H809-15. Initial thoughts on Activity Theory

I was doing quite well with this paper until I reached the 6 steps, and from then on my eyes just kept crossing. I found some of the steps to be virtually indistinguishable (e.g. 2. Analyze the activity system and 3. Analyze the activity structure). The list of questions did not seem to end. And when I thought about asking some of those questions about our course wiki, I just had to suppress a hysterical laugh...

A couple of other points I found puzzling:

1) Data collection methods: historical materials - no examples were given and this means nothing to me.

2) Points of view: tools - call me stupid, but how the hell can you analyse the point of view of a tool?! Here's my chance to learn a new skill!

I am now musing on the question from our course notes:

How might you use activity theory to evaluate the effectiveness of a CLE in a learning context?

Clearly that is leading us toward the TMA, but I'm like the proverbial horse at the water trough just now.