Crossing boundaries towards expansive learning: methodological affordances of video data

This paper underscores the methodological affordances of using video data as a boundary object to foster expansive learning. Based on a study conducted in a school in the war-affected Northern province of Sri Lanka, we demonstrate how expansive learning was catalyzed by video elicitation practices embedded in the methodology, revealing underlying tensions. In research contexts that examine complex systems such as classrooms – where teachers, students and researchers share a bounded space yet occupy distinct roles – this approach offered strategies to deepen data analysis and interpretation, ultimately creating potential ways to disrupt problematic learning and teaching practices. We use cultural historical activity theory in conjunction with boundary crossing to describe how expansive learning was triggered, facilitated by video elicitationand generated granular, discursive and context-rich conversations among participants. Video data was recast from a static data source into one that catalyzed expansive learning and collaborative knowledge generation among participants, demonstrating the methodological affordances of video data as a medium for meaningful shifts in classroom practices.