Andrew Whitworth

Rules, roles and tools: Activity theory and the comparative study of e-learning

Activity theory (AT) is a powerful tool for investigating ‘artefacts in use’, ie, the ways technologies interrelate with their local context. AT reveals the interfaces between e-learning at the macro- (strategy, policy, ‘campus-wide’ solutions) and the micro-organisational levels (everyday working practice, iterative change, individual adaptation). In AT, contexts are conceived of as activity systems in which human, technological and organisational elements are interrelated and largely inseparable. Both the subjects of the activity system (internal) and the wider community (external) mediate their activities through tools, rules and roles. This paper shows how a course management system (CMS) exerts an influence over all three of these mediators, though the exact nature of this influence depends on the particular configuration of each activity system. This is illustrated with reference to two case study programmes, both of which used Moodle as their CMS, but which had activity systems structured in quite different ways; the programmes also had different relationships with their external organisational environment.

Information fluency: critically examining IT education

IT education has become a key skill for higher education students, but the teaching of this subject is often ineffective. Office‐related, “button‐pushing” skills are passed onto students via standardised packages with little regard for context and individual needs. Attempts to use IT to foster more critical and foundational faculties are lacking. The potential impacts of this approach are investigated with the aid of the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas, and his concept of colonisation. As they are amongst the agents for the transmission and reproduction of society, educators in any subject have a responsibility to structure and deliver their teaching in a critical, bottom‐up fashion. This especially applies to IT education.

The politics of virtual learning environments: environmental change, conflict, and e-learning

Introduction Bell & Bell (2005) are right to point out that in order to better understand e-learning we must ‘understand innovation’ itself. Why, then, do innovations sometimes fail? This summary paper discusses the contribution that a study of organisational politics can make to this question, and discusses why proposals which often arise from such study are not implemented as often as they might be in higher education (HE).

Communicative competence in the information age: Towards a critical theory of information literacy education

Abstract Insights developed from critical social science, particularly the work of Jürgen Habermas, are used to analyse the development of information literacy as a subject and its contemporary definitions. The challenges facing information literacy educators are located in potential contradictions between the subject’s strategic, technical elements and its more critical, communicative and social aspects. The critical potential of information literacy can also suggest why it is politically sensitive, and may struggle to attract status and funding.

Dynamic but prosaic: a methodology for studying e‐learning environments

This paper develops a critical methodology which could be applied to the study and use of e‐learning environments. The foundations are, first, an ontological appreciation of environments as multiple, dynamic and interactive: this is based on the environmental theories of Vladimir Vernadsky. The next step is then into epistemology, and here use is made of the literary theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, who considers the various ways in which environments are interpreted via the analysis of text. Different interpretations may compete, and the methodological task is to ‘read’ the results of this competitive interaction in the environments we are studying. Ultimately, the study of the introduction of e‐learning is the study of an environmental change, and researchers should apply methods appropriate to such a field—namely, a holistic perspective, and participatory methods—if they are to truly evaluate the impact of e‐learning.

Editorial introduction: BJET special issue on best practice or situated action: the organization of technology enhanced learning

The organisation as tool When we study the world, what we see depends on where we stand. We gather information with our sense organs, fix on what is important to us at a given moment, and act on this information using available tools within our immediate local environment. These are basic truths of human activity; they are also how we learn and adapt our environment as a result of this learning (Vygotsky, 1994).

Teaching information literacy within a relational frame: the Media and Information Literacy course at Manchester

Bruce, Edwards and Lupton (2007) define the “relational frame” of information literacy (IL) education as one within which all other frames can be integrated, from the “content” and “competency” frames which are based on objective measures, through learning-based frames which are subjective, to an intersubjective, social impact frame. Put more simply, they propose that IL education and application can and should vary in form depending on the context. Through analysis of the critical and social theory which supports Bruce et al’s ideas, and through a brief case study of a postgraduate course built from these theories, this paper proposes that the relational frame of IL can, and should, be applied to the teaching of “multiliteracies”. If relational IL education means, for example, that students should experience variation in their approach to information searching and evaluation, then this implies they must be able to understand underlying value systems which provoke such searches, like environmentalism or religion. The relational frame of IL therefore serves as a bridge between IL and multiliteracies.

Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers

Three workplace environments (a large public sector organization; a small private sector company; a small voluntary sector organization) are investigated to determine what factors may be relevant in determining the value of information literacy to these employers. Investments in developing employees’ information handling capacity cover four areas: staff; systems; space; and client relations. Returns can be found in efficiency, profitability, staff motivation, customer service and regulatory compliance, all of which may accrue direct or indirect costs. In principle then, returns on investment in information literacy in specific contexts can be calculated or estimated.

Information literacy and noöpolitics

Abstract: This chapter extends a resource-based analysis of politics, or ‘geopolitics’, into the sphere of information, producing a perspective that has been called ‘noopolitics’. Control over information’s production, accessibility, dissemination and even meaning are conduits for the transmission of cultural hegemony, and noopolitics also sheds light on how we can be excluded from informational spaces within organisations, and how our working lives and social relationships can be managed through information. These all give rise to competing notions of value. As information literacy is fundamentally about assigning value to information sources, the IL educator must be aware of noopolitics. The question of what information literacy is for can be analysed as a political question. Contradictions and conflicts may arise between different possible answers to the question. These may give rise to political issues, which could prevent the politics of IL being manifested.

Mapping Collective Information Practices in the Workplace

The collective management of informational resources, or the “information landscape”, within two workplace settings is investigated through a methodology based on facilitated concept mapping sessions using a non-digital tool. Mapping raises information literacy practice – the ongoing, critical judgments about information, made within these communities – into the conscious awareness of both the research team and the participants. The maps therefore both provoke and record the intersubjective agreements that are continuously being made in these communities, and which constitute the information landscape.