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__Project Title:__ Bear Maximum: Maxed-Out Mamma-Bear Central __Project Description:__

The Purpose of the Bear Maximum Project is to create an online wisdom community for informal learning comprised of mothers of all ages in order to promote mentoring and support for one another in the process of collaborative knowledge innovation in order to faciliate transformational learning. (Gunawardena, Ortegano-Layne, Carabajal, Frechette, Lindemann and Jennings, 2006, p. 217).

The project will take place online, and will follow the WisCom model of Instructional Design, developed by Gunawardena, Ortegano-Layne, Carabajal, Frechette, Lindemann and Jennings (2006) in order to “design learning environments for ill-structured knowledge domains” (Jonassen, 1997, as cited in Gundawardena, 2006, p. 219).

The project seeks to provide an online wisdom community for mothers to come together to create a supportive community of practice.

Though the expectations placed on mothers today can be overwhelming, it can be helpful to come together as a supportive community wherein members can provide mentorship and support to one another as mothers and colleagues in the practice of the art and science of motherhood.

__Rationale/Why is this Needed:__

Mothers today wear many hats, while simultaneously keeping many different balls up in the air.

They may be raising children, caring for elderly parents, working full-time, going to school, trying to maintain friendships and relationships, managing the household, all the while feeling pressure to be thin, beautiful, eat organic, grow organic, live sustainably, and be the perfect everything-to-everybody.

Is balance possible given such a situation in which one is driven to maximize their potential across many divergent interests?

Or is this yet another example of the tragedy of the commons - the tragedy of the common mom?

While there is no single solution to the problem of being overwhelmed, having a supportive community of peers to collaborate and engage with can help us learn to survive and thrive.

__Needs Assessment:__

An overview of the target audience indicates that most mothers feel overwhelmed by the pressures of having one or more major responsibilities and demands on their time in addition to their role as a mother. //Normative and Comparative Needs:// According to Stevenson & Wolfers (2009): “By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries “ (p. 190). //Felt Needs:// Anecdotal information expressed by target audience indicates that many women want to be able to simultaneously maximize their potential while having time to enjoy what they have accomplished. //Anticipated Needs:// Over time, mothers accumulate increasing responsibilities at home (i.e. by having more children, or by assuming care of elderly parent(s) or relatives, marriage, divorce or remarriage); at work (e.g. promotion, increasing productivity, taking on additional duties, or changing careers; at school; and in society (i.e. volunteering, social relationships with friends). Therefore, it is anticipated that there will be a need for mothers to network with one another in a helpful and supportive environment wherein mothers can work together in support of their goals. //Critical or Incident Needs:// Although thankfully rare, cases like Andrea Yates and Diane Schuler are extreme examples of the consequences of being an overwhelmed or alienated mother, while further highlighting the need for a supportive and nurturing environment for bringing concerns to light.
 * Phase One: Planning**

Data to be analyzed was gleaned from scholarly research and national surveys, indicators, and measures.
 * Phase Two: Data Collection**

In addition to data from research studies, a survey was created on PollDaddy.Com. Potential participants were invited via Facebook to complete the poll at http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2089747/. Poll was also embedded at http://www.bearmaximum.com and within the ESE 6939 course platform under ‘Project Topic’ Discussion.

A survey was given with the following answers on a four-point scale. 1 - I am often overwhelmed, and need/want/get a lot of help managing my responsibilities as a mother with working, school or other efforts. 2 - I am sometimes overwhelmed, and sometimes need/want/get help managing my responsibilities as a mother with working, school or other efforts. 3 - I am rarely overwhelmed, and rarely need/want/get help managing my responsibilities as a mother with working, school or other efforts. 4 -I am not overwhelmed ever, and do not need any help managing my responsibilities as a mother with working, school or other efforts.

//Review of Available Research and Data://
 * “Mothers who stay at home are about as likely to say they frequently feel stressed as those who work full or part time. Working fathers are less likely than working mothers to feel stressed. In fact, 26% of fathers who work either full or part time and have children under age 18 say they rarely or never feel stressed. This compares with only 14% of working mothers” (Parker, 2009, p. 3)
 * “Overall, 24% of the public said they always feel rushed. But working mothers' lives are much more harried than the average American's. Four-in-ten working mothers with children under age 18 said they always feel rushed, and another 52% said they sometimes feel rushed. By comparison, 26% of mothers who don't work outside of the home said they always feel rushed as did 25% of working fathers. Whether mothers worked part time or full time didn't make a difference: 41% of moms who work full time and 40% of those who work part time said they are constantly feeling rushed”(Ibid).
 * “Among full-time workers who are parents of children under 18, married mothers were more likely to provide childcare to household children than were married fathers” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008, p. 2).
 * “In households with children under 18 where married mothers were not employed and married fathers were employed full time, mothers spent triple the amount of time providing childcare on average than did fathers” (Ibid).
 * “In households with children under 18, married mothers who were employed full time were more likely to do household activities—such as housework, cooking, or lawn care—on an average day than were fathers who were employed full time” (Ibid).
 * “American mothers put in about twice as many hours directly involved with their children and doing housework” according to University of Maryland Researcher Suzanne M. Bianchi (St. George, 2007, A11).
 * “ 70% of the public says it is more difficult to be a mother today than it was 20 or 30 years ago, while somewhat fewer (60%) say the same about being a father” (Pew, 2007, p. 1).
 * “Mothers are seen as having the more difficult job, but they are also judge more harshly than are fathers. More than half of Americans (56%) say that mothers are doing a worse job today than mothers did 20 or 30 years ago” (Ibid).
 * “The ratio of women’s and men’s median annual earnings in 2008 was 77.1 for full-time, year-round workers, down from 77.8 in 2007. (This means the gender wage gap is now 22.9 percent.) This year-to-year change is not statistically significant. The annual earnings figure reflects gender differences in both hourly wages and the number of hours worked each year by full-time workers. If part-time and part-year workers were included, the ratio would be much lower, as women are more likely than men to work reduced schedules in order to manage child-rearing and other caregiving work” (IWPR, 2009, p. 1).
 * “The Institute for Women’s Policy Research has found that improving pay equity between women and men would create substantial economic gains for women and their families. IWPR finds that in 2008 dollars the typical woman worker would gain $5,710—an economy-wide gain of a staggering $319 billion—if equal pay were the norm. Over a 35-year working life, the typical woman would gain $210,000” (IWPR, 2008, p. 1).

//Girl Talk: Quotes//
 * "I stayed home until _, was in Kindergarten. When I started working it was not normal for women to work outside the home. It was not normal for women to know how to drive a car. I was an accountant, which was not something women did. My mother had 10 children, would have been 11 if one of the twins she delivered had not been stillborn. I only had three children, and I do not know how she did it. My daddy never helped, because it was not his place. Your grandpa, he helped. I know your dad helped too, but most men, they just are not that way. No changing them." - My Grandma
 * "_ __cries and or wants to be held, and even though I am exhausted and still sore from delivery: he says:‘She wants you, and besides, it comes so naturally to women.’" - S.H. Mom of a Two-Week Old__
 * __"I just do not think it takes as much to be a great father as it does to be a good mom. Guys can be considered great dads even if they are only with their kids on weekends and holidays. I am not supposed to have a life outside my children or if I go out, like tonight, which I never do, I feel guilty. He has hobbies. I have children. He feels I should not get anything in the divorce, because I did not work until last year. I did not work because I was raising our boys until they were in Kindergarten, because he did not want them going to daycare. It was not like I was not working, I just was not getting paid. Our real problems started when__ __started Kindergarten and I went back to work outside the home." - W.P. Mom of Two__

__**Phase Three: Data Analysis** Poll Results:  6 total votes broken down as follows: 33% indicated that they were often overwhelmed. 50% indicated that they were sometimes overwhelmed. 17% indicted they were rarely overwhelmed. Summary Review of Available Data and Research: Although men now do more work that prior generations, the lion’s share of the work for raising the children and caring for the household still rests on the shoulders of women. Women are more likely to feel stressed than men, whether they work full-time, part-time, and or are stay-at-home mothers. Although public opinion shows that the vast majority feel that motherhood has become more difficult, that same public also judges mothers more harshly than fathers.

The results of data collection, as well as my own personal congruence with the data presented confirm the need for this project. There is a clear need for a online site for informal learning that would that would help to mitigate the pressures on women today by providing a supportive network of peers.__
 * Phase Four: Final Analysis**

Performance Context and Implications for Instruction: __**Physical Elements:** There is no physical site of instruction, as it is an online wisdom community. See next page for web addresses and links to each components.
 * Social Elements:** Blog, Wiki, Ning, and Social Bookmarking components all serve as social function.
 * Resource Elements:** Blog, Wiki, Ning, and Social Bookmarking components all serve a function as a resource element for the online wisdom community.
 * Instructional Implications:** This is an online informal learning community. As a result of its virtual nature, and the possibilities for synchronous and asynchronous communication, participants are better able to fit engagement into their hectic lifestyles.__

The Learning Environment: __The Wisdom Community is comprised of 4 linked Websites: Each site, emphasizes a different facet of Web 2.0 technologies, that when used in conjunction with one another support the development of an online wisdom community of practice which together comprise the physical, social, and resource elements of the performance context. 1. A Blog, [] which serves as a base of operations, and is the main page which links to all others. 2. A Wiki, []which serves as a repository for the preservation the widsom community’s knowledge innovations. 3. A Ning, []or Social Network Site that allows for collaborative discussions between members where individuals can come together to collaborate. 4. A Social Bookmarking Function, []Delicious which can help organize and link information from various sources, allowing us to better represent and organize information from multiple perspectives.__

Goal Analysis & Statement: __**Aim:** Develop an online wisdom community to support and assist mothers in achieving a more balanced life. Identify innovative ways to help balance motherhood with other responsibilities. Research, report, reference, and evaluate relevant information from a variety of sources. Collaborate with others in a community that provides mentorship and learner support. Identify innovative methods in support of achieving greater satisfaction, lower levels of stress, and balancing motherhood with other priorities and demands. Research, report, classify, reference, evaluate, document, and link relevant information from a variety of sources in support of the development of a supportive community of practice. Collaborate with peers in a community of practice that provides mentorship and learner support in the process of knowledge innovation and transformational learning.__
 * Goal Ranking:**
 * Wisdom Community Goal:**

Performance Assessment: __**Lack of Knowledge or Skills:** Motherhood encompasses such a varying body of knowledge and skills that additional knowledge and skills are always in demand. Motherhood means one is inherently taken for granted. However, there may not be an incentive to take additional duties upon oneself when someone is already too busy. However, if an initial investment of time would pay dividends in the future, in the form of increased happiness and balance, one could then be persuaded that it was worth engagement. Women do twice as much work as men, only to get criticized for it more harshly than are men (see analysis of available research and data). We are expected to do it all, while looking the part, with a smile on our face, without emasculating males in the process. We do 99% of the work. We get no more than 50% of the credit for doing anything correctly, and 100% of the blame when things go wrong. Women bare the mental responsibility for the household, even for the work that men do. Although the prospect of getting organized is attractive, we may lack the time or the resources to achieve that objective. Research shows that women are taught not to negotiate. That means that we take on more ourselves, instead of delegating, because it is not worth the fight or the energy involved to motivate or compel someone else to accomplish that task or objective.
 * Lack of Motivation or Incentive:**
 * Environmental Factors:**
 * Management Factors:**
 * Interpersonal Factors:**

The primary target learner will be mothers recruited from Facebook, postings on online message boards, and other websites. The audience will consist of mothers who may or may not also be working or going to school full-time in addition to their role as a mother. Primary Audience:__
 * Full-time Mothers/Homemakers
 * Working Mothers
 * Mothers who are Students

Secondary Audience:
 * Step-mothers
 * Grandmothers
 * Pregnant Women

General Learner/Group Characteristics:
 * Mothers who have 0+ years of experience as a mother
 * In addition to their role as mother, participants have at least one other major responsibility

Entry Characteristics: Learners will be classified as: 1. Full-time stay-at-home mothers 2. Part-time Working Moms 3. Full-time Working Moms 4. Part-time Working Moms Who Also Attend School 5. Full-time Working Moms Who Also Attend School

Learning Styles: Learning will be informal, and due to the web 2.0 nature of the technologies utilized, a variety of learning styles, preferences, and orientations can be satisfied.

Potential Audience Concerns: The supermom myth is a powerful one. Some moms might be fearful of coming forward and admitting that they feel overwhelmed, for any number of reasons. Furthermore, time constraints may mean the mom will be too busy to have the time to join an online wisdom community or to maintain a presence within that community.

Entry Competencies:__

Knowledge: Level of knowledge will depend upon age, education, experience and learner’s orientation along the slack-to-alpha-mom spectrum

Skills: Participants will have access to a computer with internet access or smartphone with internet access. Participants will have some level of comfort participating in social networking from experiences with sites such as Facebook.

Attitudes: Attitudes and enthusiasm will vary according to level of interest in project and level of exhaustion.

Description of Learners: Participants will engage on a voluntary basis. Motivations will vary, but include: desire for self-improvement, need to vent or find commonalities with peer group.

References/Relevant Resources: Drexler, Wendy, Baralt, Anna & Dawson, Kara (2008). The Teach Web 2.0 Consortium: a tool to promote educational social networking and Web 2.0 use among educators. Educational Media International, 45(4), 271-283. http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/09523980802571499, doi: 10.1080/09523980802571499

Gunawardena, C., Ortegano‐Layne, L., Carabajal, K., Frechette, C., Lindemann, K., & Jennings, B. (2006). New Model, New Strategies: Instructional design for building online wisdom communities. Distance Education, 27(2), 217-232. http://search.ebscohost.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu, doi: 10.1080/01587910600789613

Gunawardena, C. N., Jennings, B., Layne, O. L. C., Frechette, C., Carabajal, K., Lindemann, K., and Mummert, J. (2004). Building an online wisdom community: A transformational design model. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 15(2): 40-62. http://www.springerlink.com/content/8412534284nnhj8r/, doi: 10.1007/ BF02940929

Hardin, G. (13 December 1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science,162(3859), 1243-1248. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/citmgr?gca=sci;162/3859/1243, doi: 10.1126/science.162.3859.1243

Institute for Women’s Policy Research IWPR. (2009 September). The Gender Wage Gap: 2008 (IWPR #C350). Washington, DC: Author. http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf

Institute for Women’s Policy Research IWPR. (2008 May) Improving Pay Equity Would Mean Great Gains for Women. Washington, DC: Author. http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/payequityrelease.pdf

Oliver, R. (2000). When Teaching Meets Learning: Design Principles and Strategies for Web- based Learning Environments that Support Knowledge Construction. Keynote Speech ASCILITE conference. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/coffs00/papers/ron_oliver_keynote.pdf

Oliver, R., & Herrington, J. (2003). Exploring Technology-Mediated Learning from a Pedagogical Perspective. Interactive Learning Environments, 11(2), 111-126. http://search.ebscohost.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu, doi: 10.1076/ilee.11.2.111.14136

Parker, Kim. (2009 Oct 1). The Harried Life of a Working Mother. Pew Social & Demographic Trends. http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/745/the-harried-life-of-the-working-mother

Pew Research Center. (2007). Motherhood Today: Tougher Challenges, Less Success. Washington, DC: Author. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/468/motherhood

St. George, D. (2007, March 20). Farthers Are No Longer Glued to Their Recliners: Childcare, Housework Hours Increase. The Washington Post, A11. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901639.html

Sternberg, R. & Grigorenko, E. (2004, September). Intelligence and Culture: How Culture Shapes What Intelligence Means, and the Implications for a Science of Well-Being. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1427-1434 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4142145, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1514

Stevenson, B. & Wolfers, J. (12 May 2009). The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 1(2): 190–225.http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/pol.1.2.190, doi: 10.1257/pol.1.2.190

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008). Married Parents Use of Time Survey. USDL Publication No. USDL 08-0619). Washington, DC: Author. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus2.pdf

Bookmarks and Links to Relevant Resources can be found at: []