It seems to be a global requirement to students that they should become able to innovate and create. In the Lisbon program it is described as a key competence ”to be more creative and self-confident in whatever they undertake and to act in a socially responsible way.” (Lisbon program, p.4). This means that students during their training should be able to apply and create new knowledge to invent new products and services.  It is traditionally a task for the university to create and provide knowledge, but knowledge is normally created  by researchers. That students in general need to develop the skills and competences to innovate is therefore a challenge to students as well as teachers in Higher Education

The intentions seem to be a transformation of students into self-directed and active information creators instead of primarily being information receivers. We will here address the formation of innovative and creative students from a learning and development perspective,  in which we understand the development of particular competences related to  students’  possibilities for acting, inter-action  and collaboration, instead of related to individuals’ characters, personality  etc.  (Säljø, R. (2000) Engeström, Y. (1997) Engeström, Y., & Sannino (2010) Dewey, J. (1916))

If creativity and innovation are characterized, among other elements, by being able to combine knowledge in new ways, to solve problems or being able to analyze a challenge from different perspectives, we must consequently take an interest in pedagogical methods or frames which support students’ active dealing with the world, so to speak.  In this paper we will describe and analyze a pedagogical experiment in which we introduced our students to a pedagogical frame, which includes an ICT-based tool. The students are studying at a POPBL[1] university, which means that the students in this context are used to study in groups and choose problems to study. Our aim here is to analyze how a specific tool and concept may influence the collaboration and the knowledge sharing of the students, when they are learning to use the concept by learning how to innovate. The computer-based tools are designed to affect learning. The tool do so by interfering at two levels of communication: the relation between the communicators (the students) and the sharing of experience and facts (content  knowledge)  by means of prohibited and permitted operations in the ICT-enhanced learning system)(Lund, B. 94). The pedagogical concept studied (the “Kubus” concept), was developed as an innovation tool for a business study context and as such well tested. In this case it was for the first time analysed in an activity theoretical perspective (Engeström, Y. (1997); Engeström, Y., & Sannino (2010))  

[1] Project Organised Problem Based Learning

Lisbon Programme (2006) Forstering entrepreneurial mindset through education and learning. Brussels 13.2.2006. com (2006) 33 Barthelmess, P. & Anderson, K.M. (2002) : Computer Supported Cooperative Work 11: 13–37,. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands Darsø, L. (2001): Innovation in the Making. Samfundslitteratur Dewey, J. (1916) Democracy and Education. An introduction to the philosophy of education (1966 edn.), New York: Free Press, USA Engeström, Y. (1997) Coordination, Cooperation and Communication in the Courts. In Mind, Culture, and Activity. Cambridge University Press, Chapt. 28, pp. 369–388. Engeström, Y., & Sannino (2010), A. Studies of expansive learning: Foundations, findings and future challenges. Educational Research Review (2010), doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2009.12.002 Engeström, Y. (2009) From Learning Environments and Implementation to Activity Systems and Expansive Learning. Actio: An International Journal of Human Activity Theory, No. 2, 2009 Pp. 17-33. The Center for Human Activity Theory, Kansai University Herlau, H. and Tetzschner, H. (2006a) The Kubus® Concept: ‘Preject’ Management and Innovation Copenhagen and Esbjerg 2006. http://www.itu.dk/people/cmmm/(HT&HH2)%20kubus_preject.pdf Herlau H., and Tetzschner, H. (2006) Kubuskonceptet – prejektledelse og innovation. Forlaget Samfundslitteratur Priya Sharma a & Michael J. Hannafin(2007) : “Scaffolding in technology-enhanced learning environments” Version of record first published: 05 Apr 2007. http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/nile20 Säljø, R. (2000) Læring I praksis – et sociokulturelt perspektiv. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag.