TY - JOUR

T1 - Robots2school

T2 - telepresence-mediated learning in the hybrid classroom – experiences in education support for children during cancer treatment: a qualitative study

AU - Weibel, Mette

AU - Bergdahl, Nina

AU - Hallström, Inger Kristensson

AU - Skoubo, Sofie

AU - Bertel, Lykke Brogaard

AU - Schmiegelow, Kjeld

AU - Larsen, Hanne Baekgaard

N1 - Funding Information: This work is part of and funded by the Interregional Childhood Oncology Precision Medicine Exploration (ICOPE), a cross-Oresund collaboration between the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet; Lund University; Region Skåne; and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Funding Information: This work is part of Childhood Oncology Network Targeting Research, Organization & Life expectancy (CONTROL) supported by Danish Cancer Society [R-257-A14720] and the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation [2019–5934]. Funding Information: This study was funded by the Danish Cancer Society [R-260-A15147-19-S3], Toyota-Fonden, Denmark [KJ/BG-9773 H], Dagmar Marshall Fonden [5000020], the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation [2020–6808], Lundbeck Fonden [A7971], Fabrikant Einar Willumsens Mindelegat and Department of Clinical Medicine 2021 Research Fund– Copenhagen University. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Danish Cancer Society [R-260-A15147-19-S3], Toyota-Fonden, Denmark [KJ/BG-9773 H], Department of Clinical Medicine 2021 Research Fund– Copenhagen University, the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation [2020–6808], Lundbeck Fonden [A7971], Fabrikant Einar Willumsens Mindelegat, and Dagmar Marshall Fonden [5000020]. Funding Information: The Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) contributed to the development of the Fable Connect robot. To ensure transparency and independence, a cooperative agreement was made between Shape Robotics and Rigshospitalet. According to this agreement, Rigshospitalet’s research group has no financial gain from its collaboration with Shape Robotics and holds the publication rights for all research results. Co-author Sofie Skoubo’s Ph.D.- project, “My Avatar”, has been funded by No Isolation and the Research Council of Norway. To ensure transparency and independence in the research project, Aarhus University; Public Health, and No Isolation established a cooperative agreement for the Industrial Ph.D. project. Other than that, the authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Funding Information: Furthermore, this project is a part of the Childhood Oncology Network Targeting Research, Organization & Life expectancy (CONTROL) and is supported by the Danish Cancer Society [R-257-A14720] and the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation [2019–5934]. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Children with cancer experience recurring hospitalizations and isolation during treatment, which affect their school attendance. This study explores experiences of children with cancer, their classmates, and teachers with using the telepresence robot as a learning mediator in the hybrid classroom during treatment periods. 31 children with cancer (aged 7–17 years), 30 teachers, and 118 classmates participated in interviews and 19 h of participant observations were undertaken in nine classrooms. The Agential Realism Theory and Situational Analysis framed the data analysis. There was a single overarching theme, “Telepresence robot didactic,“ and five sub-themes (Telepresence mediated learning, school-home collaboration, hybrid robot teaching, intra-actions in class, and inclusive spatiality). This study advocates the complexity of telepresence robot didactics, emphasizing that numerous human and other factors must intra-act and work simultaneously to achieve optimal learning conditions for children during cancer treatment. This includes considerations such as modality availability for the remote child; the teacher’s understanding of telepresence robot didactic and hybrid learning; the classmate’s ability to involve the remote child in groupwork; the child’s own treatment protocol, the robot’s functionalities, and spatiality in the class. Strategies for use and the systematic surveillance of telepresence robots are needed to ensure that children during cancer treatment do not lag in academic achievement. This study proposes that children with cancer can continue participating in class while hospitalized or isolated and consequently reduce social and academic setbacks.

AB - Children with cancer experience recurring hospitalizations and isolation during treatment, which affect their school attendance. This study explores experiences of children with cancer, their classmates, and teachers with using the telepresence robot as a learning mediator in the hybrid classroom during treatment periods. 31 children with cancer (aged 7–17 years), 30 teachers, and 118 classmates participated in interviews and 19 h of participant observations were undertaken in nine classrooms. The Agential Realism Theory and Situational Analysis framed the data analysis. There was a single overarching theme, “Telepresence robot didactic,“ and five sub-themes (Telepresence mediated learning, school-home collaboration, hybrid robot teaching, intra-actions in class, and inclusive spatiality). This study advocates the complexity of telepresence robot didactics, emphasizing that numerous human and other factors must intra-act and work simultaneously to achieve optimal learning conditions for children during cancer treatment. This includes considerations such as modality availability for the remote child; the teacher’s understanding of telepresence robot didactic and hybrid learning; the classmate’s ability to involve the remote child in groupwork; the child’s own treatment protocol, the robot’s functionalities, and spatiality in the class. Strategies for use and the systematic surveillance of telepresence robots are needed to ensure that children during cancer treatment do not lag in academic achievement. This study proposes that children with cancer can continue participating in class while hospitalized or isolated and consequently reduce social and academic setbacks.

KW - Childhood cancer

KW - Distance learning

KW - Hybrid classroom

KW - School absence

KW - Telepresence robots

U2 - 10.1007/s10639-023-12243-0

DO - 10.1007/s10639-023-12243-0

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85174707162

JO - Education and Information Technologies

JF - Education and Information Technologies

SN - 1360-2357

ER -