Teaching Matters

25 - Christopher Leug

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Teaching Matters 2016 | Presentation Details | 7 DecemberDec 2016

Title

Remote Participation to Enrich the Learning Experience: Beaming a whole class to the other side of the planet


Author(s)

Christopher Lueg*, School of Engineering and ICT
Meredith Castles*, student in School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
Alex Dune*, student in School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
Sonia Rodrigo, student in School of Engineering and ICT, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology


Subtheme

Locally and Globally Engaged Learning and Teaching


Presentation Type

Poster


Room

Foyer


Time

12.30-13.20


Abstract

How people respond to technology is a topic Prof. Lueg covers in his Social and Cultural Issues of Interactive Digital Media class. In May 2016 the organisers of the ACM CHI conference held in San Jose, California made available a small number of mobile remote presence robots, called Beam,  to enable attendees who could not be physically present to (remotely) participate in conference activities. Beam robots afford real-time bi-directional video and audio communication, with sufficient speed to allow their "drivers" to dash between conference events. The experience is not meant to be immersive; this is about being physically present and being able to meet with other attendees.
Beam robots were allocated based on cases put forward by interested parties and Prof. Lueg's teaching scenario was one of those selected. We used the Beam remote presence robot to afford students in two classes to experience for themselves how people, in this case technology attuned HCI researchers and practitioners, would respond to ‘us’ being present via a robot. In a second class, the robot was used to demonstrate to Research Methods students how information about research is shared at academic conferences including paper sessions, poster & demo sessions and mingling over food and drink.  To support the experience, students were often in control while the robot roamed the halls of the San Jose Convention Center (16h time difference) with the resulting audio/video feed being shared with the rest of the class via the video-conferencing equipment in Hobart and also in Launceston.
To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a remote presence robot was used in such a way within a learning and teaching context. The poster reports on experiences with the remote presence robot and ideas for ease of access to learning in Tasmania that we generated on the basis of this experience.
References
ACM SIG CHI 2016 conference May 7 – 12 in San Jose, CA, USA. Available from https://chi2016.acm.org/.
Beam Remote Presence Robot. Available from http://telepresencerobots.com/robots/suitable-technologies-beam-pro.
Stevenson, S. (2014). Wish I Were There: The Beam telepresence robot lets you be in two places at once. Slate. Available from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/05/beam_pro_telepresence_robot_how_it_works_and_why_it_is_strangely_alluring.html.

Resource

Download presentation (requires University of Tasmania login) (PDF)

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