Technology enhanced learning is high on European agendas. For example, the Digital Agenda for Europe, one of the seven flagship initiatives of Europe 2020 highlights the importance of mainstreaming eLearning in national policies (EC, 2012). It has long been argued that technology has the potential to act as a lever for pedagogical innovations (Law, 2008). Yet use of ICT in the classroom is low (EACEA P9 Eurydice, 2011) and where it is used it does not always lead to changes in pedagogical practices (Law, 2009; Shear, Novais et al, 2010).  

This paper draws on the FP7-funded project Innovative Technologies for an Engaging Classroom (iTEC), a 4-year pan-European project involving schools, teachers and learners from more than 17 European countries. Educational scenarios together with iTEC technologies and other technological tools are being piloted in lower secondary schools and primary schools in 5 cycles of development and evaluation. The aim of the project is to facilitate innovation in the classroom by introducing new ideas to teachers for using ICT to support different pedagogies. The project in each participating country is driven by a team of national co-ordinators providing pedagogical and technical guidance. The pedagogical resources produced in the project provide suggestions for learning activities and pedagogical strategies such as group work and peer reflection together with recommendations for ICT tools which can enable activities to take place. The resources are not designed to be prescriptive but a source of inspiration to experiment with new pedagogical strategies and ICT. Each implementation by a single teacher is therefore a unique instance of a new activity in the classroom, although the choice of tools and rules may overlap with those of others in the project.

The project is complex resulting in multiple and overlapping systems. To date, teachers have responded very positively and reported that the resources developed within the project have potential for leveraging innovation in the classroom. Yet, some observers have noted that ‘innovation’ is local and incremental. Moreover, there is an increasing need to identify how to sustain the impact of iTEC beyond its lifetime and effect change at the national level as well as the local level.

Activity theory (Cole & Engeström, 1993; Engeström, 1999) provides a means of understanding the complexity of facilitating innovation in school settings including the multiple change mechanisms at play (Engestrom, 2008). Temporal conflicts arising from the interrelationships between multiple systems can constrain the impact of initiatives such as iTEC, resulting in a return to previous systems and practices (Nocon, 2008). Through focusing on the systemic tensions and contradictions within and between activity systems (Engeström, 1999; Brown and Cole, 2002), opportunities for further development and sustainability may be revealed. Through the lens of activity theory, this paper identifies the change mechanisms in the iTEC processes, explores which activity systems are sustainable and which (if any) technology-enabled innovations in the classroom may have a lasting impact on pedagogical practices in European school contexts.

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