day 6: activity theory - From Activity to Consciousness:
The Activity Theory is derived from the work of Russian psychologists (Lev Vygotsky, A.N. Leon’tev and A.R. Luria) of the 1920s. Their goal was to create a theory that transcended the dominating psychological theories of the time – psychoanalysis and behaviorism. What they came up with is not really a theory. It is a set of principles which constitute a conceptual system to form the basis of other theories and is useful for describing activities and processes.
The goal of Activity Theory is to understand relationship between activities and consciousness, which are viewed as inseparable. There is also a need to understand how tools and artifacts play a role in everyday existence. They achieved this by defining several concepts outlined below. (adapted from Robertson, 2008; Ryder, 2012)
The goal of Activity Theory is to understand relationship between activities and consciousness, which are viewed as inseparable. There is also a need to understand how tools and artifacts play a role in everyday existence. They achieved this by defining several concepts outlined below. (adapted from Robertson, 2008; Ryder, 2012)
Key concepts:
Consciousness
Consciousness exists in everyday practice. Essentially, “You are what you do”. and what you do occurs within social context. Through social interaction you learn rules, skills and tools that guide (or mediate) activity.
Mediation
Mediation is a central concept in Activity theory. It is a term used to explain the influence tools, artifacts, and social contexts have on people and what they do. Human activities and the way we interact with the world is mediated through tools, language, division of labor, social signs, and symbols, all occurring within social context.
Activities
Activities are what people do in order to achieve a specific goal or what is known in activy theory as an objective. Activities are mediated by tools, rules and social context. Activities are broken down into individual steps called actions.
Actions
Actions are the individual steps which make up activities. Activities and actions have different natures in that different actions can be used in a single activity to accomplish a single objective. One action can be used in many disparate activities. Different objectives can lead to different activities. This explains of how different actions and activities can lead to the accomplishment of different objectives, and why people take different approaches to achieving the same goal.
Intentions
Activities and actions are often purposefully directed towards achieving an objective. This purposeful direction is called intention.
Tools
In Activity Theory, tools shape the way people interact with reality. Tools are what we use to accomplish activities. We often use tools that have been created by others. Consequently they usually reflect other people’s experiences who have tried to solve similar problems and have adapted tools to improve efficiency. Yet, we also modify tools to suit our own situations. This leads to the formation of definite properties of tools (shape, size, materials) as well as rules, divisions of labour (who does what- how activity roles are divided) and sets of behaviours related to tool use, and objective accomplishment. Using tools we transmit social knowledge (eg a pen to write idea, rules guiding writing emails when using a keyboard). And when we use tools to shape our activities, we start changing our internal perceptions or consciousness.
Consciousness exists in everyday practice. Essentially, “You are what you do”. and what you do occurs within social context. Through social interaction you learn rules, skills and tools that guide (or mediate) activity.
Mediation
Mediation is a central concept in Activity theory. It is a term used to explain the influence tools, artifacts, and social contexts have on people and what they do. Human activities and the way we interact with the world is mediated through tools, language, division of labor, social signs, and symbols, all occurring within social context.
Activities
Activities are what people do in order to achieve a specific goal or what is known in activy theory as an objective. Activities are mediated by tools, rules and social context. Activities are broken down into individual steps called actions.
Actions
Actions are the individual steps which make up activities. Activities and actions have different natures in that different actions can be used in a single activity to accomplish a single objective. One action can be used in many disparate activities. Different objectives can lead to different activities. This explains of how different actions and activities can lead to the accomplishment of different objectives, and why people take different approaches to achieving the same goal.
Intentions
Activities and actions are often purposefully directed towards achieving an objective. This purposeful direction is called intention.
Tools
In Activity Theory, tools shape the way people interact with reality. Tools are what we use to accomplish activities. We often use tools that have been created by others. Consequently they usually reflect other people’s experiences who have tried to solve similar problems and have adapted tools to improve efficiency. Yet, we also modify tools to suit our own situations. This leads to the formation of definite properties of tools (shape, size, materials) as well as rules, divisions of labour (who does what- how activity roles are divided) and sets of behaviours related to tool use, and objective accomplishment. Using tools we transmit social knowledge (eg a pen to write idea, rules guiding writing emails when using a keyboard). And when we use tools to shape our activities, we start changing our internal perceptions or consciousness.
Activity theory and online learning:
Online learning can be analyzed from three perspectives:
1. The organizational perspective focuses on sustaining the organization and administration of online education.
2. The technological perspective involves the IT staff and relates to what activities can be done in order to achieve technological sustainability and functioning computer systems within educational institutions.
3. The third and final perspective, pedagogy, involves educators considering learning objectives and activities, actions to encourage and the social contexts in which they occur.
These three perspectives are not autonomous, interactions exist between people from different areas. It becomes imperative we analyze the tensions and contradictions that occur in these interactions. (Ryder, 2012)
1. The organizational perspective focuses on sustaining the organization and administration of online education.
2. The technological perspective involves the IT staff and relates to what activities can be done in order to achieve technological sustainability and functioning computer systems within educational institutions.
3. The third and final perspective, pedagogy, involves educators considering learning objectives and activities, actions to encourage and the social contexts in which they occur.
These three perspectives are not autonomous, interactions exist between people from different areas. It becomes imperative we analyze the tensions and contradictions that occur in these interactions. (Ryder, 2012)
designing learning activities:
When designing learning it is important to consider the following questions:
- Activity What is the Activity? What kind of activity is it?
- Objective Why do we need the activity?
- Subject Who is doing the activity?
- Tools What means are involved in performing the activity?
- Rules What are the cultural norms, rules and regulations?
- Division of Labour Who does what and are the roles organized?
- Social Context What is the social context? What is the environment like?
- Outcome What is the desired outcome
limitations of the activity theory:
One limitation of activity theory is that it does not account for theoretical and pedagogical influences on the development of the activity learners are expected to accomplish or the goal they are expected to achieve. (Turner, Turner and Horton, 1999)
As a tool to describe learning activities, it is highly effective. However, to do so successfully requires a huge time commitment and strong observation skills, as the activity must be observed continuously from beginning to end. The researcher must also be familiar with all components of an activity from tools, division of labour, role of the individual, context, and the community of practice. (Turner, Turner and Horton, 1999)
Activity theory also presupposes that learning goals are achieved directly as a result of a learner engaging in an activity. Learning goals may be achieved indirectly, through participating in one aspect of the activity or from engaging in an altogether different activity.
As a tool to describe learning activities, it is highly effective. However, to do so successfully requires a huge time commitment and strong observation skills, as the activity must be observed continuously from beginning to end. The researcher must also be familiar with all components of an activity from tools, division of labour, role of the individual, context, and the community of practice. (Turner, Turner and Horton, 1999)
Activity theory also presupposes that learning goals are achieved directly as a result of a learner engaging in an activity. Learning goals may be achieved indirectly, through participating in one aspect of the activity or from engaging in an altogether different activity.
thought questions:
1. List and explain 8 learning activity questions you need to ask to ensure it's success.
2. Discuss some limitations of the activity theory.
2. Discuss some limitations of the activity theory.
key words:
1. Objective
2. Consciousness
3. Intentions
4. Mediation
2. Consciousness
3. Intentions
4. Mediation
references:
Robertson, I. (2008) An Introduction to activity theory. Youtube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=4oG0ZvkhzCY
Ryder, M. (2012) What is activity theory? University of Colorado Retrieved from http://carbon.ucdenver.edu /~mryder/itc_data/act_dff.html
Turner, P., Turner, S., & Horton, J. (1999), "Towards an activity-based approach to requirements definition?", Department of Computing and Mathematics, University of Northumbria
Ryder, M. (2012) What is activity theory? University of Colorado Retrieved from http://carbon.ucdenver.edu /~mryder/itc_data/act_dff.html
Turner, P., Turner, S., & Horton, J. (1999), "Towards an activity-based approach to requirements definition?", Department of Computing and Mathematics, University of Northumbria
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...