ActivityTheory

Activity Theory - What Has It Ever Done For Me?

PIG Meeting 14/3/03 2pm followed by adjournement to Red Room
Presenter: BenMcGarry

The following exercise draws heavily on a course module from an Educational Psychology Course at University of Alberta, written as far as I can tell by David Mappin, Michele Kelly, Bonnie Skaalid and Sharon Bratt ( whole course outline available at www.quasar.ualberta.ca/edpy597 ) I’d recommend this site as it has some nice modules about designing instructional courses based on constructivist theory, drawing on the same research frameworks that we repeatedly find ourselves bumping into. I hope that's sufficient acknowledgement?

Aims
There are three aims to this exercise ( drawn in the shape of a triangle ):

    1. To introduce ( or revise ) the concepts of Activity Theory ( AT )
    2. To prompt discussion about and gain a better feeling for the potential role of AT in our own research
    3. A third thing. Something about leveraging the combined thinking power of a group of researchers as a convenient shortcut to getting a better personal understanding of a concept :- )

Part A
is my own summary of Activity Theory, drawn from the resources I’ve listed below. I’m pretty new to this too, and I haven’t gone into much depth, so I’d recommend you start with those links if you’re unsatisfied with these ‘cheat notes’ ( if you're looking at a computer screen, go to www.itee.uq.edu.au/~pig/docs/McGarry_AT_Summary.doc, if you're looking at a piece of paper, turn the page, or if you're looking at some other type of media, condolences, you're probably in the dystopian future I helped create )

Part B
is an extract from Barab, S., Barnett, M., Yamagata-Lynch, L., Squire, K. & Keating, T. ( 1999 ). Using activity theory to understand the contradictions characterizing a technology-rich introductory astronomy course. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, CA. This paper is by a group of educators who used Activity Theory to evaluate the educational merit of their new Virtual Reality Solar System course. I’ve chosen a short extract ( see attached ) from the paper as an example of the type of analysis that you do in an Activity Theory framework. If you want to put the extract in context, the full 55-page .pdf is also available from PaperReferences.

Please read my summary ( and please look at some of the links below if you have time ), then read Part B - the paper extract. In the meeting we will have a discussion about AT in theory and practice, possibly starting with the following provocations...

Provocations

  1. What do you think about the AT ontology as explained in the object-orientedness tenet ( the objectivity of culturally-defined properties of objects )?
  2. What are two aspects of AT that you find valuable or useful?
  3. What are two aspects of AT are you uncomfortable with?
  4. How do you feel about Leont'ev's 'heirarchical conception of activity' ( Activity-Action-Operation corresponding with Motive-Goal-Condition )
  5. How useful do you find the 'triangles' conceptualisation in how the educators anaylsed the students' interactions?
  6. Bonus Question: How many frameworks can you think of that use a triangular/triadic/trilateral/trialectic structure as their basis?

Resources
UCal Ed Psych Course - Activity Theory Module www.quasar.ualberta.ca/edpy597/Modules/module15.html
Same Course - excerpt from Kaptelinin's 'Activity Theory - Implications for Human Computer Interaction' ( in Bonnie Nardi's book ) - www.quasar.ualberta.ca/edpy597/readings/m15_kaptelin.htm
Liam Bannon's description of Activity Theory www-sv.cict.fr/cotcos/pjs/TheoreticalApproaches/Actvity/ActivitypaperBannon.htm
Martim Ryder has summarised big names' viewpoints on AT at carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/act_dff.html
Yvonne Rogers and Mike Scaife's take on AT ( must explore this site more - looks good ) www-sv.cict.fr/cotcos/pjs/TheoreticalApproaches/Actvity/ActivitypaperRogers.htm

Meeting Transcript
Read how the meeting went at ActivityTheoryTranscript

Meeting Debriefing
Read BenMcGarry's summary of the meeting at ActivityTheoryDebrief

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