Learning Across Sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices - Earli

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For EARLI members only. Not for onward distribution. Introduction 5 terms of genetics humans are very similar to our biological relatives, the primates. About 98 or 99 per cent of the genetic material is said to be shared. This means that the significant difference between humans and primates is our capacity to create and share experiences, and to pass these experiences on to the next generation. We argue that if we do not understand how learning as specific activities are enacted, we simply cannot understand why and how people learn in different settings. We argue that the sociogenesis of human practices needs to be the core focus if we want to create further advancement in the learning sciences. We build knowledge in different ways, through language and material artifacts and tools. It is in these socially organized activities knowledge is developed, organized, accumulated and passed on, or forgotten. Donald (1991) argues that the co- evolution of humans, technologies and societies resulted in the emergence of what he refers to as a theoretical culture in which the human brain functions in collaboration with an increasingly complex environment of symbolic representations and mechanisms for communicating. In this theoretical, or technology- supported, culture, we as a species continuously produce new types of representations, which are abstract and which may not be directly linked to any material objects. Such representational practices are essential features of how we work and learn in most areas of society. However, the implication of this argument is that we need to study learning at multiple levels. We will now look at two key issues in this context: the unit of analysis and levels of descriptions. The notions of the unit of analysis and levels of descriptions imply that learning evolves along different timescales and across different settings (Lemke, 2000). It is common to differentiate between four levels in the sociocultural approach. These are: phylogeny, sociogenesis, microgenesis and ontogenesis (Engeström, 1987; Wells, 1999; Säljö 2000; Ludvigsen, in press). These levels are related and give us a specific focus for empirical studies. This means, first, that one can study individual learning without de- emphasizing the social and cultural aspects; second, that one can study how people learn and coordinate their activities in order to achieve a productive level of intersubjectivity and, third, that one can pay attention to how activity systems change learning at the collective as well as at the individual level. This last level is related to how the human species changes over longer periods of time (phylogeny). The notion of a unit of analysis gives direction regarding which phenomenon one wants to study. If one wants to study how students develop a shared understanding, the focus is on how they are doing this through talk by using specific tools as resources. Here, the unit of analysis is the socially enacted talk, and how the tools mediate such practices. Or, we can study social activity systems, or even interaction between activity systems. We can follow individuals and groups or specific professions over time in order to deconstruct their learning trajectories. When deciding on a unit of analysis, we also decide what we can say something about. However, we have not described at what level of detail we want to study the phenomenon. For instance, do we mainly focus on the talk (i.e. the verbal activities), or do we include other features of interaction such as gestures, gaze,
For EARLI members only. Not for onward distribution. 6 S. Ludvigsen et al. and so on And do we differentiate between which parts of the talk we study; do we include interactional patterns, the emerging meaning- making, formal aspects such as grammar, and so on The unit of analysis and levels of description constitute important premises for what kinds of more general statements one can make as a result of the analysis. In the current volume we present a number of contributions where authors from different fields and with diverse disciplinary backgrounds connect general theoretical aspects of sociocultural perspectives to the particular, “lived” experiences that make up our social worlds. Across the diversity of chapters, we find quite a number of common themes and concerns. These will be addressed below. However, the themes that all the chapters touch upon can also be articulated as vital research questions, such as: • How are learning activities organized • What kinds of tools and infrastructures are involved • What do participants learn • How are the social and cognitive aspects enacted • What are the competencies needed for participation in specialized activities • What counts as knowledge in multiple and diverse settings In sum, the answers to these questions give us important insights into the main theme of this volume; how learning, when embedded in social practices, takes place across sites and with new tools and infrastructures. Chapters, sections, and themes All chapters build on the analysis of situations and activities where “something new” is introduced into an environment, a setting or an institution. For example, one can introduce new types of ICT or other types of artifacts, or, alternatively, the phenomenon under study may be new as an object of learning. We want to examine situations where there is some kind of tension, breakdown or rupture. When there are ruptures, tensions or contradictions within and between different parts of an organization, a potential for new learning opportunities and activities emerges, as is emphasized in several of the chapters. Ruptures challenge the boundaries between social and cultural organizations and the technologies that are involved. The implication is that in the development of social order agents are expected to build new and relevant competencies. The increased complexity entails developing new types of communication and movement between diverse communicative practices. One assumption is that in order to do so, agents need to develop metacommunicative and metacognitive competencies to interpret and orient themselves towards the many and diverse demands and requirements that are situation and context specific. This requires more than a 20th- century canon of competence which can be summed up in “the three Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, what
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Learning Across Sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices - Earli

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