Spurious normativity enhances learning of compliance and enforcement behavior in artificial agents

How do societies learn and maintain social norms? Here we use multiagent reinforcement learning to investigate the learning dynamics of enforcement and compliance behaviors. Artificial agents populate a foraging environment and need to learn to avoid a poisonous berry. Agents learn to avoid eating poisonous berries better when doing so is taboo, meaning the behavior is punished by other agents. The taboo helps overcome a credit assignment problem in discovering delayed health effects. Critically, introducing an additional taboo, which results in punishment for eating a harmless berry, further improves overall returns. This “silly rule” counterintuitively has a positive effect because it gives agents more practice in learning rule enforcement. By probing what individual agents have learned, we demonstrate that normative behavior relies on a sequence of learned skills. Learning rule compliance builds upon prior learning of rule enforcement by other agents. Our results highlight the benefit of employing a multiagent reinforcement learning computational model focused on learning to implement complex actions.

Alternative Digital Credentials in Higher Education

Alternative digital credentials (ADCs), also known as digital badges, demonstrate great promise as a strategy for closing the skills gap and supporting the alignment of industry skills with traditional and nontraditional higher education programs. The authors seek to highlight advances in ADC development in a public university setting, demonstrating how higher education institutions can weave ADCs into both traditional classrooms and larger community initiatives such as workforce development and non-credit offerings. The chapter details the institution's ADC pathway from conception to a workforce development project awarded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including key project objectives, strategies, and best practices. The authors also discuss the use of existing learning resources and tools such as EMSI, Jove, and augmented reality technology, including learner reviews from current program participants. Finally, institutional strategies for prior learning assessment and integration of digital badges into undergraduate degree programs are discussed.

A design science approach to developing and evaluating items for the assessment of transversal professional competences

PurposeRelying on a design science paradigm, the purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of items for an ICT artefact that supports the assessment of transversal professional competences within the validation of prior learning (VPL). To do so, the authors build a conceptual bridge between the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).Design/methodology/approachDesign science research paradigm, in particular the participatory development of candidate items and their evaluation in a multi-stakeholder approach.FindingsThe authors find that a self-assessment of professional competences should be comprised of 160 items in order to cover the breadth and depth of the O*NET in the hierarchical taxonomy. Such quantity of items sufficiently builds a conceptual bridge between the O*NET and the; EQF.Practical implicationsWhen designing procedures for the VPL, it is imperative to bear in mind the purpose of the validation procedure, in order to determine relevant stakeholders and their needs in advance as well as the; required language proficiency of the assessment instrument.Social implicationsThe innovative value of this approach lies in the combination of an underlying hierarchical taxonomy with assessment items that are developed based on the qualification standards of different Austrian professions. Together with specific verbs that were adapted for each particular item, an innovative self-assessment is proposed. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.Originality/valueThis paper applies a design science paradigm to develop an ICT artefact that should support the VPL. By reflecting on the design process, the authors introduce a theoretical bridge between the O*NET and the EQF. Thereby the authors aim to account for some of the mentioned shortcomings of the EQF.

Call for papers for the Special Edition, JOVACET 5(2), 2022

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), referred to, inter alia, as APL in other contexts, has been recognised by South African and international policies as a critical means of access to, and certification of further and higher learning, especially for mature learners. While there is general acknowledgement of the importance of RPL for lifelong learning and social inclusion, learning institutions have not embraced RPL equally across the board, and implementation practices vary greatly, often leading to learner frustration. While there have been some local studies and a growing international literature, RPL is by and large under-researched in South Africa. In light of the above and its long tradition of RPL provision, the University of the Western Cape’s Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) unit will be hosting a conference on 30 and 31 March 2022, with the theme ‘Implementation, Assessment and Articulation of Recognition of Prior Learning’. As one of the intentions of the conference is to ‘build the scholarship of RPL’ (also known as APL in other contexts), JOVACET will be partnering with the UWC RPL Unit to produce a Special Issue of the journal in 2022 for publication of relevant papers that fall within the scope of our journal. Topics broadly covered by the conference include (but are not limited to) the following:• RPL policy research• Sharing RPL practices• Capacity building for RPL• Innovative RPL models• RPL assessment for undergraduate and postgraduate access in higher education• Articulation models for RPL in post-schooling Submissions for paper presentations at the conference should be made directly to the conference organiser, Dr Rekha Rambharose, email [email protected], but additional, relevant topical papers seeking publication in this JOVACET Special Issue may be directed to Dr Catherine Robertson, email [email protected]. Please note that all submissions considered for publication, whether presented at the conference or not, will undergo the JOVACET double blind review process towards publication in November 2022 or earlier if possible. Due date for full paper submissions (Special Issue): 30 April 2022

Decolonising recognition of prior learning – The drawbacks of policy mimicking

Recognition of prior learning features at the top of the policy agenda in many countries because recognition of prior learning (RPL) has proven effective in some parts of the world; and there is much policy learning taking place. Therefore, many countries want to gain the advantages associated with RPL. It brings benefits to individual end-users and countries as a whole. Whether RPL should be identically implemented everywhere is more questionable. This paper proposes a reflexion based on experience: It looks at what RPL is about, at what it took to implement the validation des acquis de l’expérience (VAE) system in France and its potential transferability. While it is important to learn from one another, transporting a system from one national context to another is unlikely to work because the necessary social and cultural context is never transferred along with the technical apparatus. This is not new, but this paper emphasises the need for appropriate adaption whenever systems are borrowed.

TEACHER THEORY AND ADAPTABLE MODEL: AN APPLICATION TO TEACHING PROFESSION

<p>The application of teaching profession in the teacher theory and adaptable model defines a teaching work and features that involves the change, novelty, and daily basis of uncertainty. The change is effectively a response to the necessary adaptability among teachers in their function and healthy effectiveness in their work. It assesses the various approaches and adaptability to describe the practice and implication on the development of teachers’ relevance to the knowledge for further experiences. It provides adaptability and technological impact and change in the teaching process. On the other hand, the teacher theory and adaptable model in the application of the teaching profession refers to the following acronym, T stands for Talent, E stands for Enthusiastic, A stands for Adaptable, C stands for Creative, H stands for Honest, E stands for Effective, and R stands for Resourcefulness where the approach and the process consider teaching and learning perspective manner considering the student performance in the learning process. The teaching provides rich knowledge of the profession of teachers as specialists in molding and shaping the future of students in their professional fields. Moreover, the teacher theory and adaptable model cycle highlights the characteristics and features of expert teachers to include content knowledge, extensive pedagogy, diverse learners, adaptation, problem solving strategies and techniques, decision making, event classroom perception, context sensitivity, and respect for students. It stresses the knowledge that holds teachers in the academic assimilation and highlights knowledge in the classroom practical experiences. Furthermore, the application of the theory and adaptable model in the teaching profession is very essential in the structure and understanding the domain of learning and teaching as to affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains in different approaches of teaching as to student reinforcement and learning guide, make relevant learning meaningful, foster learning, self-direction, and incorporate interes t and prior learning knowledge.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0974/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Transformational Learning Strategies for the Secondary General Music Classroom

This article discusses transformative learning in secondary general music (SGM), while considering students’ transitions from elementary to secondary music classes. SGM is uniquely situated for expanded pedagogies and musicianship, yet a gap in music activities persists between elementary and secondary classes and between home and school. The authors suggest that autonomous learning opportunities can foster ownership and meaning making for students toward lifelong musicianship as well as toward transformative learning. Three overlapping aspects of transformative SGM are discussed: skill-building, exploring contextual understandings, and making time and space for creativity and ownership. Emergent curricula that take students’ interests and experiences into account is encouraged. The authors advocate for projects that encourage collaboration beyond the school walls to foster purposeful connections to prior learning and personal music growth.

The ‘recognition of prior learning’ in vocational education and training systems of lower and middle income countries: An analysis of the role of development cooperation in the diffusion of the concept

‘Recognition of prior learning’ (RPL) has developed into an important instrument to support the permeability of education and training systems. Based on an extensive review of documents, this article analyses the global diffusion of RPL in vocational education and training systems (VET), with a specific focus on its diffusion through development cooperation between multi- and bilateral donors and lower and middle income countries (LMIC). This article argues that RPL became a core component of development cooperation when VET came to be seen as a means to foster equitable access to employment and income for the poorest. At the same time, it shows that the model of RPL transferred to LMICs is derived from the specific relations between labour markets and education and training systems in donor countries, where VET qualifications are often critical to accessing positions in the labour market, which is often not the case in LMICs.

Development of Students’ Sustainability Competencies: Do Teachers Make a Difference?

Sustainability competence is an important goal of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in school. It is therefore anchored in the education plans of almost all school tracks in Germany. However, empirical findings regarding ESD in schools are scarce. The present study thus examined how sustainability competencies of secondary-school students develop within the course of a school year. Based on a proposed framework model of sustainability competencies, we assessed (a) students’ sustainability-related knowledge, (b) their affective-motivational beliefs and attitudes towards sustainability, as well as (c) their self-reported sustainability-related behavioral intentions. Our sample comprised n = 1318 students in 79 classrooms at different secondary school tracks (Grades 5–8) in Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany). Measurements were taken at the beginning and at the end of the school year after the introduction of ESD as a guiding perspective for the new education plan. We observed an increase in students’ sustainability-related knowledge but a decline in their affective-motivational beliefs and attitudes towards sustainability over the course of one school year. Multilevel analyses showed that, at the individual level, prior learning requirements as well as ESD-related characteristics (students’ activities and general knowledge of sustainability) proved to be the strongest predictors of their development. In addition, grade- and track-specific differences were observed. At the classroom level, teachers’ attitudes towards ESD as well as their professional knowledge were found to be significant predictors of students’ development. The higher the commonly shared value of ESD at school and the higher teachers’ self-efficacy towards ESD, the higher was the students’ development of sustainability-related knowledge and self-reported sustainability-related behavioral intentions, respectively. The significance of the findings for ESD in schools is discussed.