Scaling Change Labs: A Response to “From Mediated Actions To Heterogenous Coalitions: Four Generations Of Activity-theoretical Studies Of Work And Learning”

In “From Mediated Actions To Heterogenous Coalitions: Four Generations of Activity-Theoretical Studies of Work and Learning,” Engeström and Sannino discuss the fourth generation of activity theory as involving heterogeneous coalitions that are involved in intertwined learning cycles. They offer Change Laboratory interventions as a way to properly address learning in such coalitions. Here, I critically review this argument as offering a de facto public policy approach. I conclude by suggesting three ways to adapt Change Labs for this new scale of analysis.