This edited volume addresses the potential of Cultural Historical Activity Theory as an analytic tool in debates over higher education reform.

1. Introduction Gordon Wells and Anne Edwards; 2. Goal formation and identity formation in higher education Deborah Downing and Michael Cole; 3. Using a cultural historical approach to understand educational change in introductory physics classrooms Chandra A. Turpen and Noah D. Finkelstein; 4. Taking responsibility for learning: CHAT in a large undergraduate class Gordon Wells; 5. CHAT and student writing David Russell; 6. Assessment in higher education - a CHAT perspective Anton Havnes; 7. The agency of the learner in the networked university: an expansive approach Russell Francis; 8. Supporting access to science and engineering through scientific argumentation Tamara Ball and Lisa Hunter; 9. Using CHAT to understand systems to support disabled students in higher education Jan Georgeson; 10. Internship: navigating the practices of an investment bank Natalie Lundsteen and Anne Edwards; 11. Identity change in the context of HE institutions Jorge Larremeamendy-Joerns; 12. Developing skills for collaborative, relational research in higher education: a cultural historical analysis Ioanna Kinti and Geoff Hayward; 13. Teacher education in the public university: the challenge of democratizing knowledge production Viv Ellis; 14. What does 'transformation of participation' mean in a university classroom? Exploring university pedagogy with the tools of cultural historical theory Holli Tonyan and Glen Auld; 15. Gentle partnerships: learning from the fifth dimension Honorine Norcon and Monica Nilsson.