EtienneWenger

Learning Theorist-**ETIENNE WENGER** Born: 1952 Occupation: Educational Theorist and Practitioner

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Etienne Wenger is a social learning theorist whose body of work focuses on systems of social learning. His work is based on the premise that human’s learn largely by way of social acts/interaction. Wenger is know for his theory on Communities of Practice

RELATIVE THEORIES: the theories that relate to Wenger’s COP are those which are focused on social activity, the exchange of information and resources amongst groups of individuals, and/or individual development as the basis for learning.
 * Basis of Theory: **
 * A Cop is a group of individuals that interact on a regular basis, over a period of time, and share a common interest. They collectively learn from each other as they work within their shared interest.
 * The group has **domain** (shared interest amongst members) that defines the identity of the group and distinguishes its members from other individuals.
 * **The community **engages in formal and informal activities and discussions. They gain information from these activities and learn from one another.
 * Members are seen as practitioners that exchange resources such as experiences, procedures, and tools that may have been acquired individually but can be used to address problems faced by group.
 * The COP can be large or small, meet in-person, or online.
 * The COP can be comprised of experts and non-experts.
 * Members of the COP contribute to the collective knowledge of the group and manage the knowledge they are in need of.
 * COP’s can be unstructured, informal, and in some cases challenge the structure of formal organizations
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">LAVE (Theory of Situated Learning -SL) **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">: Lave is co-creator of the theory on Communities of Practice. The Situated Learning Theory suggests that knowledge is acquired through the process of interaction that occurs within a COP and learning is situated in the activities and context of the group.


 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">SCARDAMALIA (Knowledge Building Theory) **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Knowledge building is based on the improvement of ideas that result in the creation of public knowledge. Public knowledge is generated and exists for others to use and work on. KB Theory is relative to COP's because of its foundation in the concept that learning is a social process and COP's create knowledge around shared interests that will be collectively built upon.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">PAIGET/BRUNER (Constructivist Learning Theory) **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The theories of Scardamalia, Bruner, Wenger, and Lave all have roots (some more loosely than others) to Paiget’s Constructivist Theory. Paiget suggests that children have four distinct stages of individual development and that as their individual awareness of the world increases the ways in which they learn will be different. Building on Paiget’s theory, Bruner also suggests that learners construct knowledge for themselves, making the determination of what they ultimately learn. Similarly, members of a COP may have experts and non-experts with ranges of knowledge. Each pulls that which they need to learn (constructs) from the group. In COP's individuals are building a knowledge base around shared interest, but they are also taking from the content what they perceive they need to learn.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">HOW THE LEARNING THEORIES RELATE TO MY AR **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">(Community of Practice) **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">My AR goals is to look at my actions as I seek to use technology to effectively coordinate the activities of volunteers, to increase the visibility, and support of the Satori Athletic Organization, a NJ Non Profit. The COP in my AR project is represented by a group of 15 undergraduate student volunteers working on a service-learning project around the cause of academically at-risk high school student-athletes’. **(this is the shared interest).** In the COP, one role in which I serve is technology steward**.** The volunteers engage in discussions and trainings on the NCAA Eligibility Center requirements for aspiring student-athletes. They contribute to each other’s collective knowledge on the subject. **(this represents the community).** The volunteers also exchange resources with each other to reinforce their personal knowledge on the subject of the NCAA requirements. They do so to stay abreast of content for the purpose of effectively doing the job of sharing the most up to date knowledge high school student-athletes. **(this represents the practice)**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">(Knowledge Building Theory) **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the challenges faced by the non-profit I work with is sustainability. I’ve looked at this challenge from a number of standpoints and decided to focus one aspect of my AR on how better volunteer engagement can foster sustainability. A large part of what changed in my interactions with volunteers this year is the push for collaboration. I wanted them to believe themselves a vital part of a group working to offer solutions as to how SAO can fulfill its mission. I stepped back in the process and allowed the group to vet ideas and to execute those ideas. There are learning artifacts that resulted from this process that will be shared with others (outside the group) so they too can benefit from the work that the volunteers undertook.


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Honorable Mention: (Theory of Attribution) **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Although Weiner’s theory is based on academic success and failure. I could not help but to be drawn to theory in application to business and entrepreneurs. As Founder of SAO, I am running a business. Whether I succeed or fail in my business is priority one. I believe that the theory of attribution applies to my AR in that business owners seek to understand when something goes well in their business, but even more so when it does not go well. Whether its education or business it’s natural to look at external factors and/or ability when you’re building a business that you want to thrive. During the AR process it’s important that I consider my practices and philosophies while conducting business, how they dictate my actions, and may contribute to the negative or positive outcomes I experience.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Communities of Practice A Brief Introduction. [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Learning Theorist-Jean Lave (Mie Buskirk). http://maltconcepttools.wikispaces.com/Learning+Theorists <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology. [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Learning Theorist-Bernard Weiner (Michelle Green) http://mindmaps.wikispaces.com/Weiner <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Learning Theorist-Jerome Bruner (Matt W.) http://mindmaps.wikispaces.com/Jerome+Bruner
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">REFERENCES: **