Applying Activity Theory: Instructor Design and Development Experiences with Online Distance Learning in the Electrical Apprenticeship Trades Programs
Creators: name: Sochowski, Robert William
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Technology
subject: Vocational
subject: Education
subject: Apprenticeship
subject: Trades
subject: Vocational
subject: Distance
subject: Online
subject: technology
subject: Education
subject: Instructor
subject: Activity
subject: Training
subject: Workplace
subject: affordances
subject: constraints
subject: electrical
subject: electrician
subject: Design
subject: Development
subject: teaching
subject: Skills
subject: Government
subject: institution
subject: provicial
subject: Canada
subject: constructivism
subject: constructionism
subject: Simulations
subject: Community

description: Apprenticeship training historically has been the entry point for employment in the trades in Canada. However, with increasing shortages of qualified trades workers in Canada, it is timely to explore the affordances of online distance learning (ODL) education for this post-secondary education sector. The Internet has provided students with access to distance learning in many fields, but very little research has been conducted regarding online ODL activities for apprenticeship trades training. Thus, the benefits of ODL in electrical apprenticeship trades education remain largely experimental or anecdotal. In general, the apprenticeship trades industry has determined that learning apprenticeship trades skills requires practical, physical components, but scholars must determine whether online electrical apprenticeship trades activities meet these physical, hands-on requirements for constructing objects and assimilating skill-oriented knowledge. To examine the impact of online technologies in ODL environments for the electrical apprenticeship trades, a case study approach was used in this research in order to understand instructors’ experiences in designing, developing, and delivering electrical apprenticeship trades programs in an ODL environment. The study participants were six instructors from three different public institutions in two provinces. Each case was developed from an interview with the ODL electrical apprenticeship instructor, document analysis, and a review of online materials such as the institution’s website and the program and course shells. To analyze the data collected from the case studies, five activity theory principles were applied: the hierarchical structure of activities; the social and physical aspects of the online learning environment; the learning, cognition, and articulation of online activities; the development of online activities; and the zone of proximal development (ZPD) of online activities. The results from the data analysis indicated that the potential of ODL was not fully realized because of local accessibility issues as well as instructors’ unfamiliarity with the technologies employed. The culture of apprenticeship trades focuses on hands-on learning of practical skills from a master, and the idea that technology can provide equivalent experiences is not yet fully accepted. But the shift is underway, with a number of institutions in Canada now offering ODL in the electrical apprenticeship trades as well as in other trades such as welding and plumbing. The research findings would be valuable to the apprenticeship trades industry because they supported the efficacy of ODL which provided options that were anticipated to increase the number of qualified trades workers. Academic administrators would benefit as the findings would assist them with their strategic, long-term planning of ODL for the apprenticeship trades. Policy makers (typically governments, both federal and provincial) would benefit from the study as it would help to provide policy direction for apprenticeship trades education. Instructors would benefit from gaining a better understanding of the impact of changing roles and responsibilities and of what is involved in designing, developing, and delivering ODL apprenticeship trades programs.