Tele-Presence - when "being there" is the next best thing!!

Esther is in 4th Grade and she has just been diagnosed with Chicken-Pox.  She can't come to school, can't see her school buddies, missing class, very alone, would love to be in school with her friends......  Sound familiar?

Mordechai is a child actor who has to leave school for weeks on end to shoot on-location but doesn't want to miss the live class given by his teacher who is an expert in Talmudic Law.  

Yossie is a physics teacher who has landed in the hospital for 24 hours and doesn't want his Honors Physics class to miss out on special Lecture/Demonstration that he has been planning for weeks.

What do these 3 People have in common?  They could benefit from "Tele-Presence." That is the ability to remotely involve themselves in an activity that is happening at a location sometimes thousands of miles from where they are.  Being someone who has remotely taught hundreds of classes, I can tell you that the biggest challenge I have had was being able to "see" what was going on; to be able to feel like I was there in person.... until now that is!!!  (Yes, I really taught a class when I was in the cardiac ICU at Cedars Hospital!!!)

Let me introduce "Kubi" from Revolve Robotics. Kubi means "neck" in Japanese (Shout out to Hiroko-san and Sara-san at Arete Prep!!!)  This amazing little device dramatically changes the way that we can be "present" in a classroom.  Whether a student or a teacher, this can make a huge difference in the quality of a distance learning experience.  Check out the Kubi video....

(click to view video) 

Now, TRY IT YOURSELF with the Kubi self test demo (use the arrow keys on you keyboard to move around....)

The 20 minute on-line demo that I had with Kyle Murdok and Amar Desai (from Revolve) sold me on the spot!  I have applied for the 30 day free trial.  I can't wait until I have my "Esther" and "Mordechai" try this and get their impressions!

I know that I will be touring this product to all of my "Consortium Schools."  AMIT Schools and S'mdar from JETS Israel - you should really check this out!!! 

What do you think about the possibilities?  Do you want to try it out with me as well?  Send me an email or post a comment on the blog!

Regards....

Yossie

Yossie Frankel
Director - Consortium for Information and Academic Technologies
Member Schools:
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - yfrankel@hillelhebrew.org
Oakland Hebrew Day School - y.frankel@ohds.org
Shalhevet High School - y.frankel@shalhevet.org
Yeshivat Yavneh - www.yha.org
Arete Preparatory Academy - yfrankel@areteprep.org

Midreshet Emunah V'Omanut - Jerusalem - yfrankel@emunahvomanut.org
Checkout my blog @ technorebbe.blogspot.com
Twitter @yossiefrankel
YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel