Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was adopted to guide social learning in RESILiM-O. The purpose of the CHAT “project” therefore is to support social learning processes in various projects. The motive was to draw from the rich CHAT tradition a wide range of frameworks and social learning tools to assist with transforming practices towards resilience.
Social learning is not simply learning in a social context; the aim is to transform and change practice. CHAT, as an interdisciplinary approach to studying human learning and development, emerged as the most suitable framework to guide social learning in AWARD’s projects. CHAT-led social learning combines:
- A systems component – that helps us to construct meanings from situations
- A learning component – a method of learning from those meanings
- A developmental component – that allows us to expand those meanings towards action.
Practically, we have been using CHAT in different AWARD projects by taking advantage of a variety of learning tools that it offers such as the Developmental Work Research design (also known as the expansive learning framework) shown in the diagram.
