Information theory and representation in associative word learning

A significant portion of early language learning can be viewed as an associative learning problem. We investigate the use of associative language learning based on the principle that words convey Shannon information about the environment. We discuss the shortcomings in representation used by previous associative word learners and propose a functional representation that not only denotes environmental categories, but serves as the basis for activities and interaction with the environment. We present experimental results with an autonomous agent acquiring language

2015: A Year of China-U.S. Competition and Cooperation

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/</a

From ‘Sage on the Stage’ to ‘Guide on the Side’: A Good Start

While the now-clichéd shift from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’ that characterizes the changing role of teachers is a good start, it is just that – a start. In this paper, I argue for a detailed look at the concomitant shift in the role of students, as they leave the world of passive recipients and join the ranks of active participants in the teaching-learning nexus. The paper discusses the problematic conflation of the terms ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’ that surfaces in consideration of the shifting roles of teachers and students, and argues that, in addition to defining information and knowledge precisely, we must consider the significance of the processes that transform the former into the latter. And finally, I reiterate the importance of making these distinctions and defining these processes not in the abstract but, rather, in the context of the various disciplines

“Boyer Reconsidered”: Fostering Students’ Scholarly Habits of Mind and Models of Practice

In his Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, Ernest L. Boyer argued for a conception of ‘scholarship’ that recognizes traditional research – what he termed the ‘scholarship of discovery’ – but which also includes the scholarly domains of ‘integration’, ‘application’, and ‘teaching’. His validation of teaching has spawned a virtual ‘industry’ devoted to what is now known as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). In this paper I seize upon the fact that, in the process of assembling his argument for better recognition of the range of faculty work, Boyer reconsidered the very concept of scholarship, arriving at a broader conception that highlights and celebrates a rich intersection of varied scholarly activities and practices. After introducing Boyer’s four domains of scholarship and summarizing the various scholarly activities – what might be termed the ‘habits of mind’ and ‘models of practice’ – that are associated with those domains, I use the faculty-teaching-scholar template that emerges to generate a map for the development of the student-as-scholar. There is, I believe, a serious need to balance the (quantitatively and qualitatively) great work on the faculty-teaching component of SoTL with an increased focus on the student-learning side. Finally, I demonstrate how the various scholarly habits of mind and models of practice that help define the student-as-scholar are potentially developed in teaching and learning contexts identified as ‘high-impact educational practices’. These scholarly habits of mind, models of practice, and high-impact practices are placed in the broader context of ‘purposeful pathways’, i.e., degree-level curricular and co-curricular plans that could be considered as analogues of faculty-scholars’ research agenda

From ‘Sage on the Stage’ to ‘Guide on the Side’: A Good Start

While the now-clichéd shift from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’ that characterizes the changing role of teachers is a good start, it is just that – a start. In this paper, I argue for a detailed look at the concomitant shift in the role of students, as they leave the world of passive recipients and join the ranks of active participants in the teaching-learning nexus. The paper discusses the problematic conflation of the terms ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’ that surfaces in consideration of the shifting roles of teachers and students, and argues that, in addition to defining information and knowledge precisely, we must consider the significance of the processes that transform the former into the latter. And finally, I reiterate the importance of making these distinctions and defining these processes not in the abstract but, rather, in the context of the various disciplines

On Sojourn Times in the Finite Capacity M/M/1M/M/1 Queue with Processor Sharing

We consider a processor shared $M/M/1$ queue that can accommodate at most a finite number $K$ of customers. We give an exact expression for the sojourn time distribution in the finite capacity model, in terms of a Laplace transform. We then give the tail behavior, for the limit $K\to\infty$, by locating the dominant singularity of the Laplace transform.Comment: 10 page