Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1. Curriculum constraints: how relevant is the topic with respect to the learning
objectives listed in the curriculum, will these students be motivated by this topic?
2. Assessment constraints: are my learning activities compatible with summative
evaluation exams, large-scale assessments studies, etc.?
3. Time constraints: how much time is necessary, how much time is available (see
constraint 1) and how much flexibility do we have around these two factors?
4. Energy constraints: how much time and energy must teachers engage to prepare
and run this method, how long can they sustain it, etc.?
5. Space constraints: do I have the space necessary in my classroom to set up these
activities, is the classroom layout compatible with the interaction I expect to
trigger, etc.?
6. Safety constraints: Can I keep control of my class? Can I be sued in court because
some accident may occur during the field trip?
There are of course other constraints such as financial constraints (obviously),
cultural constraints (the Tinker lamp simulation fits well the specific culture of
warehouse workers), teachers' personality constraints (e.g. risk-aversive versus
pioneers), motivational constraints (a method that “works well” should boost the
teacher's self-esteem), etc. Overall, we could add the prerequisites constraints: no
method “works well” if students don't have the prerequisites. We could build a long
list of constraints; these factors have nicely been explored by Bielaczyc (2006). Our
point here was to have a shorter list of constraints and to underline which ones are
particularly relevant to the concept of orchestration.
Final Word
It is true that “it works well” is a subjective feeling and not a rigorous statement.
However, it is a social reality. No successful empirical study will lead to any gen-
eralization if the teachers do not acquire the conviction that “it works well.” It is
hence a key item on the agenda of learning sciences to understand what teachers
mean by “it works well.” It is a key challenge to improve research methods so that
they combine this concern with generalizability.
Acknowledgements
The environments listed in this paper have been developed by Fabrice Hong,
Guillaume Zufferey, Son Do-Lenh, Bertrand Schneider, Hamed Alavi, Frédéric Kaplan and Olivier
Guédat. We thank the students and teachers who have been involved in the various experiments.
The work on the TinkerLamp is supported by Dual-T, a leading house funded by the Swiss Federal
Office for Professional Education and Technology. The work on the Lantern is supported by the
Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant PDFM1-118708). The work on ManyScripts was sup-
ported by Swiss Center for Innovation in Learning (St Gallen) and a group of KALEIDOSCOPE, a
former European Network of Excellence. The work on orchestration is the theme of a group within
STELLAR, a new European Network of Excellence on learning technologies.
