Application Assignment: As an Agent of Social Change, What Can I Do?

Now the next exciting phase of your Capstone Project begins: What will you propose as a response to your challenge? How will you make a difference?

This week, you will investigate current responses to your challenge by researching what others in this country-and possibly around the world-are already doing. Use your investigative skills to answer the following:

How are others responding to the challenge you have chosen?

What are organizations, people, governments, etc., on a local, national, and/or international level doing about this challenge?

Considering all this information, what can you do? What will be your goals?

This Application Assignment is designed to help you formulate a response to your challenge and develop goals with regard to what you want to accomplish.

To prepare for your Application Assignment, proceed as follows:

Part 1: Your Statement of Intent:

Reread the latest version of your challenge and, if needed, modify it based on any insights and information you gained from your colleagues in this week's Discussion. Then develop a statement that encapsulates your intent in a sentence or two. (For instance, "I intend to positively impact children who are going hungry in my community.") Your Statement of Intent should not include any specific goals.

Part 2: Current Contexts

Research how other organizations, governments, agencies, and people in your country-a nd possibly around the world-are currently addressing this challenge: How are they responding? Are any solutions being proposed? Identify at least three sources that add insight and knowledge about this challenge. You will use this information to help you formulate your response and develop goals that articulate what you want to accomplish.

As you work on this portion of your Capstone Project, consider that you may not need to come up with a unique solution. You may find ideas, programs, and/or efforts that are already working that you could adapt, modify, or transform. You may decide to apply information you have learned and thought about in a new way to address the challenge you have chosen.

If necessary, refine and update your challenge and modify your Ideal Community of Practice based on the research you just completed. (Cite the sources that impacted your thinking.)

Evaluate the new information and insights you gained through your research and begin thinking about possible responses you might develop for this challenge. Ask yourself:

What have I learned from exploring the contemporary context of my challenge?

As an advocate of social change, what impact do I want to have and for what reasons?

Note: If, in your research, you cannot find at least three scholarly sources that provide you with information to draw from to support formulating your response, review your challenge and ask:

How can I still make this happen?

Is the challenge I chose still viable? Is it too large? Is it clearly enough defined?

Can I look at it differently?

Do I need to break the challenge into still smaller parts?

Is my Statement of Intent too grandiose? How can I revise this statement to reflect a more "manageable chunk"?

Do I need to revise my ideal community of practice? Do we need to be the people doing the research? Could we be the groundbreaking force?

Note: Consult the Wenger Communities of Practice diagram in this week's Learning Resources and see how it can help with these questions.

Part 3: Your Statement of Response and Goals

What is your response to this challenge?

Revise your challenge as necessary.

Create a Statement of Response to your issue/challenge, written in the form of an "I" statement. (For example: "In order to respond to hunger in my community and positively impact the well-being of young children and their families, I will...")

Articulate at least three specific goals that reflect what you want to accomplish.

Cite at least five sources that informed your thinking (using APA).

Submit:

A summary of what you learned from current research related to your challenge

Your response as detailed above:

Your challenge and community of practice(revised if necessary)

Your Statement of Intent

Your Statement of Response

At least three goals related to your response

At least three sources that informed your thinking (Cited in APA format)