Digital Tools and Instructional Rules: A study of how digital technologies become rooted in classroom procedures

Abstract

This paper examines how a classroom culture develops

advanced strategies and procedures for handling complex

digital tools. We report from a vocational Media

and Communication course at an Upper Secondary

School in Oslo, Norway. Our analysis reveals how a

procedure called practical assignments has developed

historically at the school, and how this procedure is

carried out in the classroom. Theoretically, our study

is informed by Activity Theory, which affords us tools

to analyze how social institutions and learning trajectories

evolve over time, and how longitudinal dimensions

emerge in situ. Our findings show how teachers and

learners create a space for solving context-specific problems

involving sophisticated technology. A historical

analysis is here crucial not only in understanding why

digital technologies are used in specific ways, but also

how they evolve into classroom conventions.