Reinforcement Learning: Connections, Surprises, and Challenge

The idea of implementing reinforcement learning in a computer was one of the earliest ideas about the possibility of AI, but reinforcement learning remained on the margin of AI until relatively recently. Today we see reinforcement learning playing essential roles in some of the most impressive AI applications. This article presents observations from the author’s personal experience with reinforcement learning over the most recent 40 years of its history in AI, focusing on striking connections that emerged between largely separate disciplines and on some of the findings that surprised him along the way. These connections and surprises place reinforcement learning in a historical context, and they help explain the success it is finding in modern AI. The article concludes by discussing some of the challenges that need to be faced as reinforcement learning moves out into real world.

PUTTING A LITTLE TLC INTO LEARNING

The acronym TLC has typically stood for tender loving care. With the influx of technology into the lives of millions, it might appear that TLC is in short supply; however, the League for Innovation in the Community College has taken this notion of TLC and initiated TLC—Transformational Learning Connections—with the objectives of participation, engagement, and collaboration. TLC’s content supports and endorses the promotional reference to Innovation-at-Your-Fingertips through its web-based, anytime-anywhere resource connection between creators of community college innovations and those interested in adopting them. This article presents the seven TLC features—Innovation Express, TLC Forum, Learning Links, Innovation Database, League Connections, Resources on the Web, and the Innovations Online Conference—and the most recent evolution: Innovation Stream or iStream. iStream includes additions such as online conferences, forums, and iStream Radio, which will host a range of programs, interviews, lectures, and seminars with community college leaders.

Making connections while earning an MLIS

Purpose This purpose of this paper is to discuss a collaboration with a non-profit organization conducted as part of the Real Learning Connections project at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The authors discuss their experiences working with a non-profit partner from outside the university and the benefits gained from collaboration. Design/methodology/approach This is a reflection based on the personal experiences of the authors as collaborators in the project. Findings Through their experience with the Real Learning Connections project, the authors found that collaborating with a non-profit organization provides a unique opportunity for library school students to learn practical skills while also providing value to the non-profit organization in the form of expertise in information services. Originality/value This piece discusses the benefits of collaboration from the perspective of both an Library and Information Studies (LIS) student and a professional librarian, as well as considering the experiences of an external non-profit organization.

Someone Like Us: Trades identities and support for work/learning

This paper reflects on specific findings from a 2009 study of on and off-job learning that explored apprentices’ learning experiences, formal and informal learning connections, and implications for language, literacy and numeracy in vocational learning. The study was conducted in the glazing industry in New Zealandi, and as part of that study, apprentice profiles were developed. This discussion focuses on three of those profiles and reflects on two emerging themes. The first theme is employer and apprentice perceptions of the value of apprentices coming from a ‘trades family’. The second theme is the range of inclusions and exclusions, advantages and disadvantages that apprentices experience depending on their ‘trades family’ status in both on and off-job learning. The paper then considers what kind of learning support might help integrate the different identities required within an apprenticeship.