Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Action learning'
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Ball, Dianne Lesley School of Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour UNSW. "Facilitation of action learning groups: an action research investigation." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour, 2004. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/23407.
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The aim of this thesis is to better understand the role of the facilitator in action learning groups. In particular, it focuses on groups established within an organisation, in which the facilitator is a member of the organisation. The two central research questions are: (1) How did the facilitator influence problem solving and group interactions, and how did this vary over time and between each group, and (2) How did the facilitator's role in the organisation impact on the action learning groups? The methodology of action research and a number of principles of grounded theory are employed. The investigation was conducted within a large public teaching hospital over a two year period. Four groups volunteered to participate in the project. Two of these groups were already established and two were newly created for the purpose of the research project. The groups came from different departments and members represented a range of professional backgrounds. The size of the groups ranged from 5 to 12 participants. Each group identified a real and significant project to work through using an action learning approach. The researcher negotiated with each group what it wanted from a facilitator role, and then facilitated each meeting. All group meetings and individual interviews were audiotaped and the facilitator kept journal notes after each meeting or interview. Two potential methodological issues arose. The first related to the application of some of the principles of grounded theory to the action research investigation. The second was that the study was conducted in the researcher???s own organisation while the researcher was employed full-time, and this posed particular issues. Literature related to action learning, process consultation and small group facilitation was explored in the literature review. The purpose of this review was to critically evaluate different perspectives and approaches by frequently cited authors in these subjects, and to understand the uses and limitations of existing models. This gave the researcher an understanding of gaps in the literature related to (1) the role of the facilitator of action learning groups, and (2) conducting research in one???s organisation. Data were analysed for each group separately and then compared and contrasted in the final chapter. The objectives of the analysis were to (1) examine how the findings for each individual group address the research questions, (2) explore how the findings in each group change over time, and (2) examine how and why the findings in the groups were similar and different to each other. The findings across each of the groups have similarities and differences. There were seven interventions used by the facilitator that were common across the groups. The interventions changed over the duration of the project. Process skills were required to different degrees and at different times. Nine hypotheses were developed as the theory. Some key findings are as follows. First, it was found that groups that have not had prior experience in action learning do not understand the concept and process of facilitation and are unable to articulate in advance what they want from the facilitator. Second, the role of the facilitator cannot be separated from the skills, values and understandings of the individual facilitator. Third, a major role of the facilitator in this investigation was sharing knowledge of the organisation, the broader health care sector, and general management. In each group the facilitator performed both process and content roles, and a further role that can be called ????????????contextualising???. The findings show there is a distinction between the theoretical role and the role of an individual facilitator in practice. Further research opportunities are identified. These include (1) understanding how participants who have been involved in a facilitated action learning group may be able to apply their experience in a non-facilitated action learning group; (2) comparing the needs and expectations of participants in a facilitated action learning group within an organisation with action learning participants who are not part of an organisation; (3) understanding how facilitation of an action learning group within an organisation may change if the facilitator is in a management role, or in a peer position with participants.
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Pieropan, Alessandro. "Action Recognition for Robot Learning." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Datorseende och robotik, CVAP, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-165680.
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This thesis builds on the observation that robots cannot be programmed to handle any possible situation in the world. Like humans, they need mechanisms to deal with previously unseen situations and unknown objects. One of the skills humans rely on to deal with the unknown is the ability to learn by observing others. This thesis addresses the challenge of enabling a robot to learn from a human instructor. In particular, it is focused on objects. How can a robot find previously unseen objects? How can it track the object with its gaze? How can the object be employed in activities? Throughout this thesis, these questions are addressed with the end goal of allowing a robot to observe a human instructor and learn how to perform an activity. The robot is assumed to know very little about the world and it is supposed to discover objects autonomously. Given a visual input, object hypotheses are formulated by leveraging on common contextual knowledge often used by humans (e.g. gravity, compactness, convexity). Moreover, unknown objects are tracked and their appearance is updated over time since only a small fraction of the object is visible from the robot initially. Finally, object functionality is inferred by looking how the human instructor is manipulating objects and how objects are used in relation to others. All the methods included in this thesis have been evaluated on datasets that are publicly available or that we collected, showing the importance of these learning abilities.QC 20150504
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Palasek, Petar. "Action recognition using deep learning." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2017. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/30828.
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In this thesis we study deep learning architectures for the problem of human action recognition in image sequences, i.e. the problem of automatically recognizing what people are doing in a given video. As unlabeled video data is easily accessible these days, we first explore models that can learn meaningful representations of sequences without actually having to know what is happening in the sequences at hand. More specifically, we first explore the convolutional restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) and show how a stack of convolutional RBMs can be used to learn and extract features from sequences in an unsupervised way. Using the classical Fisher vector pipeline to encode the extracted features we apply them on the task of action classification. We move on to feature extraction using larger, deep convolutional neural networks and propose a novel architecture which expresses the processing steps of the classical Fisher vector pipeline as network layers. By contrast to other methods where these steps are performed consecutively and the corresponding parameters are learned in an unsupervised manner, defining them as a single neural network allows us to refine the whole model discriminatively in an end to end fashion. We show that our method achieves significant improvements in comparison to the classical Fisher vector extraction chain and results in a comparable performance to other convolutional networks, while largely reducing the number of required trainable parameters. Finally, we explore how the proposed architecture can be modified into a hybrid network that combines the benefits of both unsupervised and supervised training methods, resulting in a model that learns a semi-supervised Fisher vector descriptor of the input data. We evaluate the proposed model at image classification and action recognition problems and show how the model's classification performance improves as the amount of unlabeled data increases during training.
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Scott, Fiona Marie. "Action-reflection-learning in a lean production environment /." St. Lucia, Qld, 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17167.pdf.
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Booth, Ian M. "Developing community dentistry through action learning : the actions, reflections and learning of a clinical director." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.520729.
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Action learning is increasingly being adopted by NHS organisations as a way of providing leadership and organisational development for staff, including senior clinicians. The benefit of action learning is that it allows work-based learning to take place with the intention of improving patient care and developing a strategic direction for individual services. Through this approach, senior clinicians will increase their selfawareness and be sensitive to the cultures within their organisation and ensure that their actions are responsive to these and not consider their actions in isolation. The research had an organisational project to consider how a salaried primary dental care service had to change in order to meet the needs of the local population in a changing NHS environment and a personal project of a journey of learning, development and change. The thesis analysed the development of the Community Dental Service from the School Dental Service to the recent developments of salaried personal dental services, including dental access centres. Moreover, it looked at how market forces and shortages in the dental workforce have influenced national policies and how these in turn have affected salaried dental services. Using my work within the Community Dental Service, I described the personal, service and organisational problems facing a clinical director. With the involvement of an action learning set, I explained how possible solutions to these problems were identified, action implemented to address them, their effects monitored and evaluated and to reflect upon the learning from these actions. The key achievements have been on a personal, professional and organisational level. I have developed as a clinical leader of a NHS service. Through the knowledge and understanding I have gained, I have matured as a manager and have been able to identify a strategy within my organisation and have implemented this for the benefit of the staff, patients and PCT. This in turn gave me personal confidence both in my work life as Clinical Director and in my life outside my work. The clinical service I lead still needs to improve, but this will always be the case. This thesis has been an opportunity for me to undertake a postgraduate qualification within a full time position in the NHS. The benefit has been the pragmatic learning which has occurred within my workplace, the learning set and through my academic studies. In summary, this process of enquiry has brought together theory, professional practice and organisational development. It is recommended that action learning is an appropriate methodology for enabling change to take place in the NHS. Action learning has been demonstrated to be a valuable approach for continuing professional development. It should be explored further within dentistry and in the wider area of health care, incorporating it into clinical leadership training programmes. 10
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Gammulle, Pranali Harshala. "Deep learning for human action understanding." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2019. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/135199/1/Pranali_Gammulle_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis addresses the problem of understanding human behaviour in videos in multiple problem settings including, recognition, segmentation, and prediction. Considering the complex nature of human behaviour, we propose to capture both short-term and long-term context in the given videos and propose novel multitask learning-based approaches to solve the action prediction task, as well as an adversarially-trained approach to action recognition. We demonstrate the efficacy of these techniques by applying them to multiple real-world human behaviour understanding settings including, security surveillance, sports action recognition, group activity recognition and recognition of cooking activities.
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Humphrys, Mark. "Action selection methods using reinforcement learning." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1996. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/252269.
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The Action Selection problem is the problem of run-time choice between conflicting and heterogeneous goals, a central problem in the simulation of whole creatures (as opposed to the solution of isolated uninterrupted tasks). This thesis argues that Reinforcement Learning has been overlooked in the solution of the Action Selection problem. Considering a decentralised model of mind, with internal tension and competition between selfish behaviors, this thesis introduces an algorithm called "W-learning", whereby different parts of the mind modify their behavior based on whether or not they are succeeding in getting the body to execute their actions. This thesis sets W-learning in context among the different ways of exploiting Reinforcement Learning numbers for the purposes of Action Selection. It is a 'Minimize the Worst Unhappiness' strategy. The different methods are tested and their strengths and weaknesses analysed in an artificial world.
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Howes, Andrew. "Learning task-action mappings by exploration." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.331956.
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Mourao, Kira Margaret Thom. "Learning action representations using kernel perceptrons." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7717.
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Action representation is fundamental to many aspects of cognition, including language. Theories of situated cognition suggest that the form of such representation is distinctively determined by grounding in the real world. This thesis tackles the question of how to ground action representations, and proposes an approach for learning action models in noisy, partially observable domains, using deictic representations and kernel perceptrons. Agents operating in real-world settings often require domain models to support planning and decision-making. To operate effectively in the world, an agent must be able to accurately predict when its actions will be successful, and what the effects of its actions will be. Only when a reliable action model is acquired can the agent usefully combine sequences of actions into plans, in order to achieve wider goals. However, learning the dynamics of a domain can be a challenging problem: agents’ observations may be noisy, or incomplete; actions may be non-deterministic; the world itself may be noisy; or the world may contain many objects and relations which are irrelevant. In this thesis, I first show that voted perceptrons, equipped with the DNF family of kernels, easily learn action models in STRIPS domains, even when subject to noise and partial observability. Key to the learning process is, firstly, the implicit exploration of the space of conjunctions of possible fluents (the space of potential action preconditions) enabled by the DNF kernels; secondly, the identification of objects playing similar roles in different states, enabled by a simple deictic representation; and lastly, the use of an attribute-value representation for world states. Next, I extend the model to more complex domains by generalising both the kernel and the deictic representation to a relational setting, where world states are represented as graphs. Finally, I propose a method to extract STRIPS-like rules from the learnt models. I give preliminary results for STRIPS domains and discuss how the method can be extended to more complex domains. As such, the model is both appropriate for learning data generated by robot explorations as well as suitable for use by automated planning systems. This combination is essential for the development of autonomous agents which can learn action models from their environment and use them to generate successful plans.
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Stefic, Daria. "Learning saliency for human action recognition." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2016. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/23656.
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When we are looking at a visual stimuli, there are certain areas that stand out from the neighbouring areas and immediately grab our attention. A map that identi- es such areas is called a visual saliency map. As humans can easily recognize actions when watching videos, having their saliency maps available might be bene cial for a fully automated action recognition system. In this thesis we look into ways of learning to predict the visual saliency and how to use the learned saliency for action recognition. In the rst phase, as opposed to the approaches that use manually designed fea- tures for saliency prediction, we propose few multilayer architectures for learning saliency features. First, we learn rst layer features in a two layer architecture using an unsupervised learning algorithm. Second, we learn second layer features in a two layer architecture using a supervision from recorded human gaze xations. Third, we use a deep architecture that learns features at all layers using only supervision from recorded human gaze xations. We show that the saliency prediction results we obtain are better than those obtained by approaches that use manually designed features. We also show that using a supervision on higher levels yields better saliency prediction results, i.e. the second approach outperforms the rst, and the third outperforms the second. In the second phase we focus on how saliency can be used to localize areas that will be used for action classi cation. In contrast to the manually designed action features, such as HOG/HOF, we learn the features using a fully supervised deep learning architecture. We show that our features in combination with the predicted saliency (from the rst phase) outperform manually designed features. We further develop an SVM framework that uses the predicted saliency and learned action features to both localize (in terms of bounding boxes) and classify the actions. We use saliency prediction as an additional cost in the SVM training and testing procedure when inferring the bounding box locations. We show that the approach in which saliency cost is added yields better action recognition results than the approach in which the cost is not added. The improvement is larger when the cost is added both in training and testing, rather than just in testing.
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Marshall, L. "Learning and action in uncertain environments." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2017. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1563504/.
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Successful interaction with the environment requires flexible updating of our beliefs about the world. By learning to estimate the likelihood of future events, it is possible to prepare appropriate actions in advance and execute fast, accurate motor responses. According to theoretical proposals, humans track the variability arising from dynamic environments by computing various forms of uncertainty. Several neuromodulators have been linked to uncertainty signalling but comprehensive empirical characterisation of their roles in perceptual belief updating and motor response modulation has been lacking. This thesis interrogates the contributions of noradrenaline, acetylcholine and dopamine to human learning and action within a unified computational framework of uncertainty. First, I use pharmacological interventions to characterise the impact of noradrenergic, cholinergic and dopaminergic receptor antagonism on individual computations of uncertainty during a probabilistic serial reaction time task. I develop and employ a hierarchical Bayesian model to quantify human learning and action under three forms of uncertainty. I propose that noradrenaline influences learning of uncertain events arising from unexpected changes in the environment, while acetylcholine balances attribution of uncertainty to chance fluctuations within environmental contexts or to gross environmental violations following a contextual switch. In contrast, dopamine supports the use of uncertainty representations to engender fast, adaptive responses. Second, I extend these results by focusing on the effects of natural inter-individual variations in dopaminergic function. Specifically, I employ the same task and model to assess individual learning and action under uncertainty as a function of COMT genotype. Third, I focus on the role of noradrenaline. Uncertainty computations have been linked to changes in pupil diameter, and pupil dilation to noradrenergic neuronal activity in the locus coeruleus. Combining an auditory probabilistic learning task, pharmacological manipulations, pupillometry and computational modelling, I demonstrate that pupil diameter offers an indirect measure of dynamic noradrenergic computations of environmental uncertainty and volatility.
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Froggatt, Bert. "An action inquiry into negotiated learning." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 1991. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19210/.
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This study employed action inquiry, since its aim was to improve both understanding and practice in the area of classroom negotiation between pupils and teachers, Action inquiry entails practitioner observation, practitioner interaction and practitioner intervention; in this study it was supplemented by an attempt at a phenomenological description of the essential features of negotiation, against which classroom experience could be weighed. Information about classroom interaction was gathered, by the lone practitioner-researcher, both by participant observation and video-recording ('practitioner observation'). The model of classroom negotiation which emerged was tested against the views of other teachers ('practitioner interaction'). Alternative practices, thought by the informants to be effective, were used to make small-scale interventions in classroom practice ('practitioner intervention'). The understanding of negotiation developed in this way was finally interrogated in the light of a separate phenomenological description of negotiation. A key aspect of the phenomenology of negotiation is the dynamic involving communication, strategies of interaction, participation and learning within which people are willing to examine their differences. This was found to be true of classroom negotiation: Pupil and teacher learned of the differences which existed between them in the context of an ongoing interaction in which both participated. However, classroom interaction involves an inevitable disparity of power, which must be recognised and prevented from subverting negotiation. The validity and ethics of the framework developed are discussed, as are the implications of the findings for the classroom teacher and for teacher training.
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Blackwelder, Reid B., and Brian Cross. "Interprofessional Education and Learning in Action." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6935.
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Trivette, Carol M. "Principles of Adult Learning in Action." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2016. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/4456.
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Come join the Military Families Learning Network Early Intervention team on Weds. March 30 from 12:30-1:30 ET for an interactive discussion related to the webinar held on Mar. 17.
We want to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to the Key Points Carol Trivette, PhD shared during the webinar and how you've applied these points recently in your own practices.
Were you not able to participate in the webinar on the 17th? No worries! We'd still love to hear from you! Come share your expertise and learn from others during this interactive forum.
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Choi, Jin-Woo. "Action Recognition with Knowledge Transfer." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/101780.
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Recent progress on deep neural networks has shown remarkable action recognition performance from videos. The remarkable performance is often achieved by transfer learning: training a model on a large-scale labeled dataset (source) and then fine-tuning the model on the small-scale labeled datasets (targets). However, existing action recognition models do not always generalize well on new tasks or datasets because of the following two reasons. i) Current action recognition datasets have a spurious correlation between action types and background scene types. The models trained on these datasets are biased towards the scene instead of focusing on the actual action. This scene bias leads to poor generalization performance. ii) Directly testing the model trained on the source data on the target data leads to poor performance as the source, and target distributions are different. Fine-tuning the model on the target data can mitigate this issue. However, manual labeling small- scale target videos is labor-intensive. In this dissertation, I propose solutions to these two problems. For the first problem, I propose to learn scene-invariant action representations to mitigate the scene bias in action recognition models. Specifically, I augment the standard cross-entropy loss for action classification with 1) an adversarial loss for the scene types and 2) a human mask confusion loss for videos where the human actors are invisible. These two losses encourage learning representations unsuitable for predicting 1) the correct scene types and 2) the correct action types when there is no evidence. I validate the efficacy of the proposed method by transfer learning experiments. I trans- fer the pre-trained model to three different tasks, including action classification, temporal action localization, and spatio-temporal action detection. The results show consistent improvement over the baselines for every task and dataset. I formulate human action recognition as an unsupervised
domain adaptation (UDA) problem to handle the second problem. In the UDA setting, we have many labeled videos as source data and unlabeled videos as target data. We can use already exist- ing labeled video datasets as source data in this setting. The task is to align the source and target feature distributions so that the learned model can generalize well on the target data. I propose 1) aligning the more important temporal part of each video and 2) encouraging the model to focus on action, not the background scene, to learn domain-invariant action representations. The proposed method is simple and intuitive while achieving state-of-the-art performance without training on a lot of labeled target videos. I relax the unsupervised target data setting to a sparsely labeled target data setting. Then I explore the semi-supervised video action recognition, where we have a lot of labeled videos as source data and sparsely labeled videos as target data. The semi-supervised setting is practical as sometimes we can afford a little bit of cost for labeling target data. I propose multiple video data augmentation methods to inject photometric, geometric, temporal, and scene invariances to the action recognition model in this setting. The resulting method shows favorable performance on the public benchmarks.Doctor of Philosophy
Recent progress on deep learning has shown remarkable action recognition performance. The remarkable performance is often achieved by transferring the knowledge learned from existing large-scale data to the small-scale data specific to applications. However, existing action recog- nition models do not always work well on new tasks and datasets because of the following two problems. i) Current action recognition datasets have a spurious correlation between action types and background scene types. The models trained on these datasets are biased towards the scene instead of focusing on the actual action. This scene bias leads to poor performance on the new datasets and tasks. ii) Directly testing the model trained on the source data on the target data leads to poor performance as the source, and target distributions are different. Fine-tuning the model on the target data can mitigate this issue. However, manual labeling small-scale target videos is labor-intensive. In this dissertation, I propose solutions to these two problems. To tackle the first problem, I propose to learn scene-invariant action representations to mitigate background scene- biased human action recognition models for the first problem. Specifically, the proposed method learns representations that cannot predict the scene types and the correct actions when there is no evidence. I validate the proposed method's effectiveness by transferring the pre-trained model to multiple action understanding tasks. The results show consistent improvement over the baselines for every task and dataset. To handle the second problem, I formulate human action recognition as an unsupervised learning problem on the target data. In this setting, we have many labeled videos as source data and unlabeled videos as target data. We can use already existing labeled video datasets as source data in this setting. The task is to align the source and target feature distributions so that the learned model can generalize well on the target data. I propose 1) aligning the more important temporal part of each video and 2) encouraging the model to focus on action, not the background scene. The proposed method is simple and intuitive while achieving state-of-the-art performance without training on a lot of labeled target videos. I relax the unsupervised target data setting to a sparsely labeled target data setting. Here, we have many labeled videos as source data and sparsely labeled videos as target data. The setting is practical as sometimes we can afford a little bit of cost for labeling target data. I propose multiple video data augmentation methods to inject color, spatial, temporal, and scene invariances to the action recognition model in this setting. The resulting method shows favorable performance on the public benchmarks.
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Nichols, B. "Reinforcement learning in continuous state- and action-space." Thesis, University of Westminster, 2014. https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/967w8/reinforcement-learning-in-continuous-state-and-action-space.
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Reinforcement learning in the continuous state-space poses the problem of the inability to store the values of all state-action pairs in a lookup table, due to both storage limitations and the inability to visit all states sufficiently often to learn the correct values. This can be overcome with the use of function approximation techniques with generalisation capability, such as artificial neural networks, to store the value function. When this is applied we can select the optimal action by comparing the values of each possible action; however, when the action-space is continuous this is not possible. In this thesis we investigate methods to select the optimal action when artificial neural networks are used to approximate the value function, through the application of numerical optimization techniques. Although it has been stated in the literature that gradient-ascent methods can be applied to the action selection [47], it is also stated that solving this problem would be infeasible, and therefore, is claimed that it is necessary to utilise a second artificial neural network to approximate the policy function [21, 55]. The major contributions of this thesis include the investigation of the applicability of action selection by numerical optimization methods, including gradient-ascent along with other derivative-based and derivative-free numerical optimization methods,and the proposal of two novel algorithms which are based on the application of two alternative action selection methods: NM-SARSA [40] and NelderMead-SARSA. We empirically compare the proposed methods to state-of-the-art methods from the literature on three continuous state- and action-space control benchmark problems from the literature: minimum-time full swing-up of the Acrobot; Cart-Pole balancing problem; and a double pole variant. We also present novel results from the application of the existing direct policy search method genetic programming to the Acrobot benchmark problem [12, 14].
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Akgun, Baris. "Action Recognition Through Action Generation." Master's thesis, METU, 2010. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612306/index.pdf.
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This thesis investigates how a robot can use action generation mechanisms to recognize the action of an observed actor in an on-line manner i.e., before the completion of the action. Towards this end, Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMP), an action generation method proposed for imitation, are modified to recognize the actions of an actor. Specifically, a human actor performed three different reaching actions to two different objects. Three DMP's, each corresponding to a different reaching action, were trained using this data. The proposed method used an object-centered coordinate system to define the variables for the action, eliminating the difference between the actor and the robot. During testing, the robot simulated action trajectories by its learned DMPs and compared the resulting trajectories against the observed one. The error between the simulated and the observed trajectories were integrated into a recognition signal, over which recognition was done. The proposed method was applied on the iCub humanoid robot platform using an active motion capture device for sensing. The results showed that the system was able to recognize actions with high accuracy as they unfold in time. Moreover, the feasibility of the approach is demonstrated in an interactive game between the robot and a human.
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Fardinpour, Ali. "Taxonomy of Human Actions for Action-based Learning Assessment in Virtual Training Environments." Thesis, Curtin University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51884.
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This design research project developed and validated a taxonomy of human actions to be used in action-based learning assessment. The taxonomy, titled ‘BEHAVE,’ was shown to have both internal and external validity and allows actions performed by learners, for example in digital performance spaces, to be formally represented with consistency and to be compared with expert reference actions, to generate automated post-performance formative feedback.
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Tjokatam, Sandra. "Learning in action : developments in management education." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1994. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/843319/.
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In the 1980's colleges of Further and Higher Education were subject to a variety of pressures to develop their provision of management education. These pressures are reviewed in their historical context as a prelude and background to an exploration of the then current challenges for such education. Interviews with representatives of Awarding Bodies and Colleges provide macro and micro-level perspectives on these challenges. The process of APL (Accreditation of Prior Learning, now called by the Management Charter Initiative, the Crediting Competence Process) emerged as the potential means of facilitating flexible, work-based management education programmes. This view was reinforced by the results of telephone questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Senior Human Resource and Line Managers. The National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) initiatives (1988 - 1993) required such competence-based programmes so an investigation was instituted into the changes required in management education, training and development (METD) so that it might respond appropriately. The development of the roles of staff/learners, as they attempt to support the effective learning of manager/learners, became a specific focus using an iterative, ethnomethodological approach incorporating Kelly's (1955) constructivist techniques in a case study of a college undertaken immediately before and after the introduction of NVQ management programmes. The thesis argues that, to enable transformative learning by manager/learners through a process of emancipatory education (Mezirow, 1990), a complementary parallel process of critical, active reflection must be established for staff/learners within innovative educational programmes. This process should engage both teachers and managers in action learning (Revans, 1980) to uncover the elements of reflection (Boud, Keogli & Walker, 1985) and to develop skills of reflection on reflection-in-action (Schon, 1983, 1987). To promote such development a strategic approach to the management of change (Haffenden, 1990) is explored and elaborated to produce a model in which staff and organisational development interact through the 'learning company' process (Pedler, Burgoyne & Boydell, 1991) so that a college and its individual members may continuously transform in order to survive and prosper into the 21st Century.
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Heinze, A. "Blended learning : an interpretive action research study." Thesis, University of Salford, 2008. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/1653/.
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This study describes research on an undergraduate part-time blended learning programme within the former Information Systems Institute at the University of Salford. This research is based on the interpretive philosophical paradigm and examines four cycles of action research. The question being addressed in this research is: ‘How can blended learning be used to deliver a programme?’ In answering this question three overlapping perspectives were taken, as outlined below: 1) Concept of blended e-learning: This research suggests that a better term for ‘blended learning’ is ‘blended e-learning’. A Fine Structure of the Blended E-learning Concept comprising learning and learning context is proposed. This concept incorporates three nodes associated with learning: face-to-face facilitated learning, e-facilitated learning and selfstudy; and three nodes associated with the learning context: learner, pedagogic beliefs and the programme related issues. 2) Pedagogy in blended e-learning: This thesis identifies the three Key Issues of Blended Elearning Pedagogy, these are: communication, social interaction and assessment. Drawing on these issues, the thesis extends the Skeleton of Conversation to the Blended E-learning Skeleton of Conversation. 3) Pragmatic implications of blended e-learning: Building on the Fine Structure of the Blended E-learning Concept, three areas of pragmatic concern are identified as the Bermuda Triangle of Blended E-learning. These are the learning related nodes: face-to-face facilitated learning, e-facilitated learning and self-study. Both students and staff on blended e-learning programmes need to be aware of the Bermuda Triangle of Blended E-learning. For students, the awareness can be integrated in the learning to learn element within the Blended Elearning Skeleton of Conversation; for staff, the awareness can be achieved through staff development.
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Vick, Donna C. "A study of the action learning process." Thesis, University of Salford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.313906.
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Van, Niekerk Herman J. "Enabling organisational knowledge through action learning : an epistemological study." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49945.
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Thesis (PhD)--Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 2004.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Key words: Organisational knowledge, pluralistic epistemology, action learning, systems theory, structuration theory, organisational learning, knowledge management. In today's competitive environment the value and importance of knowledge as an organisational resource is considered to be a key element and source of power. Knowledge is regarded as the single most important source of core competence to ensure competitiveness and long term sustainability. The value of most products and services now depends on knowledge-based intangibles and many organisational theorists argue that strategy formulations should be built on a resource-based theory. The challenge for many organisations is therefore how to enable organisational knowledge and how to increase their organisational learning capacity and performance. Following a multi-disciplinary approach, this study critically evaluates and interprets existing theories on action and systems thinking. The traditional positivist paradigm no longer answers to the needs of a post-modem paradigm and corporate epistemologists and practitioners alike are in search of a new paradigm on how to construct organisational knowledge. Drawing on Habermasian theory of communicative action, as well as Parsons' general theory of action and Giddens' structuration theory, I argue that the construction of knowledge happens in a pluralistic manner, in contrast with traditional approaches which support a paradigm informed by a singular epistemology. A pluralistic approach to the development of knowledge, in relation to a Habermasian theory of communicative action which emphasises the importance of communication and which integrates action and systems theory, is therefore proposed. Constitutive features of organisational knowledge, such as deliberation, knowledge leadership, organisational culture and technology, are identified and analysed. Action learning has been adopted by a number of leading international comparues as a learning methodology. However, action learning has seemingly not been grounded in a defensible epistemological framework. In redescribing action learning, this study explores epistemological foundations of action learning in an attempt to provide corporate epistemologists with a defensible epistemological framework which promotes pluralism and constitutive features of organisational knowledge. A framework for organisational learning and knowledge construction, the Pluralistic Action Learning Systems theory (pALS), is suggested as an improved model of organisational learning suitable for implementation in a post-modem era. This framework incorporates the primary "technical" elements of the learning process, namely problem identification, collection of information, analysis and interpretation, application/use and reflection, as well as organisational enablers inherent in collaborative learning. Organisational knowledge is therefore seen as the outcome of a learning process which occurs at the individual, social and organisational system levels. Organisational knowledge is also constituted by features such as communication, knowledge leadership and trust which are essential in a collaborative learning environment. Knowledge is therefore not constructed through a single paradigm, but socially constructed through a pluralistic epistemology. Organisational knowledge is the outcome of organisational learning and such an organisational learning process is enabled by an action learning approach. An empirical study is conducted which is based on a forty-point questionnaire. The sample size is 120 part-time MBA students who are enrolled for an action learning management development programme and who have all been theoretically and practically exposed to an action learning programme. The findings of the empirical study conclude that the construction of knowledge happens in a pluralistic manner and that an organisational epistemology should be shaped by a pluralistic framework if it were to be successful in a post-modem business environment. It proposes that action learning, which is shaped by a pluralistic epistemology grounded in the Habermasian theory of communicative action, provides a defensible framework to enhance organisational knowledge through a collaborative learning approach fostering values such as deliberation, trust and openness.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sleutel woorde: Organisasiekennis, pluralistiese epistemologie, aksieleer, stelseldenke, strukturasie teorie, organisasieleer, kennisbestuur. Die waarde en belangrikheid van kennis in vandag se vinnige veranderende wêreld word beskou as van kritiese waarde en as die enkele mees belangrike element van kompetisie om lang termyn volhoubaarheid te bewerkstellig. In die hedendaagse korporatiewe omgewing word die waarde van die meeste produkte en dienste gebaseer op ontasbare elemente soos onder andere kennis. Korporatiewe strategeë argumenteer derhalwe dat korporatiewe strategie gevolglik op 'n vermoëns-strategie gebaseer moet word. Vir baie maatskappye is die uitdaging dus hoe kennis konstrueer moet word en hoe maatskappye hulle vermoëns moet verbeter om kennisorganisasies te word. Hierdie studie volg 'n multi-disiplinêre benadering wat bestaande aksie- en stelseldenke teorieë krities evalueer en interpreteer. Die tradisionele positivistiese raamwerk beantwoord nie aan die vereistes van 'n post-moderne paradigma nie en beide korporatiewe epistemoloeë en praktisyns is op soek na nuwe wyses hoe om organisasiekennis te konstrueer. Deur gebruik te maak van Parsons se algemene aksie teorie, en in besonder Habermas se teorie van kommunikatiewe aksie en Giddens se strukturasieteorie, argumenteer ek dat die konstruksie van kennis op 'n veeldoelige wyse plaasvind, in teenstelling met die tradisionele benadering wat 'n raamwerk aanbeveel wat op 'n enkelvoudige teorie van kennis gebaseer is. 'n Pluralistiese benadering met betrekking tot die ontwikkeling van kennis, in ooreenstemming met Habermas se teorie van kommunikatiewe aksie en gesteun deur aksie- en stelsels teorie, word derhalwe aanbeveel. Kenmerkende eienskappe van organisasie kennis soos, uitgebreide dialoog, kennisleierskap, organisasiekultuur en tegnologie word ook geidentifiseer en ontleed. Aksieleer is deur verskeie toonaangewende internasionale maatskappye aanvaar as 'n leer metodologie. Dit wil egter voorkom asof aksieleer nie in 'n epistemologiese raamwerk gegrond is nie. Deur aksieleer te herbeskryf ondersoek hierdie studie epistemologiese gronde van aksieleer in 'n poging om korporatiewe epistemoloeë met 'n verdigbare teoretiese kennisraamwerk toe te rus. 'n Raamwerk vir organisasie leer en die konstruksie van kennis, die Pluralistiese Aksieleer Stelsels (pALS) raamwerk, word derhalwe aanbeveel as 'n verdedigbare model wat aan die eise van 'n postmoderne samelewing beantwoord. Hierdie raamwerk sluit die primêre tegniese elemente van die leerproses in, te wete: probleem identifisering, die inwin van informasie, analisering en interpretasie van informasie, aanwending en gebruik van informasie en refleksie. Hierdie proses word verder ondersteun deur aspekte wat organisasieleer vergemaklik binne spanverband. Organisasieleer word dus beskou as die uitkoms van 'n leerproses wat bogenoemde elemente bevat en wat gebaseer is op 'n leeromgewing wat samewerking bevorder. Organisasiekennis word derhalwe gesien as die uitkoms van 'n leerproses wat op die individuele, sosiale en organisasie vlakke geskied. So 'n leerproses word bevorder en vergemaklik deur 'n aksieleer proses. Organisiekennis word ook gekenmerk deur eienskappe soos kommunikasie en kennisleierskap wat binne 'n saamwerk leeromgewing as noodsaaklik geag word. Kennis word dus nie deur 'n enkelvoudige raamwerk konstrueer nie, maar word ondersteun deur 'n veelvoudige epistemologie. Die empiriese studie is gebaseer op 'n veertigpunt vraelys. Die ondersoekgroep is 120 :MBA studente wat vir 'n aksieleer bestuursontwikkelingsprogam ingeskryf is en wat beide teoreties en prakties aan aksieleer blootgestel is. Die bevindings van die studie dui daarop dat kennis nie op 'n enkelvoudige wyse geskep word nie, maar wel deur van verskeie teorieë van kennis gebruik te maak. Die bevindings van die studie beveel aan dat aksieleer, as 'n pluralistiese teorie van kennis gegrond in die denke van Habermas, 'n verdedigbare raamwerk verskaf wat organisasieleer en die konstruksie van kennis bevorder deur 'n leeromgewing waarin waardes soos vertroue, openlikheid en kommunikasie bevorder word.
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Broadbent, Fiona. "Action-reflection-learning in a lean production environment /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe19334.pdf.
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Hauser, Bernhard. "Action learning im Management development eine vergleichende Analyse von Action-Learning-Programmen zur Entwicklung von Führungskräften in drei verschiedenen Unternehmen." München Mering Hampp, 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2830873&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Chappell, Allison Taylor. "Learning in action training the community policing officer /." [Gainesville, Fla.] : University of Florida, 2005. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/UFE0011615.
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Gouin, Rachel. "Gendering resistance : young women's learning in social action." Thesis, McGill University, 2006. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=102242.
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Learning happens informally and incidentally in social struggle, yet it has not been the focus of many studies. When critical adult education scholars research the role of learning and education in transforming society, their analysis is centred on the role of capitalism, or the role of civil society. Critical adult education theory is caught in a debate between radical pluralist and socialist traditions---traditions that guide the role of education and educators in transforming society. Addressing this polemic, I draw on antiracist feminist scholarship to propose an analytical framework that takes into consideration the interdependence of systems of domination; namely, white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism.In this study, I focus on young female activists' experiences and learning in social struggle. I rely on interviews and a participatory research project conducted with a group of young facilitators working with girls in an elementary school. The role of oppression and domination in social movements and in emancipatory projects is explored. Learning is found to be situated in particular historical contexts and to be influenced by underlying social dynamics inherent to social struggle. It is also found to be contradictory---it both inhibits and fosters change.
This study is my praxis. It is a back and forth between grassroots practice and research. It engages activists in thinking critically about their actions and uses various written texts to reflect their stories back to them, and to broader audiences. In the tradition of feminist and participatory research, I use this study as a catalyst for learning and for transforming practice.
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Kumar, B. G. Vijay. "Supervised dictionary learning for action recognition and localization." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2012. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/8780.
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Image sequences with humans and human activities are everywhere. With the amount of produced and distributed data increasing at an unprecedented rate, there has been a lot of interest in building systems that can understand and interpret the visual data, and in particular detect and recognise human actions. Dictionary based approaches learn a dictionary from descriptors extracted from the videos in the first stage and a classifier or a detector in the second stage. The major drawback of such an approach is that the dictionary is learned in an unsupervised manner without considering the task (classification or detection) that follows it. In this work we develop task dependent(supervised) dictionaries for action recognition and localization, i.e., dictionaries that are best suited for the subsequent task. In the first part of the work, we propose a supervised max-margin framework for linear and non-linear Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). To achieve this, we impose max-margin constraints within the formulation of NMF and simultaneously solve for the classifier and the dictionary. The dictionary (basis matrix) thus obtained maximizes the margin of the classifier in the low dimensional space (in the linear case) or in the high dimensional feature space (in the non-linear case). In the second part the work, we develop methodologies for action localization. We first propose a dictionary weighting approach where we learn local and global weights for the dictionary by considering the localization information of the training sequences. We next extend this approach to learn a task-dependent dictionary for action localization that incorporates the localization information of the training sequences into dictionary learning. The results on publicly available datasets show that the performance of the system is improved by using the supervised information while learning dictionary.
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Vergara, Mariana Ines. "Mindfulness into action| Transformational learning through collaborative inquiry." Thesis, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10013911.
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This action research exploratory study sought to learn how to better develop my practice by using grounded theory. It explored the apparent cognitive transformational experience of nine participants over a period of four weeks after the implementation of an intervention called Mindfulness into Action. The informal intervention was used with the Kichwa community in the Amazon rainforest and three additional formal interventions were conducted in the United States, Ecuador, and Norway over six years, in each case supported by higher education institutions. Using grounded theory methodology, the researcher found that participants were in the initial “reactive” state in Phase 1, experiencing conflict, resistance, stress, and victim identity. These characteristics were unknown to participants who were just reacting to everyday life experiences. In Phase 2, participants became aware of their behaviors, but could not stop non-beneficial behaviors. In Phase 3, they could observe their unknown behaviors and then change their sabotaging behaviors. Other salient characteristics from Phase 3 were happiness, being at peace with themselves, tolerance, and effectiveness.
There is a tendency to believe that change does not come easily, especially for adults, because our mental models rule our lives (subconsciously). However, participants were all adults from distinct walks of life who observed their unknown assumptions and reported change in their lives and in perceptions of their world. Furthermore, this intervention helped participants manage dissonance in their lives and produce changes specific and relevant to each individual, i.e., adults in the Kichwa community changed their assumptions and got rid of the mining company without violence. Moreover, the students who conducted research in the Amazon rainforest changed their research approach from top-down (doing research on people) to human development co-creation (doing research with people). Lastly, students in the academic institutions changed their way of interacting with their environment and others, and most importantly observed and changed behaviors that were sabotaging their efforts to succeed in life. They overcame their assumption of “knowing” and became more open to others’ perspectives. Each change was specific to the individual, resulting in the betterment of their lives.
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Grönland, Axel, and Möllerstedt Viktor Eriksson. "Robust Reinforcement Learning in Continuous Action/State Space." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-293879.
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In this project we aim to apply Robust Reinforce-ment Learning algorithms, presented by Doya and Morimoto [1],[2], to control problems. Specifically, we train an agent to balancea pendulum in the unstable equilibrium, which is the invertedstate.We investigate the performance of controllers based on twodifferent function approximators. One is quadratic, and the othermakes use of a Radial Basis Function neural network. To achieverobustness we will make use of an approach similar toH∞control, which amounts to introducing an adversary in the controlsystem.By changing the mass of the pendulum after training, we aimedto show as in [2] that the supposedly robust controllers couldhandle this disruption better than its non-robust counterparts.This was not the case. We also added a random disturber signalafter training and performed similar tests, but we were againunable to show robustness.I detta projekt applicerar vi Robust Rein- forcement Learning (RRL) algoritmer, framtagna av Doya och Morimoto [1], [2], på reglerproblem. Målet var att träna en agent att balansera en pendel i det instabila jämviktsläget; det inverterade tillståndet. Vi undersökte prestandan hos regulatorer baserade på två value function approximators. Den ena är kvadratisk och den andra en Radial Basis Function neuralt nätverk. För att skapa robusthet så använder vi en metod som är ekvivalent med H∞ - reglering, som innebär att man introducerar en motståndare i reglersystemet. Genom att ändra pendelns massa efter träning, hoppas vi att som i [2] kunna visa att den förment robusta regulatorn klarar av denna störning bättre än sin icke-robusta mostvarighet. Detta var inte fallet. Vi lade även till en slumpmässig störsignal efter träning och utförde liknande tester, men lyckades inte visa robusthet i detta fall heller.
Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2020, KTH, Stockholm
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Rensburg, Cheryl Dawn. "Facilitating alumni support for a low-resourced high school using a participatory action research approach." Thesis, Nelson Mandela University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/14167.
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South African public schools in disadvantaged areas are experiencing serious levels of under resourcing which negatively impact the educational experiences of learners. Attempts to lessen such negative impact include involving alumni who know the school‟s context, history and ethos. Unfortunately, the concept of alumni support in terms of mentoring and motivating learners is not the norm in many under resourced schools. This research focuses on fostering partnerships with alumni using participatory action research (PAR), because it is holistic, relationally driven and inclusive. Embedded in complexity theory that views the school community as a nonlinear system of different interacting parts functioning to improve the school context, the research follows actionreflection cycles of a group of ten past pupils and five educators from various backgrounds, levels of education and expertise collaborating with and mobilizing other alumni. Data were generated using drawings, photo voice and interviews. Thematic data analysis was used to build patterns and form categories. The following themes emerged namely, the importance of establishing a collective vision for sustained alumni engagement for alumni‟s personal and professional aspirations to serve the vision of the school, the importance of creating an alumni culture that reinforces the concept of „paying it forward‟. Lastly, establishing a sustainable alumni association through sustained actions and interactions and by creating an organisation of excellence The newly developed alumni structure as a „resource fountain‟ generating and cascading energy around the school emerged as an anchor for sustainability. The cascaded energy evolved into a structured „Alumni Week‟ providing ongoing motivation for current learners to sustain alumni engagement.
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Ng, Cheuk Wing Margaret. "Is action learning an effective means of implementing CPD in inquiry-based learning?" Thesis, University of Bristol, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.559072.
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This study investigated to what extent was Action Learning CPD (Continuous Professional Development) Implementation was an effective method to facilitate teachers in carrying out Inquiry-Based Learning. As a kind of experiential learning cycle, Action Learning CPD assists teachers in understanding the effectiveness of conducting Inquiry-Based Learning. This learning approach aims at encouraging students to make their own inquiries and developing their independent learning capabilities throughout the process of doing projects. In this study, Action Learning CPD is for teachers' professional development and Inquiry-Based Learning and Project-Based Learning are for student learning. The investigation was conducted in the three phases of ORIENTATION, PROBLEM-CENTRED, and WRITE-UP AND CONSOLIDATION over one academic year. It was guided by three research questions: (a) Why secondary school teachers need. CPD in conducting Inquiry-Based Learning? (b) Why Action learning might be a suitable CPD method for teachers to develop, implement and evaluate a student-oriented Inquiry-Based curriculum? (c) What are the implications for CPD found through investigating the implementation of Action Learning in conducting Inquiry-Based Learning? Since the main focus was to explore the extent to which teachers and students had changed in their perception and experience of Inquiry-Based Learning during and after Action Learning CPD Implementation, their perception and experience in developing, implementing and evaluating Inquiry-Based curricula were examined throughout the Action Learning Cycle of Experience-Understanding-Planning-Action, with reference to the pretest posttest comparisons of interviews and questionnaires evaluating both students and teachers' experiences during the Cycle. This study of school cases was also cyclical that observational data were collected throughout the one-year school-based support (09-10), with the researcher reflecting on it and making changes during the year. The data were classroom observations; year plans, records of meeting (agenda, minutes, and school visit reports) between her and individual teacher team; documents prepared by schools or co-developed with the officer (the said researcher) (e.g. curricula, teaching materials, assessment rubrics); samples of students' assignments; samples of documented teacher reflections in meetings and after workshops. A total number of 20 teachers and 317 students participated in this study. In the phase of ORIENTATION, there were three major pretest findings found in pre-CPD practice of conducting Inquiry-Based curricula: (a) - the segregation of Inquiry-Based Learning from the school-based curricula when developing the curricula; (b) in implementing the curricula - the lack of understanding of Inquiry-Based Learning as a learning process; and (c) in evaluating the curricula - the absence of educative purpose in using assessment rubrics for student learning process. Furthermore, there were significant discrepancies between teachers' and students' in their perceptions of Inquiry-Based Learning and discrepancies between teachers' ideology and practices of Inquiry-Based Learning. In the phase of PROBLEM-CENTRED where Inquiry Based learning took place, Action Learning CPD Implementation was therefore adopted: (a) to develop curricula with more focused study areas and conceptual frameworks; (b) to implement in class the learning objectives of concept formation, inquiry goal formulation, and textual inquiry; and (c) to evaluate curricula with educative assessment rubrics and students' self-assesment mechanism. In the WRITE-UP AND CONSOLIDATION phase where teachers and students and teachers finish and grade students' reports of their findings, the school teams and researcher concluded that: (a) curricula developed with more focused study areas and conceptual frameworks enabled students to construct knowledge and concepts; (b) curricula implemented in class with clear learning objectives enabled students to distinguish inquiry goals and collect and analyze information; and (c) curricula evaluated against prescribed learning outcomes enabled students to assess their own learning progress. It was evident that Action Learning Implementation would facilitate teachers in carrying out Inquiry-Based Learning but cautions were underscored in this study including cognitive overload, affective overload and time demands. The investigation shed light on how Action Learning could be implemented for future research in facilitating teacher teaching and student learning.
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Liu, De Min. "Building an organisational learning architecture for strategic renewal an autoethnography of action learning /." Swinburne Research Bank, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/67317.
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Thesis (PhD) - Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, 2009.A thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology - 2009. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-238)
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Kenny, John Daniel, and jonk19@bigpond net au. "Exegesis: Strategy and Learning: a path to organisational change." RMIT University. Education, 2005. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20060308.125308.
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This Exegesis and the Portfolio document referred to herein report on the outcomes of my research towards a PhD in education (by Project) between mid 2001 and July 2005. The Portfolio contains a collection of ten papers written during the research and also a summary of the key tools and processes resulting from the research. This Exegesis contains the major theoretical arguments leading to the development of the research outcomes, the methodology employed and a description of the organisational context operating during the study. It also draws links between the various data sets as presented in the Portfolio. The research began with a consideration of a major change project at RMIT University: the Implementation of the Distributed Learning System (DLS). The problems associated with this project highlighted the need for holistic organisational approaches to change and the uncertain nature of radical change projects. This led into a consideration of broader questions to do with organisational change and managing uncertainty. The generalisability of the research findings was enhanced by the wide ranging literature review and data from a range of stakeholders. This ultimately led to the development of a
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Yeadon-Lee, Annie. "Effective action learning sets : an analysis of participant experiences." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2010. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/9092/.
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This thesis examines an under researched area in the field of action learning: how learning set participants experience action learning and the effectiveness of action learning sets. Through the adoption of a qualitative research approach, which utilised unstructured interviews with learning set members and employed a grounded theory approach to analysis, the thesis thus provides a unique insight into action learning practices and group processes, the latter significantly adding to knowledge in the field of organisational behavior. The research presented, which traces the connections between the research process, methodology and the ongoing development of analysis, also adds to existing knowledge in organisational research methods. Within the thesis, a number of significant issues concerning group processes within action learning sets are discussed. Through analysis of the data it is shown that differing hierarchies exist amongst set members and that these affect the contribution that individual members make to the operations in the set. Furthermore, trust is shown to be vital to the effective working of the set, with members needing to feel psychologically and politically safe before they will self disclose. Finally, member?s self disclosure is revealed to be located on a continuum ranging from comfort to discomfort, with a possibility that some set members may actively engage in dissimulation as a way of reducing cognitive dissonance in self disclosure. Analysis within the thesis also provides a unique insight into action learning practices. A discussion of the findings reveals several significant issues in relation to both set members and facilitators. These include the effect of the location of the set, member?s expectations of the facilitator?s role and the extent to which these expectations accord with the facilitator?s style of facilitation. Analysis of this latter point directly adds to the body of literature concerning the skills of facilitators in action learning sets.
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Jebara, Tony (Tony S. ). 1974. "Action-reaction learning : analysis and synthesis of human behaviour." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29544.
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Middel, Hindrik Geert Albertus. "Collaborative improvement action learning in the extended manufacturing enterprise /." Enschede : University of Twente [Host], 2008. http://doc.utwente.
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Proefschrift Universiteit Twente, Enschede.Omslagtitel: Collaborative improvement : action learning in the extended manufacturing enterprise : an action research approach. Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.
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Phillips, Linda. "Action learning and primary teachers’ pedagogical knowledge in mathematics." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2011. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/7584/.
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In 2004 an inner city primary school, Hawksridge, found itself in the 99th percentile in mathematics and second to bottom nationally. Confronted with a plethora of local authority and National Strategy intensive programmes, which the school did not have the capacity to execute or sustain, Hawksridge's headteacher took the decision to turn to research to establish the school's future direction. The subsequent action research project, which used action learning as a dialogical tool, became the base of their rise from mathematical ‘no-hopers' to ‘influential institution' in 2010. This case study focuses on Set One, the model that was created to experiment with action learning procedures, before it was refined and implemented in Hawksridge as Set Two. The purpose of Set One was to try and establish whether or not action learning procedures could develop teachers' knowledge and understanding of mathematics and in particular their subject, content and pedagogical knowledge. It is set in the context of a time when the government centralised what was to be taught in mathematics, how long for and the style in which it was to be delivered through the national curriculum and the national strategies. The 1999 national numeracy strategy was brought in to support the 1998 mathematics national curriculum. In 2001 a new mathematics curriculum was introduced and this is the version referred to in this work. The primary curriculum is in two Key Stages: Key Stage 1 is for children aged 5 – 7 and Key Stage 2 is for 7 – 11 year old children. Set One, composed of four primary headteachers, their four mathematics' coordinators and four Hawksridge senior managers, met for one year to experiment with action learning procedures. It was capable of instigating a rich mathematical dialogue through its open-ended questioning and able to develop a collaborative, supportive culture where teachers demonstrated that they could be flexible in their thinking. The three key features of action learning in Set One are the development of the skills of reflection, rich mathematical dialogue and collaboration. In the analysis of the transcripts from the sessions, these features are unpicked and scrutinised in detail from the social constructivist perspective. Different types of teacher knowledge are identified, in particular, the knowledge associated with the Mathematics National Curriculum and the National Numeracy Strategy and how teachers have integrated these two government documents as part of their knowledge base. An assessment of how teachers use this knowledge to ask and answer questions is undertaken. The power of open-ended questioning is explored and the growing expertise of Set One as a group evaluated, predominantly, their ability to listen, use silence effectively and to build up powerful stacks of questions capable of challenging teachers' mathematical thinking. Action learning comes with caveats: it is not always a comfortable experience because dissonance is a part of the way it functions and for it to work well there must be trust, truthfulness and integrity. It is also a powerful managerial tool and should be used wisely to support and develop teachers' knowledge and skills. Action learning procedures were implemented into Hawksridge before the termination of Set One. The lessons that have been learned have facilitated teacher development. Hawksridge staff are now capable of reflecting and learning from their daily experiences. Other benefits have been improved classroom practice, based on a probing dialogical questioning style which encourages pupils to think, improved collaboration across the school and a more careful and considered approach to professional development. Hawksridge has managed to find its way forward.
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Chorley, Paul. "The influence of dopamine on prediction, action and learning." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2012. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/39650/.
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In this thesis I explore functions of the neuromodulator dopamine in the context of autonomous learning and behaviour. I first investigate dopaminergic influence within a simulated agent-based model, demonstrating how modulation of synaptic plasticity can enable reward-mediated learning that is both adaptive and self-limiting. I describe how this mechanism is driven by the dynamics of agentenvironment interaction and consequently suggest roles for both complex spontaneous neuronal activity and specific neuroanatomy in the expression of early, exploratory behaviour. I then show how the observed response of dopamine neurons in the mammalian basal ganglia may also be modelled by similar processes involving dopaminergic neuromodulation and cortical spike-pattern representation within an architecture of counteracting excitatory and inhibitory neural pathways, reflecting gross mammalian neuroanatomy. Significantly, I demonstrate how combined modulation of synaptic plasticity and neuronal excitability enables specific (timely) spike-patterns to be recognised and selectively responded to by efferent neural populations, therefore providing a novel spike-timing based implementation of the hypothetical ‘serial-compound' representation suggested by temporal difference learning. I subsequently discuss more recent work, focused upon modelling those complex spike-patterns observed in cortex. Here, I describe neural features likely to contribute to the expression of such activity and subsequently present novel simulation software allowing for interactive exploration of these factors, in a more comprehensive neural model that implements both dynamical synapses and dopaminergic neuromodulation. I conclude by describing how the work presented ultimately suggests an integrated theory of autonomous learning, in which direct coupling of agent and environment supports a predictive coding mechanism, bootstrapped in early development by a more fundamental process of trial-and-error learning.
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Bux, Allah. "Vision-based human action recognition using machine learning techniques." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2017. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/89205/.
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The focus of this thesis is on automatic recognition of human actions in videos. Human action recognition is defined as automatic understating of what actions occur in a video performed by a human. This is a difficult problem due to the many challenges including, but not limited to, variations in human shape and motion, occlusion, cluttered background, moving cameras, illumination conditions, and viewpoint variations. To start with, The most popular and prominent state-of-the-art techniques are reviewed, evaluated, compared, and presented. Based on the literature review, these techniques are categorized into handcrafted feature-based and deep learning-based approaches. The proposed action recognition framework is then based on these handcrafted and deep learning based techniques, which are then adopted throughout the thesis by embedding novel algorithms for action recognition, both in the handcrafted and deep learning domains. First, a new method based on handcrafted approach is presented. This method addresses one of the major challenges known as “viewpoint variations” by presenting a novel feature descriptor for multiview human action recognition. This descriptor employs the region-based features extracted from the human silhouette. The proposed approach is quite simple and achieves state-of-the-art results without compromising the efficiency of the recognition process which shows its suitability for real-time applications. Second, two innovative methods are presented based on deep learning approach, to go beyond the limitations of handcrafted approach. The first method is based on transfer learning using pre-trained deep learning model as a source architecture to solve the problem of human action recognition. It is experimentally confirmed that deep Convolutional Neural Network model already trained on large-scale annotated dataset is transferable to action recognition task with limited training dataset. The comparative analysis also confirms its superior performance over handcrafted feature-based methods in terms of accuracy on same datasets. The second method is based on unsupervised deep learning-based approach. This method employs Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) with restricted Boltzmann machines for action recognition in unconstrained videos. The proposed method automatically extracts suitable feature representation without any prior knowledge using unsupervised deep learning model. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed with high recognition results on a challenging UCF sports dataset. Finally, the thesis is concluded with important discussions and research directions in the area of human action recognition.
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Clement-Okooboh, Mercy K. "Transitioning towards a learning organisation : an action research approach." Thesis, University of Bolton, 2016. http://ubir.bolton.ac.uk/1145/.
Full textAbstract:
As a journey of continuous improvement, my research focused on supporting and enabling my organisation to become a learning organisation. This is set out in six action research cycles that describe the processes and changes as they occurred. This thesis presents the interplay between developments in the organisation and several strands of systems thinking. At the outset, learning within the organisation was considered to be what happened in the training room, and it started out from evaluating existing training provision. The research found this to be inadequate on its own, and it was followed up by provision of transfer and performance support and a change of emphasis towards mentoring, coaching and informal learning. This was accompanied by the development of a holistic goals-learning-evaluation review process that then integrated all forms of learning into the daily practice of the workplace. Evaluation was embedded as a key feedback loop of both formal and informal learning and a higher tier evaluation of the basic learning/evaluation loop was then introduced. In the light of any continuing unsatisfactory outcomes, this double loop learning questioned assumptions regarding both internal and external conditions and sought new learning solutions as part of wider strategic planning. However this final step was interrupted by significant organisational changes that integrated the UK and Irish branches and. within the Irish branch, my Energy division was integrated with the Water and Waste divisions. After a pause, my focus was then shifted from the Energy division to bringing the Water and Waste divisions up to the level reached by the Energy division. While this effectively brought my PhD programme to an end before reaching the goal of fully establishing the Energy division as a learning organisation, much had been achieved and it presented the opportunity to test the framework and accompanying practices in two different organisations. This has now (two years later) been achieved, hence providing some degree of validation of the framework and processes, and some degree of confidence that they can be successfully applied elsewhere and many of the research approaches and evaluation techniques that I provided are now embedded as part of the work practices across all the units in the Irish branch. The remaining steps to be undertaken within Veolia Ireland would be the completion of those outlined in Action Research Cycle 6, but now across all the subdivisions of the Ireland branch. This would involve the full implementation of the 2nd order review process that integrated the goals-learning-evaluation processes that have been developed and are now fully embedded, with the existing environmental scanning, innovation and strategy formation processes within the Irish branch to create a fully responsive and adaptive learning organisation. Many, if not most organisations are currently at the stage of seeing learning as training room based, which other research has shown to be similarly inadequate. However there is a need for organisations to be more responsive to a rapidly changing operating environment, which can be met through the transition to an organisation that continuously learns and adapts. The approach taken in this work therefore has the potential for wider use. To that end this thesis proposes a generic framework to guide others seeking to become a learning organisation. It provides a concrete illustration of its use and development for users to consider and adapt as needed to their specific circumstances. This study adopts both qualitative and quantitative approaches, using both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from delegates who participated in three different training programs. The contribution of this study, the Learning Organisation Transition Framework and the practical steps taken from which it both emerged and in turn directed, will be of greatest use to other organisations that have the strategic intent of becoming a learning organisation, but seek guidance on implementation. The studies value offers a concrete contribution to knowledge, by applying a systems thinking approach to the creation of a learning organisation, a task often found to be difficult in practice. Systems thinking principles were used to create feedback loops from internal and external conditions, to enhance performance and adaptivity, thereby, increasing the scope for more generative learning. This involved all employees in their and their organisations future development.
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Radlbeck, Andrew J. "Machine Learning Based Action Recognition to Understand Distracted Driving." Digital WPI, 2019. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-theses/1337.
Full textAbstract:
The ability to look outward from your vehicle and assess dangerous peer behavior is typically a trivial task for humans, but not always. Distracted driving is an issue that has been seen on our roadways ever since cars have been invented, but even more so after the wide spread use of cell phones. This thesis introduces a new system for monitoring the surrounding vehicles with outside facing cameras that detect in real time if the vehicle being followed is engaging in distracted behavior. This system uses techniques from image processing, signal processing, and machine learning. It’s ability to pick out drivers with dangerous behavior is shown to be accurate with a hit count of 87.5%, and with few false positives. It aims to help make either the human driver or the machine driver more aware and assist with better decision making.
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Brown, Beth Lynne. "Improving Teaching Practices through Action Research." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/26869.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigated teachersâ perceptions of the influences of action research on their thinking about instructional practices and the impact of this thinking on teaching practices. The four specific areas of investigation were teachersâ perceptions about (a) the overall teacher role, (b) teachersâ knowledge about teaching, (c) teaching practices, and (d) reflective practices. The data were collected from interviews with teacher researchers, informal classroom observations, and collection of teacher and student work and related artifacts. The data revealed that teachers perceived changes in the four areas of investigation. Engaging in the stages of action research provided teachers with a methodical structure for implementing and analyzing the teaching and learning process. This defined structure guided teachers through more systematic and conscious data collection, data analysis, and reflection.Ph. D.
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Anderson, Lisa Marie. "Critical action learning : an examination of the social nature of management learning and development." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2008. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5406/.
Full textAbstract:
The debate surrounding the nature and purpose of management education in the UK's business schools is inextricably entwined with the notion of management as a profession and the nature of management knowledge. Universities have traditionally been viewed as being at the cutting e'dge of the creation of knowledge about management and of being the ideal site for the education of managers. However, there is a growing disquiet about the relationship between management knowledge and practice and the ability of business schools to develop managers of the calibre needed by the UK to compete internationally. Whilst acknowledging that the nature of management knowledge and the political forces which shape its creation are important in this debate, the emphasis here is on how managers learn. Action learning has long been held up as the answer to the lack of a critically reflective element in management education yet there is little evidence to show that it has fulfilled its promise. The nature of Critical or critical management education is considered and the utility of Critical Management pedagogy is questioned. There are few accounts of action learning being used in higher education and a confusing range of descriptions of what action learning is. Therefore, a large-scale action learning project in the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise sector was chosen as the site of study. Data are reported and analysed from participant observation at eight action learning set meetings, 21 individual interviews and 19 learning journals. Whilst the initial intention was to use discourse analysis, this was abandoned as the power of 'words in their speaking' became apparent as a mediator of critical reflection both in the Action learning set and in the interviews. An updated framework for conceptualizing learning is offered which describes various levels of learning. However, the model proposed here is much more explicit about the nature of reflection or reflexivity at each level, exemplifying particularly how critical reflection is at the core of higher level learning. Social constructionist approaches to learning, including action learning, are proposed as a philosophical underpinning for management education:and as synonymous with critical reflection. Blockages to the introduction of such a pedagogical philosophy in business schools include a lack of consideration given to teaching and learning and a continuing emphasis on research output as the direct route to secure funding for the school and promotion for oneself as an academic. There is an ongoing and urgent need to ignite this debate and to create accounts of best practice that may inspire thoughtful teaching and learning thus fulfilling our obligation as academics to the wider management community.
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Want, Stephen Charles. "Observational learning and tool-use development." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.302488.
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McLachlan, Benita. "Learning for excellence : professional learning for learning support assistants within further education." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2012. http://arro.anglia.ac.uk/297145/.
Full textAbstract:
The 1980s saw an increase in learning support assistants (LSAs’) in colleges for further education to support post-sixteen learners with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD). LSAs’ were appointed on an ad hoc basis with little or no experience, or relevant qualifications to deliver support in ‘inclusive’ vocational classrooms. The Workforce Development Plan in 2004 acknowledged this phenomenon and advocated that occupational standards be developed. Two years later, in October 2006, the first National Occupational Standards (NOS) for college LSAs was launched but it did not include an official training framework for their professional learning and although there are some training structures in place, this still remains the case today. Learners with LDD are, therefore, still supported by untrained LSAs’ who are not professionally equipped to deal with the particular challenges they present. Educators like myself who work alongside LSAs’ in colleges, must seek to naturalistically explore professional learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. Such professional learning opportunities should reflect the creative and dynamic contribution college LSAs’ bring to inclusive classrooms and, thereby, not only improve the quality of the support LSAs’ give but the overall integrative, ethical and non-discriminative ethos of a college. With this knowledge, I developed and implemented an Enhanced Learning Support Assistant Programme (ELSAP) for the professional learning of volunteer LSA participants with the aim of improving their knowledge and skills to deliver a more meaningful education for postsixteen learners with LDD. For the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, professional learning for LSAs’ needs to occur systemically over time and be integrated within the multilayered context of a college to allow dynamic and reciprocal influences to make transformative connections. Critically, my action research study strengthens the connection between socio-political theory and practice within the sociology of disability education on moral, ethical and human rights grounds.
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McLachlan, Benita. "Learning for Excellence: Professional learning for learning support assistants within further education." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2012. https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/297145/6/McLachlan_2012.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The 1980s saw an increase in learning support assistants (LSAs’) in colleges for further
education to support post-sixteen learners with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD).
LSAs’ were appointed on an ad hoc basis with little or no experience, or relevant
qualifications to deliver support in ‘inclusive’ vocational classrooms. The Workforce
Development Plan in 2004 acknowledged this phenomenon and advocated that occupational
standards be developed. Two years later, in October 2006, the first National Occupational
Standards (NOS) for college LSAs was launched but it did not include an official training
framework for their professional learning and although there are some training structures in
place, this still remains the case today.
Learners with LDD are, therefore, still supported by untrained LSAs’ who are not
professionally equipped to deal with the particular challenges they present. Educators like
myself who work alongside LSAs’ in colleges, must seek to naturalistically explore
professional learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. Such professional
learning opportunities should reflect the creative and dynamic contribution college LSAs’
bring to inclusive classrooms and, thereby, not only improve the quality of the support LSAs’
give but the overall integrative, ethical and non-discriminative ethos of a college. With this
knowledge, I developed and implemented an Enhanced Learning Support Assistant
Programme (ELSAP) for the professional learning of volunteer LSA participants with the aim
of improving their knowledge and skills to deliver a more meaningful education for postsixteen
learners with LDD. For the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, professional
learning for LSAs’ needs to occur systemically over time and be integrated within the multilayered
context of a college to allow dynamic and reciprocal influences to make
transformative connections. Critically, my action research study strengthens the connection
between socio-political theory and practice within the sociology of disability education on
moral, ethical and human rights grounds.
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Chiang, Hsuan-yi, and 江炫儀. "Action Segmentation and Learning by Inverse Reinforcement Learning." Thesis, 2015. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24130256006959006664.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立中山大學
電機工程學系研究所
104
Reinforcement learning allows agents to learn behaviors through trial and error. However, as the level of difficulty increases, the reward function of the mission also becomes harder to be defined. By combining the concepts of Adaboost classifier and Upper Confidence Bounds (UCB), a method based on inverse reinforcement learning is proposed to construct the reward function of a complex mission. Inverse reinforcement learning allows the agent to rebuild a reward function that imitates the process of interaction between the expert and the environment. During the imitation, the agent continuously compares the difference between the expert and itself, and then the proposed methods determines a specific weight for each state via Adaboost. The weight is then combined with the state confidence from UCB to construct an approximate reward function. This thesis uses a state encoding method and action segmentation to simplify the problem, then utilize the proposed method to determine the optimal reward function. Finally, a maze environment and a soccer robot environment simulation are used to validate the proposed method, further to decreasing the computational time.
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DAR--TSAI, MING, and 蔡明達. "Action Research of Cooperative Learning." Thesis, 2003. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47897812285792179405.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立彰化師範大學
科學教育研究所在職進修專班
91
Action Research of Cooperative Learning in the vocational high school Mathematics Classroom Abstract The purpose of this study was to use the cooperative learning method in the mathematics classroom. The effective ways of instruction, problems that may be encountered, solutions to the problems and the students'' achievements were also explored in this research. The researcher chose forty students from his own class as subjects. An action research and the deep situational teaching method were conducted. In the first stage, the researcher helped students to get used to the teaching method of cooperative learning and analyzed the problems. After that, a revision was offered and went into the next stage called as revision stage. Based on the evaluation of the effects of front stages, the stage of formal experiment was carried out. The researcher''s diary, students''weekly learning reports, the records of the interviews with students, questionnaires and the relevant documents were gathered. The results of the research were as follows :In the process of adopting cooperative learning method, the researcher confronted some difficulties. Such as “It is difficult for teachers to follow the teaching schedule.”, “Students did not do well in their tests.”, “Students just chatted with each other and didn''t concentrate on their learning materials ” When facing the aforementioned difficulties, the researcher found out that it will improve students grades if teachers can design appropriate teaching activities, and encourage students to be more active in their learning. Team competitions are the effective ways to inspire the students'' motivation and participation in class. It also changed the students'' attitudes toward math. Through the change of teaching method, both students and teachers enjoyed math class more.
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Pereira, Ventura de Sousa. "FCPortugal - Multi-Robot Action Learning." Master's thesis, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/10216/131458.
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"Joint Action Enhances Motor Learning." Doctoral diss., 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.29823.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: ABSTRACT
Learning a novel motor pattern through imitation of the skilled performance of an expert has been shown to result in better learning outcomes relative to observational or physical practice. The aim of the present project was to examine if the advantages of imitational practice could be further augmented through a supplementary technique derived from my previous research. This research has provided converging behavioral evidence that dyads engaged in joint action in a familiar task requiring spatial and temporal synchrony end up developing an extended overlap in their body representations, termed a joint body schema (JBS). The present research examined if inducing a JBS between a trainer and a novice trainee, prior to having the dyad engage in imitation practice on a novel motor pattern would enhance both of the training process and its outcomes.
Participants either worked with their trainer on a familiar joint task to develop the JBS (Joint condition) or performed a solo equivalent of the task while being watched by their trainer (Solo condition). Participants In both groups then engaged in blocks of alternating imitation practice and free production of a novel manual motor pattern, while their motor output was recorded. Analyses indicated that the Joint participants outperformed the Solo participants in the ability to synchronize the spatial and temporal components of their imitation movements with the trainer’s pattern-modeling movements. The same group showed superior performance when attempting to freely produce the pattern. These results carry significant theoretical and translational potentials for the fields of motor learning and rehabilitation.Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2015