R E S E A R C H  P O S T E R  P R E S EN T A TIO N  D E S IG N  ©  2 01 2

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Today, public education institutions still cater primarily to face-to-face course access, which results in inequities when access to a face-to-face is not possible due to:• Physical health • Mental health • Elder/Child care • Workplace commitments• Rural or Remote learners• Financial

Advantages  of  Video  Conference  Robots  over  Desktop  Video  

Conferencing

When access can be facilitated by a variety of technological means, university policies and practices need to catch up, so access is not a privilege or provided on a preferential basis.

Policy  Changes  Needed

Cyber  Proxies  Help  Address  Issues  of:Student  Pressures,  Social   Justice  &  Privilege

Cyber  Proxies  in  Action

Acknowledgements

University  of  VictoriaRich  McCue,  Valerie  Irvine,  Tanya  Little

Robots   in  Education:   Learning  by  Cyber  Proxies

University  of  Victoria

Univers ity   of   Victoria

• The ability to easily move to in around a classroom to form groups for group discussions or pair-and-share exercises. This is particularly useful for small classes or graduate seminars.

• Instructors do not feel as responsible for technical problems for the telepresence robots, as students simply log in and situate themselves in the classroom. Irvine and McCue (2015) refer to this type of presence as cyber proxy. Technical problems are typically handled by the robot vendor and campus network services.

Below is an example of a Video Conference robot in action at the SITE 2015 Conference in Las Vegas, with Dr. Matt Bower presenting from Australia via his Cyber Proxy. Another researcher from Michigan is presenting via a desktop video conference system, as is Dr. Valerie Irvine from Victoria, BC.

Technology   Integration  &  Evaluation  Research  Lab

Their presence by cyber proxy made the symposium at the conference a richer experience for all who participated, both local and remote, than it would have been without their virtual presence.

The University of Michigan usesdesktop robots extensively for some of their Doctoral seminars in their educational technology program.

Flicker:   kshathriya cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐dn-­‐2.0

Copyright  – John  Bell

ReferencesCain,   W.,  Bell,   J. ,  Cheng,   C.,  Sawaya,  S.,  Peterson,   A.,   Arnold,  B.,  Good,   J. ,  Irvine,  V.,   McCue,   R.  &  Little,  T.   (2015).  Synchronous   Hybrid  Learning  Environments:   Perspectives   on  Learning,   Instruction,   and  Technology   in  Unique   Educational  Contexts.   In  D.  Slykhuis &  G.  Marks   (Eds.), Proceedings   of  Society   for   Information  Technology   &  Teacher   Education  International   Conference   2015 (pp.  205-­‐210).  Chesapeake,  VA:  Association   for   the  Advancement  of  Computing   in  Education   (AACE).