Activity Theory Perspectives on Technology in Higher Education

Murphy, Elizabeth; Rodríguez-Manzanares, María A.

doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-4590-5

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…According to Engeström (2001), contradictions are manifested as problems, tensions, conflicts or breakdowns within an activity system or between different systems. Bridging tensions allows the system to be transformed and for practices to develop (Murphy & Rodríguez-Manzanares, 2014). In this study, activity theory emerged as a suitable method for analysing nurses' perceptions and reactions to the introduction of NEWS.…”

Section: Activity Theory As An Analytical Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing the National Early Warning Score – A qualitative study of hospital nurses’ perceptions and reactions

2019

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Aim The aim of this study was to explore hospital nurses’ perceptions and reactions to the National Early Warning Score during an introduction programme. Design A qualitative case study approach with participatory observations was used for this study. Methods In total, nine seminars and 23 simulation sessions attended by nurses were observed. An activity theory system analysis was applied to interpret the material. Results The findings revealed four tensions related to the working context: (a) tension between using a standardized tool and relying on clinical judgement (the tool could be either an aid or a barrier to patient assessment); (b) tension in the community of practice (the tool could be beneficial or increase stress and anxiety); (c) tension related to rules and compliance (the tool could be perceived as optional or compulsory); and (d) tension related to the division of labour (nurses feared more work).

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Section: Activity Theory As An Analytical Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing the National Early Warning Score – A qualitative study of hospital nurses’ perceptions and reactions

2019

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“…Recent work applying activity theory to technology-mediated higher education (e.g., Murphy & Rodríguez-Manzanares, 2014) suggests that this approach can give insight into the tensions that arise when activity systems overlap. Applying the lens of activity theory to the study at hand, the comments of both groups of course participants were interpreted to inform the description of each group's activity system.…”

Section: Activity Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Cunningham

2014

IRRODL

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This study examines what happens when online and campus students participate in real time in the same campus classroom. Before this study, postgraduate students studying online in a course intended primarily as professional development for language educators were taking the course through reading the course literature including assigned articles, writing reflective texts in the asynchronous forum and doing the course assignments. They had a very different experience than the campus students who met weekly for discussion of the reading. Some online students were not active enough in the course, and showed low levels of engagement. The online students were invited to participate in scheduled campus classes via Skype on iPads. After some hesitation, four of the six online students took up this real-time participation option. Initial difficulties with the technology were addressed after seeking input from campus and online students. A series of adjustments were made and evaluated, including a move to a model in which three online students in different locations participated in a single Skype group video call on a laptop in the campus classroom rather than on multiple individual Skype calls on iPads. After the course, the online and campus students were asked to evaluate the experience of having physical and virtual participants sharing a physical space and to relate this experience to the asynchronous channels previously available to the participants. The comments of both groups of participants were interpreted in the light of previous work on social presence and of activity theory. It appears that student beliefs and student expectations lead to hidden challenges associated with mixing these groups of students, and the study concludes that unless teaching assistance is available, it is not easy to afford online students the same right to speak as campus students.

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“…2) The study explores whether the students (i.e., subjects) perceived the new tool as assisting with stimulating discussions around the core content of the seminars. In terms of theory, Laurillard's Conversation Framework is used in conjunction with third generation Activity Theory (Engeström 1987;100 2001; Engeström and Sannino 2010;Hardman 2005;Laurillard 2002a;2002b;Murphy and Rodriguez-Manzanares 2014;Nardi 1996;Peruski and Mishra 2004). The principle source of evidence is structured interview questions answered by 87.5 per cent of the seminar students in a post course questionnaire (n=7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Google forms can stimulate conversations in discussion-based seminars? An activity theory perspective

Glover

2020

SAJHE

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One challenge in seminar-style postgraduate courses is that some students are uncomfortable with discussing course content and concepts among their peers and in front of the lecturer in seminars. This article is a case study of the incorporation of Google Form questions into seminars in a postgraduate Economic History course, a tool intervention undertaken as a response to the challenge of some students' seminar reticence. The study explores whether the tool intervention can from students' perspectives stimulate conversation, and examines whether the objectives of the students and the lecturer were aligned in the learning activity. The article draws on two theories to frame the research: Engeström (2001) and Engeström and Sannino's (2010) third generation Activity Theory, employed to locate change-enabling contradictions and the objects of the educational activities, and Laurillard's (2002b) Conversational Framework as a theory of learningwherein students and an educator interface with mutually accessible concepts. The study draws on interview data from structured interviews with students at the end of the course. The article contends that Google Forms are assistive in stimulating conversations around core concepts, and that a quaternary contradiction emerged between the lecturer and the individual students' objects in the educational activity.

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Activity Theory Perspectives on Technology in Higher Education

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

Introducing the National Early Warning Score – A qualitative study of hospital nurses’ perceptions and reactions

Introducing the National Early Warning Score – A qualitative study of hospital nurses’ perceptions and reactions

Teaching the disembodied: Othering and activity systems in a blended synchronous learning situation

Google forms can stimulate conversations in discussion-based seminars? An activity theory perspective

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