Alternative media for public pedagogy: "Chief" concerns and human agency

To demonstrate how the growing influence of alternative media in civil society correlates with the rise of social movements and their influence on contemporary manifestations of resistance, this research uses critical ethnographic methodologies to document the narratives of alternative media producers in the pro-Indigenous and anti-“Chief” campaigns at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the 2006-2007 school year. These narratives demonstrate not only the ways alternative media help transmit dissent by distributing information to diverse populations, but also the manner they facilitate contexts that influence identity formations and strengthen counter-cultural communal practices. Particular lineages of critical social theory are used to situate knowledge construction and social relationships within specific socio-historic contexts to approach issues of subjectivity, human agency, and resistance. These include the Frankfurt School for Social Research, the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and the Brazilian education philosopher Paulo Freire, who emphasize criticality based on the engagement of ideological analysis, as well as developing capacities to critique and resist oppressive social and political relationships. Thus, this study argues for expanding traditional notions of literacy to include the ability to decode and produce media as a critical element of meaningful democratic participation.

The relationship between personal cognition, social context, and knowledge sharing in global communities of practice

The purpose of this study was to identify the structural pathways of personal cognition and social context as they influence knowledge sharing behaviors in communities of practice. Based on the existing literature, ten hypotheses and a conceptual model built on the basis of the social cognitive theory were developed regarding the interrelationships of the five constructs: self-efficacy for knowledge sharing, outcome expectations, sense of community, leadership of a community, and knowledge sharing. The data were collected through an online questionnaire from the employees who have participated in communities of practice in a Fortune 100 corporation. A total of 438 usable questionnaires were collected. Overall, three analyses were conducted in order to prove the given hypotheses: (a) hypothesized measurement model fit, (b) relational and influential associations among the constructs, and (c) structural equation model analysis (SEM). In addition, open-ended responses were analyzed. The results presented that (a) hypothesized measurement models were valid and reliable, (b) personal cognitive factors, self-efficacy and outcome expectations for knowledge sharing, were found to be significant predictors of community members’ sense of community and knowledge sharing behaviors, (c) sense of community had the most significant impact on the knowledge sharing, (d) as the perceived social context, sense of community mediated the effects of personal cognition on knowledge sharing behaviors, and (e) personal cognition and social context jointly contributed to knowledge sharing. In brief, all of the hypotheses were positively supported. A conclusive summary is provided along with contributive discussion. Implications and contributions to HRD researchers and practitioners are discussed, and recommendations are provided.