Thomas Hansson

*Blekinge Institute of Technology Sweden* 

#### **1. Introduction**

410 Social Sciences and Cultural Studies – Issues of Language, Public Opinion, Education and Welfare

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Sangaku Renkei niyoru Global Jinzai Ikusei Suishin Kaigi (2011). *Sangakukan ni yoru Global* 

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Yonezawa, A. (2011). The "Global 30" and the consequences of selecting "world-class"

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Exploration of "human agentive consciousness", "private realms of subjects" and "reflexive agents" in López-Varela (2010, p. 125) incorporate a dualism of subjects ("producers") and objects ("consumers") into the framework. However, focus (ibid., p. 127) on "betweenness" and computer-mediated communication enable for analysis of intersubjectivity transcending individual, cultural-historical and economic contexts. In a similar approach, Garrison (2001, p. 276) argues against dialectic thinking based on a list of dualisms first published in Dewey (1952/1989, p. 408) "The material and spiritual, the physical and the mental or psychological; body and mind; experience and reason; sense and intellect, appetitive desire and will; subjective and objective, individual and social; inner and outer." In responding to a philosophical approach to characterizing the functioning of the human brain or how we think, learn and memorize, Roth (2007, p. 40) acknowledges the relation between individual initiative and collective influences. Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006, p. 11) outlines agency versus structure for ICT environments, saying "activity theory has always had a strong notion of the individual, while at the same time understanding and emphasizing the importance of a socio-cultural matrix within which individuals develop." [So, emphasis] of this text [is on...] a combination of individual and collective influences on human behavior. The approach provides a productive venue for describing and explaining how people think, learn and know.

Regardless of approach there seems to be creative dynamics at work, because for any human encounter there is transaction between participants. Wells (2007, p. 165) labels such meetings an "occurrence of a joint activity in which multiple participants are collaboratively involved." It is intriguing to find that people seem to struggle with ongoing dilemmas and recurring contradictions without considering issues of agency and systems thinking. Also, conceptual analyses suggest that by agency we understand that individuals are free and willing to act on impressions, to take action, support activities and (re)act on other people's behavior. Our ability to act on personal needs and motives so as to control actions in Self and Other is a specific human ability, be it informed, planned or spontaneous. Furthermore the general idea for a human need to exercise agency is to produce an effect according to an original plan or an adjusted intention. On the other hand people seem to continuously build social systems in their minds whenever they listen to, calculate, process and respond to events, situations and other people, be it in physical, virtual or social worlds. Thus, any such social system – a football team, an army or an orchestra - is a community of practitioners with people relating to each other with a shared understanding of the limits of the system,

ICT, Learning Objects and Activity Theory 413

The medium for this study is any "transformative artifact" or soft- and [hardware] working [together.] The approach provides an interactive context for the users and the researcher to share physical, social, emotional and cognitive experiences. Following Van Oers (1998, p. 137), most soft- and hardware combinations could/should be understood as "a result of a personal (mental) or social act of interpretation of an activity setting (contextualizing), trying to bring the determining factors under control." In deciding if soft- and hardware plus routines is a process, an elaborate context or a tool (Ducheneaut and Bellotti, 2001), emphasis is on process, i.e. human interactions group dynamics, functioning teams or

For some time now researchers have been obsessed with a basic dichotomy, *subject* versus *object*. Their misguided focus has had a confusing effect on theory-making. Today people consider what constitutes a good life, effective learning and valid knowledge from a different perspective. Collectively, we assume that subject and object are interrelated, complementary but independent forms of being, i.e. human ways of relating to the world. In this text I demonstrate a "practical turn" towards cultural-historical (socio-cultural) influences on Self, personality and consciousness as they provide a developmental path. Conceptualizing of work/shared activity rather than individual reflection provides another way forward. On shared activity, Dewey (1916, p. 327) provides a synthesizing approach to the implied dichotomy between personal reflection and language systems "Overt action is demanded if the worth or validity of the reflective considerations is to be determined." In this study I elaborate on Dewey's (1953, p. 154) bold philosophical statement about what characterizes the human species "We are at root practical beings, beings engaged in exercise (to master nature; *comment by this author*). This practice constitutes at first both self and the world of reality. There

is no distinction." Before doing so, however, there is another aspect to consider.

For social, behavioral and organizational studies applies that researchers should clarify input, process, effect and feedback mechanisms affecting human thinking, behavior, values and attitudes. Such approaches relate to human-organizational influences, reflecting an ambition in the researcher to identify and analyze driving, balancing and regulative forces on individuals, material progress and human growth. Soon enough a number of terms appear in opposing rather than dialectical pairs. Find ten specific constructs complementing

*Singular/plural; I/we; person/people; private/public; Self/Other; individual/collective; oneoff/system; intention (need-motive)/ activity (organization); agency/structure; psychological/social;* 

The way we use these concepts on isolated or shared human behavior respectively entails a different perspective for each reference. For example, Bourdieu (1977) employs *agency* and

 In order to be able to assess the impact of individual versus collective input to verbal interactions, one purpose of research would be to track shifts in the situated activity (object construction) bringing higher order thinking into place. Another priority would be to analyze an advanced conception of the discoursed context (object instantiation) during the crucial moments when changes occur. Approaching the problem in this way enables for research to elaborate a theory of agency and structure, assuming that changes come as the result of how subjects express (a) self-conception and self-management in a context of

virtual communities.

Dewey's (1952/1989) contribution.

*entrepreneurial/administrative.* 

*structure* for specific purposes, a specific context and traditions.

what it takes to cross its borders, what the consequences would be, what keeps the community going and what separates insiders from outsiders.

### **2. Problem statement and purpose of research**

Individual and collective input to shared activities operate differently, depending on the participants' behavior. They act from a self-managed and self-conscious low-level of consciousness, attention and intention or from a high level of professional thinking. An additional purpose would be to explore the potential of activity theory concepts for teaching and learning, including verbal exchanges mediated by modern technology, i.e. sessions on a computer-based platform enabling for a study into group processes defined as a vehicle for higher order professional thinking. By engaging in verbal co-construction (co-operation, communication, co-ordination) of a collectively processed learning object (on how to use ICT), teachers seem to either learn/identify/explore a sought object or to remain at a low level of consciousness merely supplying requested curricular data on a given subject. The result of their initiatives depends on how the group interacts, who takes the lead, who is attentive and who drops out from the process. It seems as if those who struggle the most contribute by a self-conscious input of menial information at the level of *object construction*. They dutifully complete each step of an interactive process. Those who contribute to productive group interactions generate professional thinking by the way they *instantiate the object* of inquiry. They initiate interactions by the way they act out verbal input for [raising] the group's [level ...] of knowledge during object construction. During the process of transformation from merely interacting to actual transformation of a shared learning object there seems to be a delicate balancing of isolated individual and collectively shared needs going on.

It is a relevant mission to study if it is possible to apply general activity theory as an analytic resource for describing the catalyst mechanisms that inspire and/or sustain an emerging professional culture during e.g. ICT mediated sessions. On this note, Nardi (2007, p. 6) says Raeithel (1996) explained co-construction of a shared object like a series of verbal exchanges to mean "re-definition of the object of collective activity." Even today Engeström's (1987) original concept of co-construction of an object needs to be modified. Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006) say co-construction equals the traditional process of finding out what a subject expects of other subjects (during object construction) plus exploration of how agents go about realizing other people's expectations (during object instantiation).

Adding to the above, Nardi (1996, p. 69) introduces the problem of assessing individual and collective influences to human development in an ICT context asking "What are the relations between artifacts, individuals, and the social groups to which they belong?" Until now personal chemistry, compatibility of goals, interests or ambitions have mystified what may happen when people cooperate in order to form rewarding learning activities. Concepts like luck, magic or fortune fail to provide an explanatory basis for any theory or method for exploring the development of human activities. It is useful to put into perspective how the activities start off, change, develop and die out. The problem for research is to find mutually excluding variables that inspire and/or sustain productive acts, actions and activities between people, more specifically oral and physical relation-building mechanisms that inspire individuals and social systems to communicate through a medium, a boundary object (Van Oers, 1998) or a designed space for interaction (Winograd, 1996).

what it takes to cross its borders, what the consequences would be, what keeps the

Individual and collective input to shared activities operate differently, depending on the participants' behavior. They act from a self-managed and self-conscious low-level of consciousness, attention and intention or from a high level of professional thinking. An additional purpose would be to explore the potential of activity theory concepts for teaching and learning, including verbal exchanges mediated by modern technology, i.e. sessions on a computer-based platform enabling for a study into group processes defined as a vehicle for higher order professional thinking. By engaging in verbal co-construction (co-operation, communication, co-ordination) of a collectively processed learning object (on how to use ICT), teachers seem to either learn/identify/explore a sought object or to remain at a low level of consciousness merely supplying requested curricular data on a given subject. The result of their initiatives depends on how the group interacts, who takes the lead, who is attentive and who drops out from the process. It seems as if those who struggle the most contribute by a self-conscious input of menial information at the level of *object construction*. They dutifully complete each step of an interactive process. Those who contribute to productive group interactions generate professional thinking by the way they *instantiate the object* of inquiry. They initiate interactions by the way they act out verbal input for [raising] the group's [level ...] of knowledge during object construction. During the process of transformation from merely interacting to actual transformation of a shared learning object there seems to be a delicate balancing of isolated individual and collectively shared needs

It is a relevant mission to study if it is possible to apply general activity theory as an analytic resource for describing the catalyst mechanisms that inspire and/or sustain an emerging professional culture during e.g. ICT mediated sessions. On this note, Nardi (2007, p. 6) says Raeithel (1996) explained co-construction of a shared object like a series of verbal exchanges to mean "re-definition of the object of collective activity." Even today Engeström's (1987) original concept of co-construction of an object needs to be modified. Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006) say co-construction equals the traditional process of finding out what a subject expects of other subjects (during object construction) plus exploration of how agents go

Adding to the above, Nardi (1996, p. 69) introduces the problem of assessing individual and collective influences to human development in an ICT context asking "What are the relations between artifacts, individuals, and the social groups to which they belong?" Until now personal chemistry, compatibility of goals, interests or ambitions have mystified what may happen when people cooperate in order to form rewarding learning activities. Concepts like luck, magic or fortune fail to provide an explanatory basis for any theory or method for exploring the development of human activities. It is useful to put into perspective how the activities start off, change, develop and die out. The problem for research is to find mutually excluding variables that inspire and/or sustain productive acts, actions and activities between people, more specifically oral and physical relation-building mechanisms that inspire individuals and social systems to communicate through a medium, a boundary object (Van Oers, 1998) or a designed space for interaction (Winograd, 1996).

about realizing other people's expectations (during object instantiation).

community going and what separates insiders from outsiders.

**2. Problem statement and purpose of research** 

going on.

The medium for this study is any "transformative artifact" or soft- and [hardware] working [together.] The approach provides an interactive context for the users and the researcher to share physical, social, emotional and cognitive experiences. Following Van Oers (1998, p. 137), most soft- and hardware combinations could/should be understood as "a result of a personal (mental) or social act of interpretation of an activity setting (contextualizing), trying to bring the determining factors under control." In deciding if soft- and hardware plus routines is a process, an elaborate context or a tool (Ducheneaut and Bellotti, 2001), emphasis is on process, i.e. human interactions group dynamics, functioning teams or virtual communities.

For some time now researchers have been obsessed with a basic dichotomy, *subject* versus *object*. Their misguided focus has had a confusing effect on theory-making. Today people consider what constitutes a good life, effective learning and valid knowledge from a different perspective. Collectively, we assume that subject and object are interrelated, complementary but independent forms of being, i.e. human ways of relating to the world. In this text I demonstrate a "practical turn" towards cultural-historical (socio-cultural) influences on Self, personality and consciousness as they provide a developmental path. Conceptualizing of work/shared activity rather than individual reflection provides another way forward. On shared activity, Dewey (1916, p. 327) provides a synthesizing approach to the implied dichotomy between personal reflection and language systems "Overt action is demanded if the worth or validity of the reflective considerations is to be determined." In this study I elaborate on Dewey's (1953, p. 154) bold philosophical statement about what characterizes the human species "We are at root practical beings, beings engaged in exercise (to master nature; *comment by this author*). This practice constitutes at first both self and the world of reality. There is no distinction." Before doing so, however, there is another aspect to consider.

For social, behavioral and organizational studies applies that researchers should clarify input, process, effect and feedback mechanisms affecting human thinking, behavior, values and attitudes. Such approaches relate to human-organizational influences, reflecting an ambition in the researcher to identify and analyze driving, balancing and regulative forces on individuals, material progress and human growth. Soon enough a number of terms appear in opposing rather than dialectical pairs. Find ten specific constructs complementing Dewey's (1952/1989) contribution.

*Singular/plural; I/we; person/people; private/public; Self/Other; individual/collective; oneoff/system; intention (need-motive)/ activity (organization); agency/structure; psychological/social; entrepreneurial/administrative.* 

The way we use these concepts on isolated or shared human behavior respectively entails a different perspective for each reference. For example, Bourdieu (1977) employs *agency* and *structure* for specific purposes, a specific context and traditions.

 In order to be able to assess the impact of individual versus collective input to verbal interactions, one purpose of research would be to track shifts in the situated activity (object construction) bringing higher order thinking into place. Another priority would be to analyze an advanced conception of the discoursed context (object instantiation) during the crucial moments when changes occur. Approaching the problem in this way enables for research to elaborate a theory of agency and structure, assuming that changes come as the result of how subjects express (a) self-conception and self-management in a context of

ICT, Learning Objects and Activity Theory 415

In a comment to the above, Scribner (1985, p. 123) positions Vygotsky in the realm of systems thinking by referring to people's need to "search for specifically human behavior in history." There is a basic human need to relate to history. From a perspective of short human history, ethno-methodologists like Garfinkel (1967) study everyday activities and structured, orderly social behavior at length and in detail. But they lose out on culturalhistorical influences. Participatory learning theory (Lave & Wenger 1991; Rogoff, 1990) represents another school, over-emphasizing the significance of context, collaboration, intersubjectivity and discourse. Such "participatory learning theory" could help explore communications among members of narrowly defined groups in a limited ICT setting or an expansive Facebook-context. In clarifying complex relations between ecological humanity, contextual learning, systems thinking and agency, Bronfenbrenner (1970) offers a holistic approach to understanding what human activity systems are. Carefully defined analysis at micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-levels forms a resourceful basis for investigation of family, children's networks, institutionalized schooling and culturally evolving value systems.

Engeström and Miettinen (1999, p. 9) follow the original focus and lineage of general activity theory. They define contextualized phenomena where people work together towards a shared goal in order to form a shared activity, or "object-oriented, collective and culturally mediated activity, or activity system." In supporting an approach so attached to the idea of a collective subject, proponents of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (Nardi, 1996) says "collective activity" is an analytical tool for understanding emerging contradictions during cooperative work. Today similar theories refer to virtual communities of practice,

It is comparatively easy to outline the dialectic differences between agency and structure by juxtaposing the constructs individual agency and collective subject(s). The reason is that a propositional antithesis to "collective culture" aims at promoting individual agency. Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006, p. 247-248) resolve the dichotomy by providing an enriching analytic potential of concepts related to agency, suggesting there is (a) need-based agency as in biological and social needs; (b) delegated agency for acting on someone's behalf; (c) conditional agency as when actions produce unintended effects. Specifications of agency bring us one step closer to understanding how the human species learn to relate to work

Long before it became necessary to fine-tune the operational meaning of *agency*, any notion of humanity carried with it the idea of initiative, fostering, agency or intention. It is equally true that a single-minded materialistic approach to how the human mind functions form disconnected approaches as to how the world works in a more unique and general way for the human sciences. For some time, activity theorists were under the influence of natural science writings. Hegelian (1904, p. 269) conceptions of the individual industry worker in the realm of Marxism reveal a self-centered view of man, of the new man: "If man saw […] that whatever happens to him is only an outcome of himself, and that he only bears his own guilt, he would stand free." Marx (1990, p. 177) complements Hegel 's description of modern man as an outcome of his own labor, saying (ibid, p. 271) man is "the architect of his own future with an ability to master the laws of his own formation." From a perspective of a general law governing man's historical development, people held the opinion that modern man must become a self-controlled agent of any line of development – an inspiration originating from Engels (1966, p. 302) statement: "The objective, external forces which have

social media, virtual teams or net-based societies.

activity, other people and the world.

supplying factual information and (b) the effect of professional thinking which expands the participants' knowledge about computer-mediated design and learning.
