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Using Telepresence Robots for Remote Participation in Technical Subjects in Higher Education

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Smart Learning Ecosystems as Engines of the Green and Digital Transition (SLERD 2023)

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Abstract

Remote participation in higher education courses, especially in technical subjects, is challenging, as there is a lot of practical knowledge to be applied or directly instructed, and it has to happen at the university premises since the labs are set up there. In this study, we allowed three ICT lecturers teaching at the undergraduate level to experiment with telepresence robots, augment the teaching and learning environment, and understand their readiness to adopt this technology. The experiments were documented, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants in order to obtain additional details for the experiment documentation. We found that using telepresence robots in labs requires both a well-planned teaching process and appropriate teaching environment settings to overcome technical limitations. As for future studies, there is a need for studies with bigger samples of ICT lecturers to implement these proposed scenarios to understand better the possibilities of effectively using telepresence robots for hybrid teaching in ICT subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University of Technology, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Mohammad Tariq Meeran, Janika Leoste, Fuad Budagov, Jaanus Pöial & Kristel Marmor

  2. Tallinn University, 10120, Tallinn, Estonia

    Janika Leoste

Authors
  1. Mohammad Tariq Meeran
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  2. Janika Leoste
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  3. Fuad Budagov
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  4. Jaanus Pöial
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  5. Kristel Marmor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Tariq Meeran .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Mihai Dascalu

  2. Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Óscar Mealha

  3. School of Digital Technologies, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia

    Sirje Virkus

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Meeran, M.T., Leoste, J., Budagov, F., Pöial, J., Marmor, K. (2023). Using Telepresence Robots for Remote Participation in Technical Subjects in Higher Education. In: Dascalu, M., Mealha, Ó., Virkus, S. (eds) Smart Learning Ecosystems as Engines of the Green and Digital Transition. SLERD 2023. Advances in Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5540-4_8

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