This Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) study examines telepresence robots, including AV1, in educational settings, aiming to integrate homebound students by facilitating both educational continuity and social interaction with peers and teachers. Drawing on extensive qualitative data, the research studies provide insights into AV1's implementation and its impact.

Key findings

  • The effectiveness of these robots varies among students, influenced by factors such as health and social connections. Many report that it reduces their loneliness, makes it easier to return to school, enables "energy efficient" meetings, and gives them the opportunity to follow teaching.
  • Focusing on three ‘model’ cases, studies show how individual traits and circumstances of students have a significant bearing on whether and how AV1 supports socialising.
  • Teachers' anticipation of AV1's camera features, foreseeing watching, broadcasting, and parental auditing risks, significantly influenced their reluctance to adopt the technology in classrooms, reflecting broader concerns about privacy and control in educational settings.
  • Prolonged isolation can lead children to feel uncertain and anxious, fearing they'll miss out and be forgotten by their friends.
  • Covid 19 might have helped level the barriers for telepresence robots in schools, as more people have experienced the loneliness that accompanies social isolation, and how rewarding it can be to get in touch with friends.

Citations

  1. Nordtug, M., & Johannessen, L. E. (2023). The social robot? Analyzing whether and how the telepresence robot AV1 affords socialization. Convergence, 29(6), 1683-1697. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231201774
  2. Lars E. F. Johannessen, Maja Nordtug & Marit Haldar (2023): Multi-site domestication: taming technologies across multiple institutional settings, Information, Communication & Society, DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2023.2255644. To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2255644‍
  3. Johannessen, L. E. (2023). Anticipated affordances: Understanding early reactions to new technologies. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231161512‍
  4. Lars E. F. Johannessen, Erik Børve Rasmussen & Marit Haldar (2023): Educational purity and technological danger: understanding scepticism towards the use of telepresence robots in school, British Journal of Sociology of Education, DOI:10.1080/01425692.2023.2203360. To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2023.2203360‍
  5. Lars E.F. Johannessen, Erik Børve Rasmussen & Marit Haldar (2022): Student at a distance: exploring the potential and prerequisites of using telepresence robots in schools, Oxford Review of Education, DOI:10.1080/03054985.2022.2034610. To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2022.2034610