ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Gay, Rieger, and Bennington are concerned with developing an account of the role mobile computers will have in transforming the activities of learning and conducting research in the field. It is their perspective, “that students will flourish in situations that provide an opportunity to test skills and theories in the ‘just-in-time’ and ‘nomadic’ field context, an opportunity enabled by mobile computing.” In addressing these potential transformations they suggest Activity Theory as providing a useful theoretical and methodological framework from which to begin the systematic examination of the potential of mobile computers. In this commentary, I will highlight and expand upon three potential transformations derived from the theoretical base of Activity Theory and the research discussed in this chapter: (1) a shift from a focus on human-computer interaction to a focus on computer-mediated activity or, said another way, to human-field interaction as mediated by technology; (2) a shift in the goal of instruction, from moving the field into the classroom to moving the classroom into the field; and (3) a shift from an emphasis on teacher as “expert” to the mediating role of “learning facilitator.”
