Telepresence in Training

The different forms of telepresence in education, in distance learning, in student support, in the use of learning environments or even at the heart of robot systems, are developed in universities and higher education facilities specializing in professional training. They constitute opportunities to reform arguments and give rise to important questions: how should we think about the hierarchy of presence and absence in these techniques in order to make possible “the presence of the absent”? What is the effect on mediation processes? On the perception of the body and on identity? How does it transform collaborative work? Telepresence in Training brings together research that attempts to answer these questions by using studies and practical supports from higher education, with regards to teacher training and telepresence robots in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xi Jean-Luc RINAUDO List of Abbreviations xix Part 1. Telepresence and Student Support 1 Chapter 1. Feelings of Telepresence and Proximity: the Perspectives of E-tutors on a Hybrid Learning Environment 3 Brigitte DENIS 1.1. Introduction 3 1.2. Telepresence and proximities in remote interactions 4 1.2.1. Overcoming absence with telepresence 4 1.2.2. Experiencing the feeling of proximity at a distance 6 1.3. Research question 7 1.4. Presentation of the system 7 1.4.1. Targeted competencies and target audience 7 1.4.2. Organization: a hybrid techno-pedagogical system 8 1.5. Learning system agents 10 1.5.1. Creator-directors 11 1.5.2. The supervising team 12 1.5.3. Types of recurring artifacts 14 1.6. Methodology 15 1.6.1. Data collection 15 1.6.2. Limitations 16 1.7. Results 16 1.7.1. Interaction modalities and media 17 1.7.2. Conditions and types of exchanges between e-tutors and students 17 1.7.3. How do e-tutors provide the feeling of telepresence from a distance? 20 1.7.4. Impact of the eT’s interventions/interactions 21 1.8. Discussion 24 1.9. Conclusion and perspectives 27 1.10. Appendix: e-tutor interview guide 28 1.11. References 30 Chapter 2. Reinforcing Telepresence in Research Training with Learning Communities: Remote Collaboration between Student-Researchers 33 Gustavo ANGULO and Cathia PAPI 2.1. Introduction 33 2.2. Multidimensional approach to distance learning 35 2.3. Modulating pedagogical distance: what presence should be created? 37 2.4. Increasing presence in the research learning process through distance learning: how to problematize collaboration between student-researchers at a distance? 41 2.5. Further questions 46 2.6. Conclusion 47 2.7. References 48 Chapter 3. Facilitating Problem-Based Learning: A Reflective Analysis 59 Ann-Louise DAVIDSON and Nadia NAFFI 3.1. Introduction 59 3.2. Context 60 3.3. Problem-based learning and problem-based learning objects 61 3.4. The use of technologies and underlying competencies 63 3.5. Description for an online course designed and developed with a problem-based approach 64 3.6. Methodological framework for our reflection 67 3.7. Reflection on student support 68 3.8. Conclusion 71 3.9. Appendix: perception matrix 73 3.10. References 73 Part 2. Telepresence in Teacher Training 77 Chapter 4. Contribution of Virtual Classes to the Construction of Professional Knowledge for Teachers 79 Romaine CARRUPT 4.1. Professional knowledge and virtual classes 79 4.2. Hybridization of part-time training 80 4.3. Construction of professional knowledge in virtual classes 80 4.3.1. A system for hybrid professional training 80 4.3.2. Synchronous communication in a virtual class 81 4.3.3. Training and support for learning in virtual classes 82 4.3.4. Professional knowledge 82 4.4. Hypotheses and research questions 83 4.5. Methodology 84 4.6. Results and analysis 87 4.6.1. Interactions in virtual classes/in person 87 4.6.2. Measurement of incorporated knowledge 89 4.7. Discussion of interactions in virtual classes and in person 91 4.7.1. Progressive interpenetration of theoretical knowledge in virtual classes 91 4.7.2. Scientific knowledge inoperative in person 94 4.7.3. Mediatized/non-mediatized interactions 97 4.7.4. An orchestration of instruments 99 4.8. Conclusion 99 4.9. References 101 Chapter 5. Support for Work through Telepresence: Teachers’ Feelings of Self-Efficacy and Strategies for Self-Management 107 Stéphanie BOÉCHAT-HEER 5.1. Introduction 107 5.2. Conceptual framework 108 5.2.1. Social interactions in telepresence and the feeling of presence 108 5.2.2. The pedagogical system and the organization of interaction between participants 109 5.2.3. The feeling of self-efficacy in the implementation of pedagogical design 110 5.3. Methodological approach 111 5.3.1. Objectives and research questions 111 5.3.2. Research type and method 112 5.3.3. Overview of research, participants and instruments 112 5.3.4. Data analysis. 113 5.4. Analysis of the results and discussion 113 5.4.1. Contrasting opinions depending on the level of the teachers’ practice in telepresence 113 5.4.2. Teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy and their self-management strategies 114 5.5. Conclusion 122 5.6. References 123 Part 3. Telepresence Robots 127 Chapter 6. Effect of a Telepresence Robot on Remote Students’ Bodily Impressions: Extended or Mended Body 129 Françoise POYET 6.1. Introduction 129 6.2. A new ontophany engendered by the telepresence robot 130 6.3. Sensory motor and bodily schema: towards an augmented body? 131 6.4. Methodology 133 6.5. Discussion 135 6.5.1. Technical appropriation of the robot facilitated by the transfer of old sensory-motor schemes 135 6.5.2. Modified perceptions, a new way to perceive and understand ubiquity as an ordinary phenomenon 136 6.5.3. Constructing a new representation of one’s body and adapting one’s bodily schema 138 6.5.4. An open window to the class: from an extended to a mended body? 139 6.5.5. A location, an interpersonal distance and redefined social behaviors 140 6.5.6. Repercussions on learning styles: a focus on attention and a change in strategy 141 6.6. Conclusion 141 6.7. Acknowledgments 142 6.8. References 143 Chapter 7. Co-construction of Tangible, Dispersed and Multi-semiotic Spaces through the Use of a Telepresence Robot 145 Dorothée FURNON 7.1. A new phenomenological experience 145 7.2. Understanding physical experience from a systemic perspective 147 7.3. Intersubjective negotiation for the construction of tangible spaces 150 7.4. Field study and data collection methods 151 7.5. Illustrations of perceptual adjustments during mediatized interactions 152 7.5.1. Transformation of a cursor into an instrument of vocal proprioception 153 7.5.2. Perceptual adjustment in the co-construction of a statement within the pedagogical relationship 155 7.6. Creation of multiple spaces for the appearance of the self and the other through an expansion of physical spaces 156 7.7. The biases and limits of provoked absence in a study based on a systemic approach. 158 7.8. Conclusion and recommendations 159 7.9. References 161 Chapter 8. The Telepresence Robot in Universities: Between Subjectification and Unlinking 163 Jean-Luc RINAUDO 8.1. Introduction 163 8.2. A telepresence system 164 8.3. The psychoanalytical clinical approach 165 8.4. Psychoanalytical approach to robots 167 8.5. Methodology 169 8.6. A surprising opportunity 169 8.7. Other considerations 172 8.8. The psycho(patho)logy of the virtual everyday: a presence in the absence 173 8.9. References 175 Chapter 9. A Telepresence Research Set-up in a Doctoral Seminar: the “Digital Presences” Workshop 179 Christine DEVELOTTE 9.1. Introduction 179 9.2. Context: reflexive research 180 9.3. Technical-physical system 184 9.4. Theoretical framework 186 9.5. Techno-methodological choices 188 9.6. Technical work on video data 189 9.7. Discussion 190 9.8. Conclusion 193 9.9. Appendices 194 9.9.1. Appendix 1. Explanatory interview 194 9.9.2. Appendix 2. Questionnaire 197 9.10. References 198 Conclusion 201 Jean-Luc RINAUDO Postface 205 Jacques WALLET List of Authors 213 Index 215

About the Author :
Jean-Luc Rinaudo is Professor of the Science of Education at the University of Rouen-Normandy, France. His research focuses on education and training practices, covered by information and communication technology from a clinical, psychoanalytical perspective.