ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Goodyear and Carvalho argue that an understanding of how people learn in complex, technology-rich environments requires more than an inventory of elements. It calls for analysis at the level of the whole system of human and non-human actors, in which learning emerges dynamically: an analysis they term ecological or architectural. They go on to describe the physical and social architectures that frame learning and a variety of possible connections between the material/digital elements of the system and human/learner activity. Through two case studies they draw out relationships between micro and macro levels of the learning system, and balance explanations based on the material affordances of digital artefacts with those based on human sense-making.
