The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Using Activity Theory to Conceptualize Online Community and Using Online Community to Conceptualize Activity Theory
Abstract
In this article we describe the evolving structure of the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF), a sociotechnical interaction network (STIN) designed to support a Web-based community of in-service and preservice mathematics and science teachers sharing, improving, and creating inquiry-based pedagogical practices. Specifically, we apply activity theory as an analytical lens for characterizing the process of designing and supporting the implementation of this online community. Our findings lend support for three implications. First, activity theory can provide a useful analytical tool for characterizing design activity, especially in terms of illuminating the challenges of designing something like community. Second, as one moves toward trying to design a community, particularly one in which the members will be expected to engage in new practices that challenge their current culture, many tensions emerge. Third, consideration of the ILF as a STIN was a necessary conceptual step in our understanding of the ILF and the transactional nature of people and tools. It is our conception that activity theory and STIN are synergistic theoretical frameworks that, when taken together, can provide a richer view of design activity and community functioning than either can offer in isolation.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“An AT perspective on the study of integration of new technologies in education shifts from a focus on tools themselves to tool use (e.g., Benson et al., 2008), or, as Barab et al. (2004) explain, from tools' 'usability' to their 'sociability.'”
From Using activity theory and its principle of contradictions to guide research in educational technology (2008) · cites this paper as Barab et al., 2004
Citations
Cites
Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511815355 · Cited by 35,324
Engeström, Y. (1993) · Understanding Practice · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511625510.004 · Cited by 853
Barab, S. A., Barnett, M., Yamagata-Lynch, L., Squire, K., & Keating, T. (2002) · Mind, Culture, and Activity · doi:10.1207/s15327884mca0902_02 · Cited by 265 · cited 3×
“These dualities refer to core struggles that are endemic to system activity and that characterize the design struggles of such a system within these dualities, characterizing system activity and driving system innovation (Barab, Barnett, & Squire, 2002; Engeström, 1999).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 24
- 10.1207/S15327809JLS1104_3 · DOI
- Barab S. A., 1999, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 8, 349, 10.1080/10508406.1999.9672074 · DOI
- Barab, S. A. & Duffy, T. (2000). From practice fields to communities of practice. In D. Jonassen & S. M. Land (Eds.), Theoretical foundations of learning environments (pp. 25-56). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
- Barab S., 2001, Educational Technology Research and Development, 49, 71, 10.1007/BF02504948 · DOI
- 10.1080/01972240309466 · DOI
- Brown A. L., 1992, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2, 141, 10.1207/s15327809jls0202_2 · DOI · Paper page
- Dewey, J. & Bentley, A. (1989). Knowing and the known. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works, Volume 16 (pp. 1-279). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. (Original work published 1949)
- Engestrom, Y. (1994). Teachers as collaborative thinkers: Activity-theoretical study of an innovative teacher team. In I. Carlgren, G. Handal, & S. Vaage (Eds.), Teachers minds and actions: Research on teachers' thinking and practice. London: Falmer.
- Engestrom, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Y. Engestrom, R. Miettinin, & R. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on activity theory (pp. 19-38). New York: Cambridge University Press. · DOI
- Garrison, J. (2001). An introduction to Dewey's theory of functional "trans-action": An alternative paradigm for activity theory. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 8, 275-296. · DOI
- Guba, E. G. & Lincoln, Y. S. (1983). Epistemological and methodological bases of naturalistic inquiry. In G. F. Madaus, M. S. Scriven. & D. L. Stufflebeam (Eds.), Evaluation models: Viewpoints on educational and human services evaluation (pp. 311-334). Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.
- Jonassen D. H., 1999, Educational Technology Research and Development, 47, 61, 10.1007/BF02299477 · DOI
- Kim, A. J. (2000). Community building: Secret strategies for successful online communities on the Web. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.
- Kuutti, K. (1996). Activity theory as a potential framework for human-computer interaction research. In B. Nardi (Ed.), Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction (pp. 17-44). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Latour, B. (1987). Science in action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press.
- Leont'ev A., 1974, Soviet Psychology, 13, 4, 10.2753/RPO1061-040513024 · DOI
- Leont'ev A., 1989, Soviet Psychology, 27, 22, 10.2753/RPO1061-0405270122 · DOI
- Miettinen, R, (1997). The concept of activity in the analysis of heterogeneous networks in innovation process. CSIT Workshop, "Actor Network and After."Retrieved January 20, 2002, from http://communication.ucsd.edu/MCA/Paper/Reijo/Reijo.html
- Nardi, B. (Ed.). (1996). Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Preece, J. (2000). Online communities: Designing usability, supporting sociability. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
- Schuler, D. & Namioka, A. (Eds.). (1993). Participatory design: Principles and practices. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
- Scriven, M. S. (1983). Evaluation methodologies. In G. F. Madaus, M. S. Scriven, & D. L. Stufflebeam (Eds.), Evaluation models: Viewpoints on educational and human services evaluation (pp. 229-260). Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.
- Smith, M. A. & Kollock, P. (Eds.). (1999). Communities in cyberspace. London: Routledge. · DOI
- Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. · DOI · Paper page
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–114 of 114
Empowering Prospective Teachers to Become Active Sense-Makers: Multimodal Modeling of the Seasons
Kim, M. S. (2015) · Journal of Science Education and Technology · doi:10.1007/s10956-015-9550-z
“, PTs, researchers, practitioners) transacted (Barab et al. 2004).”
Jeong, Y., Lee, Y., Byun, G., & Moon, J. (2026) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/10468781261464242
Fu, H. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2025.2539454
“Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research has long treated contradictions within and between activity systems as drivers of practice change, particularly during the adoption of technology (Barab et al., 2004; Basharina, 2007; Murphy & Rodriguez-Manzanares, 2008).”
Kouki, R., & Sammar, M. (2024) · Dirasat Human and Social Sciences · doi:10.35516/hum.v51i5.8789
Knowledge dynamics at the firm-user community boundary: A Community of Practice view
Randhawa, K., Josserand, E., & Schweitzer, J. (2016) · Academy of Management Proceedings · doi:10.5465/ambpp.2016.18312abstract
Development of a Knowledge Base for Incorporating Technology into Courses
Rath, L. (2013) · Journal of Educational Technology Systems · doi:10.2190/et.42.2.g
“When discussing the design of online collaborative spaces, Barab, Schatz, and Scheckler (2004) simply state that it “is a complex activity that can be difficult to characterize and describe to others” (p. 26).”
BackgroundInnovations in the process of modern distance learning and teaching
Wang, S.-P., & Qiao, H. (2013) · International Conference on Crowd Science and Engineering · doi:10.1109/iccse.2013.6554086
“Social interaction has been found to be a key factor impacting the success of online learning [7], but many authors note concerns about the level of social interaction in online learning [8].”
BackgroundTshokovu, P., & Brysiewicz, P. (2019) · The Grants Register 2020 · doi:10.1057/978-1-349-95943-3_905
Rodman, L. (2018) · ScholarWorks (Boise State University) · doi:10.18122/td/1494/boisestate
“Barab, Schatz, and Scheckler (2004) applied critical elements of activity theory to their online community.”
BackgroundInfluentialAlexander, I. K. (2016) · doi:10.20868/upm.thesis.45481
“30 In Paper 4, I use content analysis following the style of (Barab et al., 2004).”
MethodLamont, M. (2012) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.16997791
“Activity theory is a useful frame for the analysis of the design of collaborative environments (Barab et al., 2004), and for examining how and why activities develop in the ways that they do (Levine, 2010).”
BackgroundQuinn, E. (2012) · Arrow - TU Dublin (Technological University Dublin) · doi:10.21427/d7031m
“For example: online learning (Barab et al. 2004; Levy 2008); ICT in higher education (Isroff and Scanlon 2002); integration of ICT in schools (Demiraslan and Usluel 2008; Lim and Hang 2003); e-learning (Liaw et al. 2007; Mwanza and Engeström 2005); ICT in primary schools (Romeo and Walker 2002);…”
BackgroundWhen Virtual Communities Click: Transforming Teacher Practice, Transforming Teachers
Hirtle, J., & Smith, S. H. (2010) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-60566-788-1.ch011
Course Assessment in a Teacher's Learning Community
Hlapanis, G., & Dimitracopoulou, A. (2009) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-60566-120-9.ch047
Metadata
- Authors
- Barab, S., Schatz, S., & Scheckler, R.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Venue
- Mind, Culture, and Activity
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2004-02
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 25-47
- ISSN
- 1074-9039 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7884
- OpenAlex
- W2055360708
- Cited by
- 167
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 12.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Mind Culture and Activity (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Educational Research Association
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
- Keywords
- activity theory, online communities, design activity, community design, inquiry-based teaching, science and mathematics teachers, online learning communities
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
