Teaching and Learning > PROJECTS
IT in a Multi-Cultural Classroom
Dr Paul Jackson
This paper discusses the management and use of information in relation to the use of artifacts in an educational context. The use of educational software to support learning within a university is the central focus of the study, and, although using literature concerning the evaluation of education, this study is grounded in the literature of computer supported co-operative work (CSCW). More specifically, a sub-group of CSCW, Activity Theory, is used as the background for the analysis. The methodology used is a variant on the ?ethnomethodologically informed ethnography? put forward by Blythin et al (1997), although there are no clearly applicable methodologies as such within Activity Theory (Bannon, 1990). Sometimes called ?technomethodology? (Dourish and Button, 1998), the approach is a relatively loose alliance of anthropological, sociological and technical approaches designed to focus on how work is socially organised (Blythin et al, 1997). A variety of techniques were used to examine and analyse perceptions of the technology, including SWOT analysis, questionnaires, on-line discussions, focus groups and initial ?think-pieces? on the student?s own perceptions. Activity Theory provides a lens through which the use of technology in the classroom can be viewed. The view of tools mediating activity and the emphasis on the broader environment within which users utilise tools are particularly useful and the concept of development adds a further dimension, since educational groups start with different endowments in terms of skills and experience. The development of different sub-groups over time and their differentiation through their use of tools, in this case computers, provides a specific set of challenges for teachers employing the technology. These issues are incorporated into three parallel approaches to the study: a framework of challenges outlined by Grudin (1994); the application of an activity checklist; and a framework of social norms, activities and collaboration outlined by Vygotsky and Bellamy (1996).
I have a 21 page paper which needs to be attached somewhere...
This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.
