Marquardt brings together the six essential elements with realistic advice, practical wisdom, and such tools as checklists and a comprehensive glossary of terms. Readers can learn to leverage action learning to solve problems, develop employees, enhance personal growth, and create organizational learning.
The burgeoning use of learning sets has generated many innovative uses for, and developments of action learning, which are detailed and explored in this practical, accessible book written for educators, trainers and developers.
Improve learning transfer in your organisation with this book which provides a step-by-step methodology for facilitating genuine behavioural change and accountability back in the workplace.
Summary Humans learn best from feedback—we are encouraged to take actions that lead to positive results while deterred by decisions with negative consequences. This reinforcement process can be applied to computer programs allowing them to solve more complex problems that classical programming cannot. Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action teaches you the fundamental concepts and terminology of deep reinforcement learning, along with the practical skills and techniques you’ll need to implement it into your own projects. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology Deep reinforcement learning AI systems rapidly adapt to new environments, a vast improvement over standard neural networks. A DRL agent learns like people do, taking in raw data such as sensor input and refining its responses and predictions through trial and error. About the book Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action teaches you how to program AI agents that adapt and improve based on direct feedback from their environment. In this example-rich tutorial, you’ll master foundational and advanced DRL techniques by taking on interesting challenges like navigating a maze and playing video games. Along the way, you’ll work with core algorithms, including deep Q-networks and policy gradients, along with industry-standard tools like PyTorch and OpenAI Gym. What's inside Building and training DRL networks The most popular DRL algorithms for learning and problem solving Evolutionary algorithms for curiosity and multi-agent learning All examples available as Jupyter Notebooks About the reader For readers with intermediate skills in Python and deep learning. About the author Alexander Zai is a machine learning engineer at Amazon AI. Brandon Brown is a machine learning and data analysis blogger. Table of Contents PART 1 - FOUNDATIONS 1. What is reinforcement learning? 2. Modeling reinforcement learning problems: Markov decision processes 3. Predicting the best states and actions: Deep Q-networks 4. Learning to pick the best policy: Policy gradient methods 5. Tackling more complex problems with actor-critic methods PART 2 - ABOVE AND BEYOND 6. Alternative optimization methods: Evolutionary algorithms 7. Distributional DQN: Getting the full story 8.Curiosity-driven exploration 9. Multi-agent reinforcement learning 10. Interpretable reinforcement learning: Attention and relational models 11. In conclusion: A review and roadmap
Shift to blended learning to transform education Blended learning has the power to reinvent education, but the transition requires a new approach to learning and a new skillset for educators. Loaded with research and examples, Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online. Readers will find: Breakdowns of the most effective classroom setups for blended learning Tips for leaders Ideas for personalizing and differentiating instruction using technology Strategies for managing devices in schools Questions to facilitate professional development and deeper learning
Most managers today understand the value of building a learning organization. Their goal is to leverage knowledge and make it a key corporate asset, yet they remain uncertain about how best to get started. What they lack are guidelines and tools that transform abstract theory—the learning organization as an ideal—into hands-on implementation. For the first time in Learning in Action, David Garvin helps managers make the leap from theory to proven practice. Garvin argues that at the heart of organizational learning lies a set of processes that can be designed, deployed, and led. He starts by describing the basic steps in every learning process—acquiring, interpreting, and applying knowledge—then examines the critical challenges facing managers at each of these stages and the various ways the challenges can be met. Drawing on decades of scholarship and a wealth of examples from a wide range of fields, Garvin next introduces three modes of learning—intelligence gathering, experience, and experimentation—and shows how each mode is most effectively deployed. These approaches are brought to life in complete, richly detailed case studies of learning in action at organizations such as Xerox, L. L. Bean, the U. S. Army, and GE. The book concludes with a discussion of the leadership role that senior executives must play to make learning a day-to-day reality in their organizations.
Reg Revans based his theories of Action Learning on 30 years of work and observation. This revised and updated reissue of the definitive text, ABC of Action Learning, is a clear, easily-read primer for anyone wishing to learn about and apply his methods. It offers a succinct, practical guide to integrating action learning into every-day situations, and enhancing the practical and managerial skills of the workforce.
Previous editions of this book established themselves as authoritative overviews of action learning practice around the globe. Given the increase in action learning activity since this book last appeared, the demand for an up-to-date edition has grown. Whilst chapters on action learning are now obligatory in every collection on leadership and management development, there is still no competing specialist work of this nature.