Contradictions between the virtual and physical high school classroom: A third-generation Activity Theory perspective

This paper uses a third-generation Activity Theory perspective to gain insight into the contradictions between the activity systems of the physical and virtual high school classroom from the perspective of teachers who had transitioned from one system to the other. Data collection relied on semi-structured interviews conducted with e-teachers as well as management/support personnel of an organisation charged with delivering web-based high school courses in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Contradictions related to time and workload, physical presence, interaction and rapport building, and use of direct messaging and email. The contradictions can be explained by a difference between the mediating tools in each activity system. The absence in the virtual classroom of body language and visual presence as mediators requires e-teachers to find new ways of interacting and building rapport and necessitates a shift from a practice of controlling to engaging students’ attention. Introduction In the study reported on in this paper, we use third-generation Activity Theory (AT) as a tool to gain insight into the contradictions between the intersecting activity systems of the physical and virtual high school classroom from the perspective of teachers who had transitioned from one system to the other. Our objective was to identify and British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 39 No 6 2008 1061–1072 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00776.x © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © Becta 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. characterise the contradictions and to evaluate how they may lead to potential innovation in the practice of the e-teacher. Some studies have been conducted at the post-secondary level using AT and contradictions as a framework for analysis (eg, Dippe, 2006; Nelson & Kim, 2001; Voigt & Swatman, 2006). As well, a very limited number of studies have been conducted at the secondary level. For example, Fåhræus (2004) conducted a study of high school distance education in Australia and adopted the students’ perspective as the subject of activity. He identified contradictions between students’ desire to collaborate, on one hand, and the lack of support for collaboration on the other, including teachers’ approaches and lack of technological support. We found no studies that used a thirdgeneration AT perspective to study the contradictions between the activity systems of the physical and virtual high school classroom. Our paper fills this significant gap in the literature. Theoretical framework AT serves as a framework or lens to gain insight into tool-mediated, goal-directed human activity in context (Cole & Engeström, 1991) and to understand ‘how new technologies can affect educational change’ (Bellamy, 1996, p. 126). An activity system consists of interacting components of subject, object, rules, community, division of labour and mediating tools (Engeström, 1987). Human interactions are mediated with each other and with objects through tools, rules and division of labour (Mwanza & Engeström, 2005). According to Vygotsky (1978), these mediating tools include culturally, socially and historically determined physical as well as psychological tools such as language, models and concepts. The study of interacting activity systems is a characteristic of the third generation of AT, where at least two interacting systems are the focus of analysis (see Engeström, 1987). Engeström (2001) proposes the following model of third-generation AT shown in Figure 1. An activity system is a ‘virtual disturbanceand innovationproducing machine’ (Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, 2003–04, p. 1). Contradictions are always occurring within and between activity systems. Contradictions Figure 1: Third-generation AT model 1062 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 39 No 6 2008 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © Becta 2008. can be defined as ‘historically accumulating structural tensions within and between activity systems’ (Engeström, 2001, p. 137). They manifest themselves as ‘problems, ruptures, breakdowns, clashes’ (Kuutti, 1996, p. 34). Contradictions ‘generate disturbances and conflicts, but also innovative attempts to change the activity’ (p. 34). Applied to the setting of virtual high school classrooms, an AT analysis could help us understand how contradictions in e-teachers’ practice in this context of technologymediated activity may result in transformation of teaching practice and in educational innovation. The case The case study (Yin, 2002) focused on web-based distance education in virtual high school classrooms in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. More than one third of the schools in the province are rural schools, and a quarter of schools have populations of fewer than 100 students (Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, 2006). The Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation (CDLI) promotes equal and quality educational opportunities through the provision of distance education courses for students in these communities and schools (see Barbour, 2005; Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, 2000). CDLI requires that students be registered in an actual physical school in order to avail of its web-based courses. Enrolments as of 2005 were over 1 500 with 27.5 e-teachers and more than 30 courses in approximately 100 schools across the province (see Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, 2006, 2007). On average, six out of ten classes are delivered synchronously and four asynchronously. Asynchronous instruction relies on use of the WebCT learning management system. Synchronous communication and instruction is conducted using Elluminate Live (E-Live). E-Live includes various collaborative tools such as Class List Display, text-based Direct Messaging (DM), two-way audio, a White Board, Graphing Calculator and application sharing. The DM window supports synchronous text-based conversation that can occur simultaneous to other forms of interaction such as with voice using the two-way audio.The schools also have equipment such as computers, headphones, scanners, faxes and printers. A teacher or group of teachers mentors (M-teams) in each school also provides support on-site, such as invigilation for examinations. At the time when the study was conducted, instruction was typically not supported by use of video because of the high bandwidth requirements of this form of interaction.