Goal-Driven Learning

In cognitive science, artificial intelligence, psychology, and education, a growingbody of research supports the view that the learning process is strongly influenced by the learner'sgoals. The fundamental tenet of goal-driven learning is that learning is largely an active andstrategic process in which the learner, human or machine, attempts to identify and satisfy itsinformation needs in the context of its tasks and goals, its prior knowledge, its capabilities, andenvironmental opportunities for learning. This book brings together a diversity of research ongoal-driven learning to establish a broad, interdisciplinary framework that describes thegoal-driven learning process. It collects and solidifies existing results on this important issue inmachine and human learning and presents a theoretical framework for future investigations.The bookopens with an an overview of goal-driven learning research and computational and cognitive models ofthe goal-driven learning process. This introduction is followed by a collection of fourteen recentresearch articles addressing fundamental issues of the field, including psychological and functionalarguments for modeling learning as a deliberative, planful process; experimental evaluation of thebenefits of utility-based analysis to guide decisions about what to learn; case studies ofcomputational models in which learning is driven by reasoning about learning goals; psychologicalevidence for human goal-driven learning; and the ramifications of goal-driven learning ineducational contexts.The second part of the book presents six position papers reflecting ongoingresearch and current issues in goal-driven learning. Issues discussed include methods for pursuingpsychological studies of goal-driven learning, frameworks for the design of active and multistrategylearning systems, and methods for selecting and balancing the goals that drive learning.A BradfordBook