Open Access2: ENVISIONING CREATIVE COLLABORATION BETWEEN FACULTY AND TECHNOLOGISTS
Author(s) -
Rathbun Gail A.,
Kuhlenschmidt Sally,
Sacks David
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
to improve the academy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-4822
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-4822.2013.tb00696.x
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , adaptation (eye) , sociology , activity theory , university faculty , division of labour , psychology , epistemology , engineering ethics , medical education , pedagogy , engineering , political science , computer science , medicine , philosophy , neuroscience , law , programming language
Faculty developers must often mediate conflicts resulting from differences between seemingly mutually exclusive cultures that university technologists and university teachers inhabit. Activity theory embraces workplace conflict as normal and as contributing to organizing health and adaptation, in contrast to a functionalist approach that focuses on how to maintain system equilibrium. Engeström's (1987) interpretation of activity theory provides a theoretically informed framework for understanding different forms of human activity, mediated by culturally molded rules, values, and division of labor, without suffering from the polarizing effects of an us‐versus‐them approach.