A deeper understanding of re-use

Abstract

Summary form only given. Understanding what influences reuse of designs, activities and `in the wild' continues to prove tantalizingly elusive for researchers. The uncertainty of the process and the length of time between the offer and take up of resources in education can represent a process spanning several years. Education is frequently a long game and the influence of context, the desire or need to recontextualise and repurpose makes tracking reuse a difficult process. What is needed is both a broad and deep understanding of what occur when designs, activities and resources with potential for reuse are encountered in practice. This paper draws on two longitudinal case-based studies drawn from across a decade and across the globe. Both researchers are also educational practitioners, Teaching Fellows in Australia (Sandra Wills) and England (Chris Pegler), which has provided an access and closeness to their cases, and the networks of their case participants, which is unusual. Their independently conceived and executed investigations into factors shed light on what influences re-use of designs, activities, and resources. Comparison of their conclusions and analysis reveals a general consistency in the factor types identified and a common focus on the influence, complexity and importance of context. Mapping the two studies, both representing extensive doctoral research by Wills (Wills, 2010) and Pegler (Pegler, 2011) also revealed the differences that merit further investigation in this paper. The analysis here centres on enhancing understanding of thresholds for re-use exploring the wider relevance of specific issues highlighted in the studies around what Pegler describes as “zones of proximity” and what are termed by Wills as “nuances of re-use”.