1517-creating-holistic-technology-enhanced-learning-experiences

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ONE-TO-ONE COMPUTING account simultaneously with the subject as constituents of the activity system; (3) proposes that activities are driven by something more robust and enduring than an individual goal-directed activity; and (4) considers the history and development of the ICT integration process. Engeström (2001) stresses the importance of explicit identification of the contradictions in the activity system which helps practitioners to focus their efforts on the root causes of the problems, the multi-voicedness of activity systems, historicity, and the possibility of expansive transformations in an activity system. Contradictions are perceived as sources of changes and developments. Contradictions are not the same as conflicts or problems; they accumulate structural tensions within and between activity systems historically. As activities are open systems, when a new element is adopted, this often leads to contradictions with other elements within the system itself. Such contradictions create disturbances and conflicts but these could also be opportunities for innovative changes and developments. Engeström (1992, pp. 20-22) outlines four different levels of contradictions that could appear within and between activity systems – primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary contradictions. For primary contradiction, he uses the example of a general practitioner in the primary health care setting to illustrate primary contradiction of activities in capitalist socio-economic formations as the inner conflict between exchange value and use value within each element of the triangle of activity. For instance, the tools of the work of the general practitioner include many varieties of medications and drugs. But they are not only a medium for healing, they are also products with a price tag that is produced for a market and sold for a profit. Every doctor will face this contradiction in his or her daily decision making. Secondary contradictions are those that appear between the elements within the activity system. He uses the typical example of the rigid hierarchical division of labour lagging behind and preventing the possibilities opened by advancements in the mediating tools. He again uses the example in the medical setting of a typical conflict between the traditional biomedical conceptual tools concerning the classification of diseases and correct diagnosis on one hand, and the changing nature of the objects, namely the increasingly ambivalent and complex problems and symptoms of the patients. Contradictions arise when these problems do not comply with the standards of classical diagnosis. It will require an integrated social, psychological and biomedical approach which may not yet exist. Tertiary contradiction appears when representatives of culture introduce the object and motive of a culturally advanced form of the central activity into the dominant form of the central activity. For instance, the primary school student goes to school in order to play (the dominant motive) with his or her classmates and friends but parents and teachers try to make the student engage in academic-related activities (the culturally more advanced motive). Contradiction arises when the culturally more advanced motive is formally implemented but might be still subordinated to and resisted by the dominant form of activity. 23
TAY, LIM, & LIM For the quaternary contradictions, it requires us to take into consideration the significant neighbouring activities (technical infrastructure, teachers’ beliefs and practice, curriculum, school leadership and professional development) linked to the central activity which is the original object of the study. Basically, quaternary contradictions emerge between the implementation of the central activity and the neighbouring activity in their interactions and exchanges. He uses the example of a doctor working on a new <strong>holistic</strong> and integrated medical concept who suggests certain changes to a patient’s habits. The patient’s way of life is the object-activity; if the patient is merely regarded as abstract symptoms and diseases, isolated from his/her activity contexts, it will create contradictions between the central activity and the object-activity. These levels of contradictions are represented in Figure 1. An activity system is always a community of multiple points of view, traditions, and interests. The multi-voicedness is multiplied in networks of the interacting activity systems. It is a source of trouble and a source of innovation, demanding actions of translation and negotiation. (Engeström, 2001, p. 136) As activity systems take shape and get transformed over lengthy period of time, their problems and potentials can only be understood against their own history. History itself needs to be studied as local history of the activity and its objects and as history of the theoretical ideas and tools that have shaped the activity. (Engeström, 2001, p. 137) The possibility of expansive transformations in activity systems is achieved when some individual participants begin to question and deviate from the established norms due to the aggravation of the contradictions of an activity system. An expansive transformation will then be realised when the object and motive of the activity are reconceptualised to take on a different and wider horizon of possibilities than in the previous mode of the activity. In this study, activity theory as proposed by Engeström (1992) is used to organise and analyse the quaternary contradictions between the central activity and its neighbour activities. Through this process, the more systemic contradictions are identified. 24 The identification of contradictions in an activity system helps practitioners and administrators to focus their efforts on the root causes of problems. Such collaborative analysis and modelling is a crucial precondition for the creation of a shared vision for the expansive solution of the contradictions. (Engeström, 2000, p. 966)
Page 1 and 2: Creating Holistic Technology-Enhanc
Page 4 and 5: Creating Holistic Technology- Enhan
Page 6 and 7: Editorial Lee Yong Tay & Cher Ping
Page 8 and 9: LEE YONG TAY & CHER PING LIM EDITOR
Page 10 and 11: EDITORIAL presentation, and spreads
Page 12 and 13: EDITORIAL research; and (4) transfe
Page 14 and 15: LESLIE S. CONERY FOREWORD Some book
Page 16 and 17: NANCY LAW FOREWORD Reforming curric
Page 18: FOREWORD BY LAW mechanism/architect
Page 21 and 22: LIM & OAKLEY Information tools Thes
Page 23 and 24: LIM & OAKLEY Mills, 2010). Policy a
Page 25 and 26: LIM & OAKLEY modules on a wide rang
Page 27 and 28: LIM & OAKLEY Internet. Halat and Pe
Page 29 and 30: LIM & OAKLEY information can presen
Page 31 and 32: LIM & OAKLEY Physical and Technolog
Page 33 and 34: LIM & OAKLEY facilitate the develop
Page 35 and 36: LIM & OAKLEY The role of the comput
Page 37 and 38: LIM & OAKLEY Yang, S. C. (2009). A
Page 39 and 40: TAY, LIM, & LIM their existing comp
Page 41: TAY, LIM, & LIM that are explicitly
Page 45 and 46: TAY, LIM, & LIM the purpose of gene
Page 47 and 48: TAY, LIM, & LIM support personnel t
Page 49 and 50: TAY, LIM, & LIM 30 Tools: � Natio
Page 51 and 52: TAY, LIM, & LIM Professional develo
Page 53 and 54: TAY, LIM, & LIM 34 DISCUSSIONS The
Page 55 and 56: TAY, LIM, & LIM Divaharan, S. & Lim

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