WENGER-Cadre+14

Business Organizations Education Government Non-Profit Sector Online Communities || **Basis of Theory: ** 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)** **(Knowledge Building Theory) ** 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. **(Theory of Attribution) ** 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. ||
 * LEARNING THEORISTS RELATED TO SIMONE’S ACTION RESEARCH **
 * **Theorist/Theory I ** ||  **Theorist/Theory II **  ||  **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theorist/Theory III **  ||  **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Theories as Applied to My AR Project **  ||
 * **<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">WENGER **<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> **(Community of Practice)**  ||  **<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">SCARDAMALIA (Knowledge Building Theory) **  ||  **<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">WEINER (Theory of Attribution) **   **<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Information borrowed from Wiki space posting of Cadre Mate Michelle Green **  ||   ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Basis of Theory: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">A Cop is a group that interacts on a regular basis, over a period of time, shares a common interest, and practices getting better at that interest together.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The group has **domain** (shared interest amongst members), **community** (engages in shared activities/discussions) and, **practice** (exchanges resources)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Group can be large or small, meet in-person, or online.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Group can be comprised of experts and non-experts.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Members contribute to the collective knowledge of the group and manage the knowledge they need.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Groups are fluid, informal, and boundary crossing. In some cases COP’s challenge the structure of formal organizations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Who Uses COP’s: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Knowledge building is viewed as one making or changing public knowledge. To generate knowledge that remains in the world for others to use and work on.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">During the knowledge building process cognitive artifacts are created by individuals as they engage in activities that allow them to exchange ideas. The exchange increases the current level of knowledge of the group on the topic being considered.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Knowledge building requires collective inquiry on a specific subject that leads to dialogue, questioning, a stronger understanding of the topic, and generating more ideas for improvement.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The generation of ideas is the focus of knowledge building. In educational environments students take the lead on planning, learning, and following through on ideas, with the teacher serving in a guiding role.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Knowledge building creates a sense that the group and not individuals are operating collectively. They focus on how much the group understands and the collaborative qualities, versus the how many assignments are completed. || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Basis of Theory: **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theory of attribution as it relates to academic success and failure. Proponents of attribution theory begin their analysis of motivation with the assumption that people inevitably seek to understand why they succeed or fail. In doing so, they attribute their accomplishments or losses to a host of antecedents: good or bad luck, difficult or easy tasks, supportive or unfriendly people, their own hard work or lack thereof, or the degree to which they possess certain abilities.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Heider (1958), who is credited for initially developing the attribution theory, focused on the different ways in which individuals understand events and messages and how this affects their behavior. Several other theorists have modified this theory since then and among them is Weiner, who created the framework used today to assess attributes of achievement.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">A three stage process underlies this theory (1) behavior is observed or perceived, (2) behavior is determined to be deliberate, and (3) behavior is attributed to internal or external causes.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The most important factors affecting achievement can be attributed to (1) effort, (2) ability, (3) level of task difficulty, or (4) luck. || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">(Community of Practice) **  <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">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.