Activity Theory Perspectives On Technology In Higher Education

Activity Theory is a tool that can help make sense of the complex changes taking place in higher education because of the integration of technology. Unlike other theories, it allows for a focus that includes elements in the social, cultural, and historical setting in which the technology is used. In addition, it supports consideration of the practices of individual students and educators as well as practices at the institutional level. Activity Theory Perspectives on Technology in Higher Education presents a compelling theory that will be useful for researchers, academics, policy makers, administrators, and instructors interested in understanding and controlling the shifts that are occurring in education due to the integration of technology.

Although emerging technologies are becoming popularised for teaching, learning and research, the relationship between their use and transformative effects on higher education remain largely unexplored. This edited collection seeks to fill this gap by providing a nuanced view, locating higher education pedagogical practices at an intersection of emerging technologies, authentic learning and activity systems. Providing numerous case studies as examples, the book draws from a wide range of contexts to illustrate how such a convergence has the potential to track transformative teaching and learning practices in the higher education sector. Chapters provide the reader with a variety of transformative higher education pedagogical practices in southern contexts, theorised within the framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and tool mediation, while using authentic learning as a pedagogical model upon which this theoretical framework is based. The topics covered in the book have global relevance, with research paying particular attention to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, where the authors are based. The book will be of interest to educators, researchers and practitioners in higher education, as well as those interested in emerging technologies in education more generally.

Although emerging technologies are becoming popularised for teaching, learning and research, the relationship between their use and transformative effects on higher education remain largely unexplored. This edited collection seeks to fill this gap by providing a nuanced view, locating higher education pedagogical practices at an intersection of emerging technologies, authentic learning and activity systems. Providing numerous case studies as examples, the book draws from a wide range of contexts to illustrate how such a convergence has the potential to track transformative teaching and learning practices in the higher education sector. Chapters provide the reader with a variety of transformative higher education pedagogical practices in southern contexts, theorised within the framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and tool mediation, while using authentic learning as a pedagogical model upon which this theoretical framework is based. The topics covered in the book have global relevance, with research paying particular attention to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, where the authors are based. The book will be of interest to educators, researchers and practitioners in higher education, as well as those interested in emerging technologies in education more generally.

Activity Theory in Education: Research and Practice brings together cutting-edge scholars from a number of continents. Through in-depth case studies the authors highlight how Activity Theory is used in education and discuss the theoretical as well as pragmatic use of Activity Theory frameworks in a range of contemporary learning contexts. The first section of the book focuses on empirical research on using Activity Theory in analysing students’ and teachers’ experiences of learning and teaching in face-to-face and online learning contexts. The second section contains insights in identifying historical and systemic tensions in educational contexts using Activity Theory. The third section discusses conceptual and contextual aspects of educational contexts through Activity Theory, and Section four discusses the application of Activity Theory in understanding teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge and curriculum development. In spite of the widespread and rapidly increasing use of Activity Theory in educational research, few collections of this work are available. Activity Theory in Education: Research and Practice is such a much needed collection of practical experiences, theoretical insights and empirical research findings on the use of Activity Theory in educational settings.” – Yrjö Engeström, Centre for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE), The University of Helsinki.

An international, interdisciplinary overview of research on activity theory, first published in 1999.

The book consists of novel and empirical research in broad areas of technology and curriculum in selected African countries. The central theme of the book is technology and the higher education curriculum. The book consists of case studies from selected African countries, namely, Lesotho; Namibia; Kenya; South Africa; Zimbabwe; Tanzania and Nigeria. These studies confirm that in this contemporary digital era, educational technology is playing an increasingly important role. It has become so ubiquitous and fundamental in the teaching and learning. Higher education sectors across the continent are increasingly compelled to use educational technology to keep up with needs of 21st century students who want to be afforded opportunities to be able to learn in real time, anytime, and on their own terms using opportunities for creative innovation made possible by new information and communication technologies.

Traditionally, teacher education research theory and practice have had a technical-rational focus on productions of knowledge, skills, performance and accountability. Such a focus serves to (re)produce current educational systems instead of noticing and critiquing the wider modes of domination that permeate schools and school systems. In Social Theory for Teacher Education Research, Kathleen Nolan, Jennifer Tupper and the contributors make arguments for drawing on social theories to inform research in teacher education - research that moves the agenda beyond technical-rational concerns toward building a critically reflexive stance for noticing and unpacking the socio-political contexts of schooling. The theories discussed include Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and la didactique du plurilinguisme, and social theorists covered include Barad, Bernstein, Bourdieu, Braidotti, Deleuze, Foucault, Heidegger, and Nussbaum. The chapters in this book make explicit how innovative social theory-driven research can challenge and change teacher education practices and the learning experiences of students.

Online Learning and Its Users: Lessons for Higher Education re-examines the impact of learning technologies in higher education. The book focuses particularly on the introduction and mainstreaming of one of the most widely used, the virtual learning environment (VLE) or learning management system (LMS). The book presents an activity theoretic analysis of the VLE’s adoption, drawing on research into this process at a range of higher education institutions. Through analysis and discussion of the activities of managers, lecturers, and learners using the VLE, lessons are identified to inform future initiatives including the implementation of massive open online courses (MOOCs). A replicable research design is included and explained to support evaluation and analysis of the use of online learning in other settings. The book questions accepted views of the place of technologies in higher education, arguing that there has been a repeated cycle of hype and disappointment accompanying the development of online learning. While much research has documented this cycle, finding new strategies to break it has proved to be a more difficult challenge. Why has technology not made more impact? Are lecturers going to be left behind by their own students in the use of digital technologies? Why have we seen costly and time-consuming failures? This book argues that we can answer these questions by heeding the lessons from previous experiences with the VLE and early iterations of the MOOC. More importantly, we can begin to ask new and different questions for the future to ensure better outcomes for our institutions and ultimately our learners. presents institution-wide analysis of the adoption of a key educational technology for higher education, validated across multiple sites, to support deeper understanding of the use of learning technologies in context describes Activity Theory and presents a replicable model to operationalise it for investigations of the use of online learning in higher education and other settings provides a unique perspective on the historical experience of VLE adoption and mainstreaming to identify important insights and essential lessons for the future