–240, 2008) conceptualisation of workplace learning, as a relationally interdependent process between the opportunities workplaces afford for activities and interactions and how individuals engage with these, to a third base of participation, the affordances of the initial teacher education course. Hager and Hodkinson’s (British Educational Research Journal 35:619–638, 2009) metaphor of ‘learning as becoming’ is used to conceptualise the ways trainees reconstruct learning in a continuous transactional process of boundary crossing between course and workplace. The findings of six longitudinal case studies of trainees’ development, and evidence from other studies, illustrate the complex interrelationships between LSS workplace affordances, course affordances and trainee characteristics and the ways in which trainees reconstruct learning in each setting. The experience of teaching and interacting with learners, interactions with colleagues, and access to workplace resources and training are important workplace affordances for learning. However, some trainees have limited access to these affordances. Teaching observations, course activities and experiences as a learner are significant course affordances. Trainees’ beliefs, prior experiences and dispositions vary and significantly influence their engagement with course and workplace affordances. It is proposed that better integration of course and workplace learning through guided participation in an intentional workplace curriculum and attention to the ways trainees choose to engage with this, together with the use of practical theorising has the potential to improve trainee learning