The change in tools caused the most disruption in e-teachers' activity system, replacing body language and visual cues with text and voice mediation¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2009 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among all activity-system elements, the change in mediating tools was the most disruptive for e-teachers, since reliance on body language and visual cues was no longer possible online. → Murphy 2009

Evidence¶

Murphy 2009¶

Murphy, E., & Rodriguez-Manzanares, M. A. (2009). Sage without a Stage: Expanding the Object of Teaching in a Web-Based, High-School Classroom. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3). https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl doi:10.19173/irrodl.v10i3.579

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

In the Discussion, the authors state "the change in tools that caused the most disruption" in the e-teachers' activity system, because the traditional symbolic mediating tools of body language and visual cues were no longer possible in online classrooms. Teachers reported countering this via instant messaging for instant feedback.

"It was the change in tools that caused the most disruption in the e -teacher‟s activity system. The behaviours and repertoire of strategies teac hers might have relied on as practitioners in F2F contexts did not always make sense when interaction and communication were mediated by a different set of tools."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• An innovation foreign to the rest of its system tends to be rejected; lasting change needs a coordinated bundle of innovations. — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• In web-based high-school distance education, e-teachers widened the object of their teaching activity toward more independent and engaged forms of learning — related
• The authors argue formative feedback is critical for making student behaviour 'seen' in asynchronous online learning where the teacher is not physically present — related
• Creating community and interacting with students online required deliberate, planned effort unlike spontaneous face-to-face co-presence — related
• SCMD activity systems exhibit three categories of rules and four types of participant roles — related
• Cultural mediation has four implications, including that artifacts fundamentally transform mental functioning and the mind is distributed in artifacts — a broader claim this one bears on
• Teachers used Forms to support social-emotional learning through daily well-being check-ins and anonymous voice — related
• Moderation of synchronous computer-mediated interaction differs from face-to-face or asynchronous moderation — related
• Engaging whole-class teaching used simple communication, concrete and visual aids, and simple interactive activities — related