An insider perspective of lifelong learning in Singapore: beyond the economic perspective

This study traces the learning journeys of a group of people who overcame economic, social and/or educational disadvantages to engage in lifelong learning in Singapore. Studies in a number of countries have shown that people from economically, socially and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds are under-represented in postschool learning. However, in every country, there is a small group that has succeeded in overcoming economic, social and psychological odds to engage in lifelong learning and in this thesis such a group will be investigated in Singapore. In 2002, twenty-three people within this category were selected by the community as lifelong learners in Singapore. Thirteen of them volunteered for this study. Data collected through in-depth interviews were analysed using grounded theory methodology. The model of lifelong learning derived from emergent common themes shows that while it is true that utilitarian reasons usually accounted for the initial decision to engage in post-school learning, learning journeys were sustained by the development of learning careers, through the strengthening of learner identities and the development of learning dispositions.Sociocultural factors, such as presence of positive environments and supportive relationships with significant others, also influenced learning decisions. The findings thus confirm recent studies of the need for a sociocultural theory of lifelong learning and a more holistic approach to lifelong learning. There are important implications for Singapore which has achieved rapid economic growth since independence by adopting a pragmatic approach. Official discourses of lifelong learning are based on human capital theory. Hence, lifelong learning is seen as an investment in human capital, and often equated with skills upgrading for economic and political survival. The implications of this study are, however, that instead of focusing on the political and economic aspects of lifelong learning, future initiatives should examine other micro-contexts like family, work, schools and other institutions, with special focus on how people within these institutions can help support lifelong learning. It is also evident from the findings, that lifelong learning should be seen in its whole spectrum, as learning across the lifespan, from cradle to grave (lifelong learning) and learning that covers formal, nonformal and informal learning (lifewide learning).V

Reducing Efficiency through Communication in Competitive Coordination Games

Costless pre-play communication has been found to effectively facilitate coordination and enhance efficiency by increasing individual payoffs in games with Pareto-ranked equilibria. We report an experiment in which two groups compete in a weakest-link contest by expending costly efforts. Allowing group members to communicate before choosing efforts leads to more aggressive competition and greater coordination, but also results in substantially lower payoffs than a control treatment without communication. Our experiment thus provides evidence that communication can reduce efficiency in competitive coordination games. This contrasts sharply with experimental findings from public goods and other coordination games, where communication enhances efficiency and often leads to socially optimal outcomes.Contest; Between-group Competition; Within-group Competition; Cooperation; Coordination; Free-riding; Experiments

Spartan Daily, April 25, 1990

Volume 94, Issue 57https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7987/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, March 7, 1994

Volume 102, Issue 27https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8527/thumbnail.jp

The Cowl - v.79 - n.11 - Nov 20, 2014

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 79 - No. 11 - November 20, 2014. 24 pages

A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication

In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion

An Assessment of Problem Solving and Workflow Strategies Employed by Geoscientists in Seismic Interpretation

This study was designed to advance understanding of the interactions, strategies, and techniques graduate geoscientists employ in the process of 2D seismic interpretation. This qualitative study was designed to record pre-professional, experienced participants in order to develop insights into emerging expert behavior in this task. Videos of participants were coded for co-occurrences of features that were identified by participants, the markings participants made, the order of common features among participants, physical interaction with the images, and time use between the different exercises resources provided to participants during interpretation. Information was also collected with a background survey and through interviews in order to gain insight into participant’s experience with seismic interpretation. This information was used to place participants into different levels of experience and showed that participants have a limited ability to self-assess their experience. Trends in the data were searched among the different experience groups. Our results show that the lowest expertise group uses a less holistic approach with the available resources and is more hesitant to use written observations during their exercise. The high and medium-experience groups also employed techniques that the low experience group did not to help them asses the seismic data set. Additionally, this study was able to show and categorize the common elements among participants’ interpretations, and offer a method to capture workflow strategies. Workflows were found to be variable and methods should be created to capture thought processes during interpretation. The insights from this study will help guide future research to probe the practice of seismic interpretation, with the hope to improve the efficiency of training geoscientists in seismic interpretatio