The Application Of Activity Theory In Education Of Information Technology

With the progress of information technology, the education of information technology is gaining importance. Conventional teaching means and methods can no longer meet the requirements of education of information technology, for all its differentiating characteristics. The problem becomes more and more outstanding and needs to be solved urgently. Activity theory is a social-cultural research patter using activity system as a basic analyzing unit. The application of activity theory in teaching information technology, which advocates that learners should construct their knowledge in learning activities through interactions with all kinds of elements from the learning environment, can help to change the traditional receptive learning style so that it will effectively enhance the learning of both IT knowledge and IT practical skills.Applying Activity Theory to the education of information technology, this article brings forward a new teaching paradigm-active instruction model of information technology in its macro and micro modality. The former includes analysis of learner, learning objective and learning resource as well as the design, implementation and the evaluation of the learning activities, while the latter refers to a continuous process consisting of three parts. They are pre-activity, mid-activity and post-activity. Pre-activity refers to selecting subject matter for the activity, setting learning goals, using relevant resources and making rules. Mid-activity includes the making and exercising of activity plan, reflecting and making adjustment. Post-activity refers to evaluation and summery. The whole process is under the control of the teacher who will provide enough feedback from time to time.The paradigm discussed above was once employed by the author in teaching Database Theory with students from Top IT Institute. A survey was conducted afterwards with a comparison made with those taught with traditional lecturing way. It proved that the paradigm based on activity theory is more effective and attractive to students in IT education...