Trends in orchestration. Second research & technology scouting report

The technological evolution in schools has transformed the way teachers have to manage technology-­‐enhanced classrooms. This new form of management is often referred to as 'orchestration'. In former times, learning technologies were mostly self-­‐contained environments, running on a single device. In the last decade, integrated pedagogical scenarios have emerged. They integrate activities at multiple social planes such as individual reading, team argumentation and plenary sessions. The integration of these activities occurs both at the pedagogical and at the computational level (data flow between activities). These scenarios articulate activities with and without digital technologies. The digital ones do not rely on desktops/laptops but also on smart phones, PDAs, digital tabletops, interactive whiteboard, interactive paper, sensors networks, etc. The real time management of such complex ecosystem cannot and should not be automated. It requires, and that's a positive point, an active teacher able to intervene at any time to change activities, to modify the timing, to re-­‐compose groups, to prompt unproductive students and to maintain expectations