Agile Implementation and Expansive Learning: Identifying Contradictions and Their Resolution Using an Activity Theory Perspective

AbstractThis article will introduce an approach to teaching legal research called Expansive Legal Research. The Expansive Legal Research perspective is based upon dissertation research on legal information behavior at a law school legal aid clinic. This approach is inspired by an educational perspective called Expansive Learning, which in turn has roots in the psychological theory called Activity Theory. The Expansive Legal Research perspective includes elements inspired by Expansive Learning and Activity Theory such as a focus on an activity-centered context of both the individual and social aspects of human behavior; the design-oriented nature of human problem-solving; the role of tacit knowledge and unwritten rules in daily activity and practice; and a cultural historical approach to learning and development, where both the user and their tools are undergoing a constant process of growth and change and transformation. An Expansive Legal Research approach, and the theory it is based upon, may provide new insights into legal research instruction, and may be a useful tool for legal research instructors.

Download Full-text

How do we know whether there has been progress in teacher autonomy?

DELTA Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada ◽

10.1590/s0102-44502008000300010 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 24 (spe) ◽

pp. 577-599

Author(s):

Terezinha Maria Sprenger

Keyword(s):

Activity Theory ◽

Teacher Autonomy ◽

Online Course ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Learning Framework ◽

Classroom Materials ◽

Expansion Model

This paper presents a case study to illustrate how activity theory (Leontiev 1978; Engeström 1987, 1999) and the expansive learning framework (Engeström 1987, 1999) were used to evaluate the development of teacher autonomy in an online course on preparing EFL classroom materials. It is assumed that the learning by expansion model is similar to conscientização (Freire 1980, 1982), a key element in the development of teacher autonomy, according to the perspective in the study.

Download Full-text

Expansive Design for Teachers

EDeR. Educational Design Research ◽

10.15460/eder.5.1.1553 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dennis Augustsson

Keyword(s):

Small Group ◽

Activity Theory ◽

Design Process ◽

Teaching Practices ◽

Participatory Design ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Design Processes ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Key Characteristics ◽

Innovative Learning

Innovative designs for learning have implications for the teaching practices and the system in which they are created, often with conflicting motives and tensions on systemic levels. Co-design processes with teachers and researchers require tools and concepts to grasp this complexity and to create durable changes. In the case studied in this article, activity theory and change laboratory methodologies were used in a participatory design process with a small group of teachers. Five key characteristics of the epistemological principles behind the change laboratory methodology were identified and analysed. The theoretical framework enabled tools for a collective analysis of the origin and development of systemic contradictions as well as a model to envision future practices and concrete learning designs. Findings suggest that the combination of participatory design and change laboratory methodologies can serve as a vehicle for expansive learning and new innovative learning designs in educational settings.

Download Full-text

Incorporating principles of expansive learning and activity theory in curriculum design to bridge work and education contexts for vocational teachers

Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training ◽

10.14426/jovacet.v3i1.121 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

James Garraway ◽

Christine Winberg

Keyword(s):

Activity Theory ◽

Curriculum Design ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Boundary Crossing ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Vocational Teachers ◽

Course Content ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Professional Educators ◽

Systematic Understanding

The focus of this study is a development course for academic staff that is informed by activity theory and transformative agency. It is intended to help vocational and professional educators to link academic curricula to current work practices. The course content first helped the participants to develop a systematic understanding of the different purposes and contexts of educational institutions and workplaces. After that, these contradictory elements were harnessed in order to develop innovative boundary-crossing concepts and practices. The process in which participants engage in developing new possibilities for practice is termed ‘expansive learning’. Through expansive learning, participants may develop ‘transformative agency’ for dealing sustainably with challenges in times of change. The study traces how transformative agency developed among the course participants. It argues that activity theory provides an innovative, sustainable approach to the academic development of vocational and professional educators, especially with a view to them adapting their course content to changing industry needs.

Download Full-text

Boundary learning in a gender responsive curriculum transformation in Zimbabwe: an activity theory approach

Roteiro ◽

10.18593/r.v42i3.14215 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 497-522

Author(s):

Charles Chikunda ◽

Plaxcedes Chikunda ◽

Rafael Fonseca de Castro

Keyword(s):

Activity Theory ◽

Learning Process ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Collaborative Relationships ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Policy Practice ◽

Epistemic Actions ◽

Practice Gap ◽

Curriculum Transformation ◽

Cultural Historical Activity

This paper aims to share insights of a boundary learning process in a curriculum transformation in Zimbabwe. It is based on the dialectical lenses of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The boundary learning epistemic actions were designed/interpreted using CHAT tools of double stimulation, activity system and expansive learning. The main findings are two types of boundary learning: individual and institutional. Individual focused on questioning and confronting tensions in current individual curriculum practice. Institutional refers to collaborative relationships between hierarchical levels of the teacher education system in Zimbabwe. We point to the need for theoretical and conceptual rigor in studies on curriculum transformation, arguing for careful attention to empirical evidence of transformation/transgressing current practices in any expansive learning process. There is also need to think through the policy-practice gap, especially in curriculum development.

Download Full-text

TEACHING, LEARNING, AND KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: THE CASE OF THE REMOTE NETWORKED SCHOOL INITIATIVE

Problems of Education in the 21st Century ◽

10.33225/pec/12.40.96 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 96-113

Author(s):

Thérèse Laferrière ◽

Sylvie Barma ◽

Fernand Gervais ◽

Christine Hamel ◽

Stéphane Allaire ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Activity Theory ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

New Technologies ◽

Knowledge Building ◽

Activity Systems ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Authentic Problems ◽

Small Rural Schools ◽

Teaching Learning ◽

Theory Framework

The Remote Networked School (RNS)/« École éloignée en réseau » is an initiative that aims at implementing an innovation with Internet-based technologies in support of teaching and learning as well as knowledge building in small rural schools. The first eight years of the RNS are examined applying Engeström’s activity theory framework, and more specifically the concept of expansive learning wherein we document the 7 stages. Tensions and contradictions are identified to provide an “inside” understanding of what matters when new technologies designed to support co-teaching and co-learning within and between classrooms are introduced. Two activity systems or more shared the same object such that students would engage actively in collaborative online discourse for solving authentic problems. To this end the trajectory of the RNS initiative had to overcome contradictions. As a result an expansive learning cycle was documented. Key words: activity theory, collaboration, expansive learning, remote networked school.

Download Full-text

Expansive Learning, Third Spaces, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

10.31229/osf.io/c2fnr ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kimberly Hirsh

Keyword(s):

Activity Theory ◽

Learning Theory ◽

Third Space ◽

Cultural Historical Activity Theory ◽

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

The Third ◽

Historical Activity ◽

Cultural Historical Activity ◽

Development And Evolution

In this paper, I argue that cultural-historical activity theory, especially in its expansive learning theory manifestation, offers a valuable lens for analyzing the transformation of the object and activity of schooling to align with a more culturally sustaining approach. First, I describe the foundations of expansive learning theory, including cultural-historical activity theory, Bateson’s (1972) levels of learning, and Bakhtin’s (1981) heteroglossia. Then, I trace the empirical development and evolution of expansive learning theory, focusing especially on the horizontal dimension of learning and expertise. Finally, I articulate how Kris Gutiérrez and colleagues’ (Gutiérrez, 2008; Gutiérrez, Baquedano-López, & Tejeda, 1999; Gutiérrez & Larson, 2007; Gutierrez, Rymes, & Larson, 1995) concept of the “third space,” which Paris (2012) offers as a forerunner of culturally sustaining pedagogy, offers an example of how expansive learning theory can be used to reconceptualize what counts as knowledge in schools.

Download Full-text

“This is not a cake recipe”: Historicity as an element for the understanding and transformation of a waste management activity at a university hospital in Brazil

Cuadernos de Administración ◽

10.11144/javeriana.cao31-57.tcrhe ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (57) ◽

Author(s):

Maurício Donavan Rodrigues Paniza ◽

Marcio Pascoal Cassandre

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Activity Theory ◽

Theoretical Basis ◽

Work Group ◽

Learning Experience ◽

University Hospital ◽

Learning Cycle ◽

Management Activity ◽

Expansive Learning ◽

Cultural Historical Activity

This work analyzes how the expansive learning cycle is covered by a work group, from the intervention of a Change Laboratory, held in a waste management activity at a university hospital. The theoretical basis is derived from the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and documentary research was used as methodology. In the learning movement, the workers realized that the organization of activity was and still is insufficient to meet the demands of the hospital and society. The intervention did not provoke structural transformation in the activity. But the historicity present in the learning experience allowed the apprentices to be aware of themselves and the importance of waste management, either from a functional or a social viewpoint.

Download Full-text