Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
telepresenceandthefuture
technology and quality, making difficult to compete with the Web-based virtual class- rooms used by most enterprise learning organizations. However, a network of pub- lic Cisco TelePresence suites has recently been built, and these suites are available at locations around the world at reasonable hourly rental rates. Polycom's RealPresence solution has fea-
ture-rich, high-quality software that is simple and interoperable. Some propri- etary technologies include the Polycom Touch Control interface, patented EyeConnect technology, Polycom HD Voice and Polycom Lost Packet Recovery. RealPresence is powered by an open
software platform that has native interop- erability with more than two million stan- dards-based video systems, Microsoft Lync clients and systems, and Cisco Telepresence systems. AT&T;'s Telepresence Solution offers "real-
size," ultra-HD video, CD-quality audio, interactive technologies and a specially designed environment in which instructors and other participants can easily see every raised eyebrow and hear every sigh. When someone to the left side of a table speaks, sound output is from a left-hand speaker.
BENEFITS & DRAWBACKS
Telepresence delivers value to an organiza- tion via a multitude of measures. In the study "Telepresence Revolution, conduct- ed by Verdantix, 15 Fortune 500 organiza- tions using telepresence rooms were tracked. Over 10 years, they would save$15 billion and could see a ROI in a little as 15 months. The benefits not only looked at air travel, quality of life and productively, but the value of fast decision making across a global enterprise. Telepresence can avoid millions of met-
ric tons of CO2. An individual business implementing four telepresence rooms can reduce its CO2 emissions by 2,271 metric tons over five years according ot the study. These reductions are equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from over 400 passenger vehicles. Other benefits include better use of
scarce talent resources, reducing up-front capital investments by letting the vendor provide the equipment and manage your telepresence in the cloud; and making use of existing supported video equipment
24 November / December 2011 Government Elearning!
without investing in expensive bridge capability. However, there are some drawbacks to
this new technology. Some are the same issues enterprises confront with any virtual learning options:
LEARNER REACTIONS
Risk is a key element in learning that helps to drive motivation and facilitates long term memory. Virtual environments are inherently less risky, though telepresence's effectiveness depends in large part to a degree of fidelity. The learner's physical relationship to the instructor and their peers is mediated by the technology.
INSTRUCTOR SKILL SETS
Great virtual classroom instructors have developed techniques and methodologies for minimizing the limitations and maxi- mizing the benefits of teaching in distrib- uted environments. However, the expo- nential adoption of virtual classrooms requires that these tools become more intuitive for the instructor. It is simply not practical to train every potential instructor to master the complex instructional tech- niques and methodologies. Therefore, either the virtual classroom tools must include intuitive functionality that enable novice instructors access to instructionally
Examples of Telepresence
>> Meeting face to face without traveling from place to place http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=QouqznE4Yw
>> Cisco TelePresence Town Square — John Lennon Only people http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=wQpBPUbNJcM
sound techniques and methodologies or they will, rightfully, gain the reputation as a substandard way to teach, learn and train. Enterprise learning is fundamentally about of getting people to do the right things at the right times. Substandard is not an option.
COSTS
Telepresence rooms are not inexpensive compared to virtual classrooms. They are not the platform for all training pro- grams. However, when competing in glob- al markets, with scarce talent resources and the need to deploy the best to global locations, this may be a good option. Before the Internet, the Ford Motor Company used satellite transmissions to deliver information to the dealer network daily, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. When put into perspective, Telepresence rooms may be a small invest- ment for the global enterprise to consider.
THE FUTURE
The broad market adoption of telepres- ence by enterprise learning organizations will pick up speed as underlying networks are built out and the technology becomes more pervasive. Historically, the excess capacity on networks becomes available for enterprise learning activities at reason- able costs once the networks are large enough to have excess capacity. Telepresence offers a compelling and
>> Cisco TelePresence Funny A network where body language is business language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= x55SKHIrqeU&feature;=related
>> Cisco Expo TelePresence education commercial Being here is being there: student blink http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=-UXOj_ob-_Y
transformational alternative that cannot be ignored. Enterprise learning organiza- tions and virtual classroom technologies are on an adoption path that relies on the availability of new software features and instructor and learner skills that mediate and enhance human nature. The subtle ways in which we relate to each other in the act of learning and teaching must be adapted to virtual instruction or technolo- gies that utilize that inherently utilized these elements of human nature. Telepresence promises to be this technolo- gy that displays vivid human nature instead of reinventing it.
REFERENCES:
>> Wainhouse Research "Telepresence vs Video Conferencing: Cost/Benefit
>> Verdantix's "Carbon Disclosure Project: The Telepresence Revolution"