Abstract
This study analyzed the activity of four learners involved in an e-learning device (ELAN, INP Grenoble) relying on the course-of-action theoretical framework. It focused particularly on how they organized their activity over time. Traces of their activity and verbalizations about them were collected for a week, which allowed the identification of meaningful units and structures in order to describe the learners’ course of action. Results showed that the learners’ activity was desynchronized, that they were straying from the instructors’ prescriptions, and that they preferred to solve the problematic situations they encountered more quickly on their own. The desynchronization of their activity limited their chances of getting help from the instructors or from their peers. Recommendations are made to take desynchronization into account in e-learning devices.