Clarifying design for orchestration: Orchestration and orchestrable technology, scripting and conducting

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2013.04.006

Computers & Education

Volume 69, November 2013, Pages 500-503

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.04.006 Get rights and content

Abstract

In this article we consider the “design for orchestration” concept and introduce a set of notions to clarify matters of concern. We propose to distinguish orchestration technology and orchestrable technology, to define orchestration as a combination of scripting and conducting, and to differentiate primo-scripting and run-time scripting. As a way to see how these different notions relate one to another, we take the example of CSCL scripts.

Introduction

The orchestration metaphor usually refers to “what the person in the middle of the orchestra (transposition: classroom; on-line setting) is doing with the help of the baton and gestures (transposition: with instructions, hints or by tuning the computer-based system's parameters)”.

This metaphor is potentially confusing as, according to some definitions, orchestration seems to be essentially, if not only, about writing music for an orchestra (i.e., deciding how some music should be played by a set of instruments), directing performance (i.e., directing the way the musicians perform the orchestration) being referred to as “conducting”.

Dillenbourg proposes a definition: “Orchestration refers to how a teacher manages in real-time multi-layered activities in a multi-constraints context” (Dillenbourg, 2012). This clarifies the issue. This issue is not new, and many topics related to the notion of orchestration have been studied, with different perspectives and/or in different contexts, in previous works (although they were not presented in this way). However, it is beneficial to make orchestration a key issue of the field once again, and give it a definition that is in-line with current uses of technology in education.

Dillenbourg highlights the fact that settings now involve different modes (individual and collective, in class and on-line, etc.). I would add the fact that ICT has changed the context in different ways, due to the fact that players (e.g. teachers, students) come with their technology and their technological skills and habits, and are not dependent (and do not want to be dependent) on technologists. Educators asking professional developers to build software specific to the targeted setting, or students limiting themselves to the use of software offered by the institution, are the exception rather than the norm. Players tend to use whatever tool they will contextually find available and convenient – the applications running on their smart phones, software they have installed on their laptop, available web services, etc. – which may vary from player to players and from session to session. Within such an approach, in some sense, software is a contextual construction. Moreover, although in some cases the setting involves specifically designed software, users' usages and expectations are influenced by this general evolution (Tchounikine, 2011).

Orchestration as introduced by Dillenbourg is mainly about empowering human teachers. The orchestration concept is not limited to the context of classrooms and orchestration by teachers. Nevertheless, the way technology is used in classrooms and the specificity of this context gives importance to this issue.

Considering how orchestration may involve and/or be supported by computer-based systems requires, however, differentiating different notions.

Section snippets

Orchestration technology and orchestrable technology

In order to make clearer what “designing for orchestration” means, I propose to distinguish orchestration technology from orchestrable technology:

•
Orchestration technology is technology that achieves or supports the activity of orchestrating.
•
Orchestrable technology is technology which use can be decided or adapted (before the session and/or at run-time) by the players in charge of the orchestration (the teacher, a system) while orchestrating the setting, in the same way that other parameters of

(Primo)scripting, conducting and (run-time)scripting

In classrooms or in on-line settings, managing unexpected events or taking opportunities requires real-time management (Dillenbourg, 2012; Dillenbourg & Tchounikine, 2007). However, real-time management does not mean there is no pre-session management.

In order to help clarifying the orchestration notion one might come back to the music metaphor¹

An example: scripting and conducting CSCL settings

As a way to see how these different notions relate one to another, we may take the example of CSCL scripts and the general model of CSCL script operationalization proposed in Tchounikine (2008).

Primo-scripting may include (items are not in strict order):

•
Identifying the script's intrinsic constraints (bound to the script's core mechanisms) and the extrinsic constraints (bound to contextual factors), given the pedagogical objectives and the adopted pedagogical principles and learning hypotheses.

Conclusions

Orchestration is an interesting notion to be kept to the fore and be re-interpreted in the light of current technology and trends (which does not remove the interest of older views). In order to define contributions to this issue, concepts that further specify matters of concern must be prepared. Within this context, I propose to distinguish orchestration technology and orchestrable technology, and define orchestration as a combination of scripting and conducting. Moreover, I propose to

References (4)

P. Dillenbourg
Design for orchestration
(2012)
P. Dillenbourg et al.
Flexibility in macro-scripts for CSCL
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
(2007)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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