Orchestration tools to support the teacher during student collaboration: a review

Abstract

Teachers play an important role during student collaboration by monitoring and stimulating interactions between students that are effective for learning. In the present paper, we review existing research concerning orchestration tools developed for teachers that take data concerning collaborating students as input and provide analyses or visualizations of the data for the benefit of more effective teacher guidance of student collaboration. Studies were coded for their methodological design, the function of the orchestration tool (mirroring, alerting, or advising), the type of information that was provided to the teacher (cognitive or social), and on what level the influence of the tool was evaluated (teacher or student level). It was found that most studies had a descriptive or exploratory design, with small sample sizes. Most orchestration tools fulfilled a mirroring function. There was diversity in the type of information provided. Most included studies focused on the influence of the tool on the teacher, and those studies showed mixed findings on whether the orchestration tool enhanced their practice. Recommendations for future research are provided, and include the need for more systematic development and comparison of the various characteristics of orchestration tools.