Bringing the Classroom to Life
The use of telepresence robots in education is on the rise. Telepresence robots are emerging as an important tool for collaboration and connection that is distinct from online learning and video chat. Around the world, educators are using our robots to keep students engaged with experts and peers who cannot physically be in the classroom. How can you make learning more meaningful, impactful and fun? Read below to learn about new ways teachers are using the Ohmni Telepresence robot in education to deliver a more outstanding experience.
Invite Experts into the Classroom
Telepresence robots are an excellent way to extend a teacher’s reach beyond the four walls of a classroom. At the STEM Academy of Lewisville, a private charter school in Lewisville, TX offering Grades 6-12, teachers have embraced instructional technology to enhance their curriculum.
Academy high school students who participate in the NASA HUNCH Design Program are able to communicate regularly with NASA engineers and astronauts. Using the Ohmni Telepresence Robot as a collaboration tool makes students feel like the expert is right there in the classroom. All a teacher has to do is send a link to her guest to grant immediate access to work alongside students; there is no application or special software to download so connecting is quick and seamless.
Connect Homebound and Hospitalised Students
Of course, experts are awesome. But so are your own students. How can you keep homebound and hospitalised students engaged with their learning community when they are unable to physically attend school? Megan Gilmour found a way. When her then 10-year-old son, Darcy, took a rapid slide into critical illness, he eventually missed almost two years of school. Falling behind with his academics was a challenge, but not as much as loneliness and isolation he felt out of the classroom. Megan noticed Darcy’s hope diminishing and knew she must find a way to help.
Today, Megan’s organisation, MissingSchool, utilises the Ohmni Telepresence Robots to connect sick students with their classrooms. Unlike Skype on a laptop, it is operated in real-time by the student so students feel independent. And unlike, online learning, the student is learning socially, too — engaging with friends, teachers and everything that creates the school environment. The biggest benefit is that children receive the same instruction as their peers and are not disadvantaged. With the help of advanced technology, no child is left behind.
Welcome Overseas Students
At Seattle Pacific University (SPU), the Ohmni Telepresence Robot helps overseas students receive a first-class learning experience from afar. If homebound and hospitalised students no longer have to be disadvantaged when they cannot physically be in the classroom, then neither do overseas students. SPU allows non-local and overseas students to interact with professors, tour the campus, and attend class just like they are on-campus, giving students the feeling of community and belonging.
While other real-time communication methods such as video conferencing and live chat are great, but they do not allow a student to create a social presence and to make themselves known among their peers and faculty like a telepresence robot does. Ohmni robots put students in control and give them agency like nothing else. SPU students can attend classes, participate in breakout sessions, attend educational conferences using Ohmni and be recognised when doing so. And all at an affordable price. For SPU, Ohmni’s low price compared to other robots means scaling its use will be much easier. In the future, SPU hopes to have a fleet of Ohmni robots for students to use.
Expand Your Reach
While technology cannot replace the experience of being physically present in a classroom, Ohmni can certainly help replicate collaboration and discussion while providing its own benefits including extending the learning experience outside of the classroom. In addition, using this remote access technology helps students prepare for an increasingly remote work environment that depend on these new ways of working and learning to increase access and productivity.
Ready to expand the breadth of offerings in your school using the Ohmni Telepresence Robot for education? Visit the Robots4Good website to purchase your robot today. Click here.
About Robots4Good
A leading provider of robots as a service, Robots4Good is the exclusive supplier of OhmniLabs robots and services in Australia and New Zealand for business, manufacturing, schools, hospitals, disability and aged care settings.