L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning
Technology
Telepresence
These days, people rarely travel more than an hour for face-to-face meetings, but telepresence with colleagues instead1. Telepresence enables user interaction with a real individual in a real, but remote location. This interaction differs from virtual presence, where the user conducts a meeting with an avatar in a simulated environment, such as Second Life.
Telepresence meeting members can see every other participant onscreen, giving the impression that everyone is present in the same room – even though they may be geographically separated by thousands of miles. Conversing as if they were actually present establishes an interpersonal bond between geographically separated group members. The technology2, 3, 4 supports one-to-many or group-to-group meetings and is an improvement over 20th century videoconferencing – individuals onscreen appear life-size and without the old problems of lip-synch.
Interactions regularly take place via telepresence between individuals in meeting rooms or home environments. But the technology also enables people to interact face-to-face from difficult-to-access or hostile environments such as undersea oil exploration facilities, toxic production environments or high altitude locations.
Telepresence coaching has become widely available. People coach across the globe and are supported by online technologies such as virtual reality and e-learning. Routine telepresence co-coaching between individuals and learning groups is supporting continuous professional development in many fields such as teaching, medicine and law.
Holograms6 regularly enter the business world. In the classic Star Wars scene, R2D2 projects a small holographic image of Princess Lea pleads for Obi-Wan's help to save the world. Imagine the princess is life size and in full colour. Appearing in high resolution, she is standing across the room from you – a holographic conference.
Human images appear sitting behind a desk, a lectern or even on a stage, giving the appearance that the person is sitting or standing there in real life7. Tele-immersion8 transmits life-size, three-dimensional synthesised scenes and images over long distances.
On a smaller scale, individuals can view and work on a three-dimensional, full-colour holographic object through interactive imaging. For example, a medical student can use this technology to see a simulated full-size, three-dimensional beating heart. The student can then use virtual scalpels to perform heart surgery with the look and feel of actually performing the operation9.
Holographic conferencing is re-energising ‘action learning’ by enabling participants to experience each other’s worlds in real time without leaving their own environment.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE
2. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns669/networking_solutions_solution_segment_home.html
3. http://www.eyeliner3d.com/musion_eyeliner_showreels.html
4. http://www.hp.com/halo/index.html?jumpid=re_r138/070828xb/Halo
5. http://techlogique.wordpress.com/2007/06/14/3d-holographic-hd-video-conferencing-dve-tele-immersion-room/
6. http://www.corbinball.com/articles/art-teleimmersion.htm
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