Telepresence robots: Keeping students with complex health needs connected to their classrooms
Professor Petrea Redmond and not-for-profit MissingSchool, in collaboration with researchers at the University of New South Wales, are researching the experiences of students, teachers and parents when telepresence robots are used to connect students with serious illness, injury and disability to their schools. The robot service, run by MissingSchool since 2017, enables these students to continue their academic and social connections within their own school environment. Complex conditions include cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, injury, mental illness, school refusal, and rare diseases.
The central objectives of this research are to explore how telepresence robots can support continuous learning and social engagement for these students. Additionally, it aims to understand the dynamics between teachers, parents, and peers in their interaction with these robots, and to find ways to enhance this unique educational experience.
In February 2023, MissingSchool launched its revolutionary Seen&Heard Initiative to scale up the use of telepresence technology (including, but not limited to, robots) to give seriously sick students a continuous presence in their classrooms, from hospital or home. The initiative commences with a one-year nationwide pilot, and intends to reach all Australian schools by 2025, backed by comprehensive data collection.
Expected outcomes from the research are changes in policy, processes, and practices to ensure students with serious illness, injury or disability who miss large amounts of school have the opportunity for a quality educational experience and social connectedness with their usual classmates, teachers, and friends.
Research Team
Scholarly Publications, Presentations and Media
Gilmour, M., Hopkins, L., Meyers, G., Nell, C. & Stafford, N. (2015). School connection for seriously sick kids. Who are they, how do we know what works, and whose job is it? Canberra, Australia: Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.
Gilmour, M. (2020). Don’t Wait Until They’re Well: School policy and technology to keep sick kids connected, in Policy Futures: A Reform Agenda, The University of Queensland and The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
Gilmour, M., Redmond, P. (2021, January 19). The robots help sick kids ‘teleport’ to the classroom. [Press release, PDF].
Walsh, J., Henderson, M., Phillips, M. & Redmond, P. (2023). School Inclusion Through Remote Presence, Virtual Spaces and Digital Artefacts, for Students with Chronic Health Conditions. In E. Langran (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 447-455). New Orleans, LA, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221897/
