A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Approach To Studying The Development Of Students' Digital Agency In Higher Education

Researching classroom practice requires theoretical resources that can explain the variety inherent in such an activity as well as the dynamic nature of classroom practice. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) offers the possibility of accounts of social, cultural, and historical aspects of the context and of how students adapt and transform in these contexts. This conceptual paper engages with the relevance and utility of CHAT for researching student practices in a course as an activity system. It draws on part of a Ph.D. research study that explores first-year engineering students' access and engagement with technological resources for learning. A key concept in the study is the development of the ability to control and adapt to technology, known as digital agency. The research question addressed in this paper is “How does CHAT reliably build theory of the complexity inherent in the development of digital agency among first-year engineering students learning at a university?” Some of the challenges in the application of CHAT for researching in this context are identified, such as describing practice as an activity system and identifying the object of the activity system. In addition, the value of CHAT for such studies is explained including the contribution it makes in the identification of contradictions and tensions that cause change and development in the activity system. These findings offer insight as to the usefulness of CHAT for engineering educators and scholars understanding their practice or researching learning and teaching in the classroom.