Training in the Age of Social Distancing

Apr 27, 2020

I have a complicated problem and need general community advice in regards to in person training.  My primary responsibilities is to create eLearning courses and lessons teaching heath laboratory researchers at a major university on the West Coast. 

Most of the researchers are new to this field but we also get researchers coming from other institutions that must go through our training to become certified to our policies, procedures, and best practices.  

We use a form of blended learning. In the eLearning component the learners are introduced to the polices, procedures, and an introduction to industry terms and equipment.  

The learners then attend in-person classes where the learn how to handle the very delicate materials that require getting use to manipulating the materials that include surgical equipment and sharps.  Normally the instructors  (SMEs) are up-close next to the learners demonstrating the holds, hand movement, gestures and the delicate touch or firm grip necessary.  The learners then demonstrate their ability to manipulate the material and at times the instructor will adjust hand-holds and such. By the end of the in-person classes the learners need to demonstrate competency. 

In the past we knew that the learners would go back to their labs and have mentors that would be near them during procedures and be able to help the learners if they did something wrong.  Now, the labs are all mandated to keep people separate and in many instances only one person per lab bench. It is a major research university and lots of instruction occurs in the lab, but now we can’t depend on that.  

In the age of social distancing we have been mandated that the instructor and learners need to be separate. I have been looking into using a GoPro camera mounted on a frame above the instructor and material live-streaming to a WI-Fi enabled tablet that the learner is holding. The learner will be in the same room but six feet away.  I have never used a GoPro.  I am concerned about the time-delay that the learners are likely to experience hearing what the instructor is saying and what the learn sees on the tablet. 

Will it require the instructor to adjust the timing and pace of their presentation?  Will it alter the timing of their feedback?  Might there be a safety issue? It is a lab with potentially hazardous equipment and at times materials.  Will the three-demensionality of the materials be visible in the tablet?  

My video experience is limited to using DSLRs and SmartPhone to capture video of procedures and integrating them into asynchronous learning projects like Storyline.  

Does anyone have any experience using video cameras to teach real-time delicate procedures?  If so, do any of you have anything to share about it? 

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