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2007 conference at Open University UK , with lectures from Etienne Wenger and Yrjö Engeström - like they also met in 2010 in Aalborg at the Networked learning conference. The lectures were followed by discussion between the presenters. The page offers access to full papers and a PPT presentation where Engeström further develops his theory of mycorrhizae, (also known as rhizome)networks growing uncontrolled, in the wild

Engeström paper from 2001 ABSTRACT Cultural-historical activity theory has evolved through three generations of research. The emerging third generation of activity theory takes two interacting activity systems as its minimal unit of analysis, inviting us to focus research efforts on the challenges and possibilities of inter-organizational learning. Activity theory and its concept of expansive learning are examined.4 questions: 1. Who are the subjects of learning? 2. Why do they learn? 3. What do they learn? 4. How do they learn? Five central principles of activity theory are presented, namely activity system as unit of analysis, multi-voicedness of activity, historicity of activity, contradictions as driving force of change in activity, and expansive cycles as possible form of transformation in activity. Together the questions and principles form a matrix which is used to present a study of expansive learning in a hospital setting in Finland. In conclusion, implications of the framework for our understanding of the increasingly important horizontal dimension of learning are discussed.

From summary of thesis: The issues discussed in the current thesis grow out of many years of practical work in various development projects within the field of labour market politics. The explicit aim of many of these projects is to change or adjust current work practices. However, I have often encountered a mismatch between the well-documented experiences of success within a project on one hand, and the fact that project experiences are only rarely and to a limited extent successfully transferred to and applicable outside the project. This schism formed the initial backdrop for the work presented in this thesis. The aim has been firstly to develop a better understanding for the learning processes made possible through development projects, secondly to clarify why problems occur when this new learning is to be implemented in and brought back to those labour market organisations (job centres, unemployment funds, educational institutions, local authorities etc.) that the development project targeted. In the thesis, implementation is therefore primarily discussed in terms of these labour market institutions, that is, they form the primary horizon for the experiences and the learning resulting from the project. The thesis contains an empirical and theoretical analysis of the process establishing a specific development project, the learning of the participants through the project, and the implementation of their experiences both in the day-to-day work and within the organisation at large. Yrjö Engeström is, therefore, introduced since his concept of expansive learning precisely captures the combination of novel practice and different forms of learning. With their notion of community of practice Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger provide, furthermore, an analytical concept of immediate relevance for project work. I have been much inspired by their approach while collecting empirical material documenting the later part of the project. I have, however, come to realise that t