Investigating the empowerment of teachers and studentsat Northern Canadian schools throughtelecommunication technology

The proposed research project investigates how the Telepresence technology (Connected North) has an impact on Northern students’ and teachers’ educational experience. Our goal is to assess the impact of its implementation within three contexts: connecting students to students, connecting students to experts, and connecting teachers to teachers. To this end, we will administer questionnaires to teachers and students before and after the introduction of the technology, as well as compare groups who experience versus do not experience the technology for a particular curriculum unit. The questionnaires will include measures of teacher and student empowerment, as well as student learning. This research project is relevant to our partner organization because Connected North is an initiative put forth by Cisco to improve the existing educational experience in the Northern territories. This project will directly benefit Cisco because it will inform the effectiveness of the Telepresence technology for the classroom setting. Overall, our research findings will be integrated into Cisco’s wider goal of understanding the impact of broadcast and streaming video in education.

Faculty Supervisor:

Steve Joordens

Student:

Partner:

Cisco Systems

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education; Other; Technology

University:

University of Toronto Scarborough

Program: