In the Footsteps of Learning: A Comparison of Robotic and Human Instructor Movement in the Classroom

The movement of instructors in the classroom is more than simply walking about; it is a carefully choreographed ballet that includes or excludes students, shifts the focus of the entire classroom, and manipulates student behavior. Our work explores the impact of using a telepresence robot as an instructor avatar on the instructor’s movement and resting position patterns in a real-world classroom. We use heatmaps to identify high and low usage traffic patterns and to analyze the resting positions instructors use to monitor or engage with the class.

The movement and resting positions of the instructor have a profound impact on student engagement, discipline, and on-task behavior. Seating arrangements have an inevitable impact on how an instructor can move through the classroom. We examine how, in a group work scenario in a local high school, a horse shoe arrangement of desks is navigated by both co-situated human instructors and by those same instructors when they are remote and using a telepresence robot for instruction. We use the lens of spatial pedagogy and embodied pedagogy to evaluate how an telepresence embodiment differs from a co-located one.

Our results show that the telepresence embodiment has a significant impact on both movement and resting position. It promotes use of the periphery of the classroom and the Supervisory Space, reduces dependence on the Authoritative Space, and shifts resting positions from the Authoritative space to the Surveillance space. We also share some insights on designing a classroom for more effective telepresence use.