Solidarity and community: Collaborative learning in times of crisis

In his writing on pedology from 1928 to 1931, Vygotsky (1998) discusses how the social environment provides the context and source for human development. During the almost century since, Vygotsky’s ideas have developed to inform our understanding of groups and institutions through Cultural Historical Activity Theory. In this paper we examine the evolution of social structures which have guided development for a community of Vygotskian scholars in the Asia Pacific region over the past two decades and how it has responded to the present crisis. In this time of crisis, where the movement has been from face-to-face to online interaction, our experience of moving between intermittent online to sustained face-to-face meeting, refracted through our understandings of Vygotsky, can inform not only present experience but also help us to think about what new structures and relationships can be created as we move beyond crisis.