Bridging the Telepresence Valley: Greg Welch Speaks

EDITOR'S SUMMARY

Greg Welch, chair of healthcare simulation at University of Central Florida, spoke at the 2016 ASIS&T Annual Meeting as the first plenary speaker. He discussed the meaning of a telepresence valley, which is the gap between people in a situation where telepresence is involved. Welch noted that telepresence is markedly different from telecollaboration and, in an ideal telepresence situation, people from different remote locations can feel they are together in one common location. One telepresence application, TLE TeachLivE, is a simulated classroom that allows teachers to improve their skills in interacting with students. TLE simulates avatar students that react to the teacher, thus giving realistic feedback in real time. Welch also discussed applications in the healthcare industry, such as a touch-sensitive mannequin head that Welch and his team are developing to react to the actions of a provider.