BUILDING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DESIGN OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL SOFTWARE

We suggest that a framework for the design of distributed learning environments could make use of some core ideas of activity theory (Yrjo Engestrom, 1987). According to this line of theorising, activity systems arise when an actors want to realize certain objectives. Since we are mainly concerned with formal educational settings in higher education, these objectives are predominantly educational. For fulfilling their personal or group objectives in technologically mediated settings, actors need to construct, adopt and adjust their landscapes of tools and services to meet these purposes, adapt their activities to the co-actors' preferences, and jointly plan and coordinate their activities with studying-partners and facilitators. Different artefacts mediate the processes in such an activity system. Artefacts, as the materialised outcomes or by-products of goal-driven actions, may also serve as new inputs for other activity systems.

To analyze how actors in a given activity system perceive themselves, the artefacts and tools in use, and other participants, we find it useful to integrate the concept of affordances into our considerations for a learning environment design model. Gibson (1986) originally defined affordances as opportunities for action for an observer, provided by an (physical) environment. Gaver (1996) emphasized that affordances emerge in human action and interaction and, thus, go beyond mere perception. This contrasts with the common interpretation that affordances simply refer to situations in which one can see what to do (Gibson, 1986). Neisser (1994) elaborated Gibson's concept of affordance and distinguished three perceptual modes: 1) Direct perception/action, which enables us to perceive and act effectively on the local environment; 2) Interpersonal perception/reactivity, which underlies our immediate social interactions with other human beings, and; 3) Repre sentation/recognition, by which we identify and respond appropriately to familiar objects and situations. Besides the affordances related to the environment, Neisser's interpretation introduces the interpersonal perception of subjects in action as an additional source of affordances in the social and regulative domain.