{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T07:03:01Z","timestamp":1781334181745,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751328000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Robot. AI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With the increasing popularity of robots for learning, many educational organizations are using telepresence robots for the purpose of remote education. However, as robot-mediated learning is important for the learning experiences of remote and local interactants, it is also important to understand teacher roles and robot design features needed to facilitate these roles in robot-mediated learning experiences. In this paper, we present findings from analysis of a national, multi-case study, where we explore how (<jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic> = 60) K-12 teachers perceive their roles in teaching hybrid classrooms where a remote learner used a robot to attend a physical classroom with in-person classmates. This paper presents a qualitative study of the perceived roles for teachers in hybrid classrooms where a remote learner uses a telepresence robot to participate in learning activities. In 46 semi-structured interviews (<jats:italic>n =<\/jats:italic> 46) and 6 focus group interviews (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 2; <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 3; <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 2; <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 3; <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 2; <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 2), coded with a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (i.e., ATLAS.ti), we captured adapted roles enacted by teachers in robot-mediated learning experiences. First, we present empirical data on educator perceptions of teacher roles as they interact with mobile telepresence robots embodied by remote learners. Specifically, we explore perceptions and roles during in-class learning activities, in-school social activities, and learning preparation activities. Findings from our work will inform novel teacher-centered robot and HRI design that facilitates teaching hybrid classrooms. Findings will also inform future interdisciplinary studies on robot-mediated learning.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2025.1441382","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T07:54:42Z","timestamp":1751356482000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Robots for learning: an exploration of teacher roles, perceptions, and challenges in robot-mediated learning"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Veronica","family":"Ahumada-Newhart","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jacquelynne S.","family":"Eccles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.1080\/0144341032000160146","article-title":"Teacher motivation to implement an educational innovation: factors differentiating users and non-users of cooperative learning","volume":"24","author":"Abrami","year":"2004","journal-title":"Educ. Psychol."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1037\/tmb0000007","article-title":"A theoretical and qualitative approach to evaluating children\u2019s robot-mediated levels of presence","volume":"1","author":"Ahumada-Newhart","year":"2020","journal-title":"Technol. Mind, Behav."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.18848\/1832-3669\/cgp\/v19i01\/21-52","article-title":"Evaluation of the toyota human support robot (HSR) for social interaction and learning","volume":"19","author":"Ahumada-Newhart","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int. J. Technol. Knowl. Soc."},{"key":"B4","article-title":"My student is a robot: how schools manage telepresence experiences for students","author":"Ahumada-Newhart","year":"2017"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3325210","article-title":"Going to school on a robot: robot and user interface design features that matter","volume":"26","author":"Ahumada-Newhart","year":"2019","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-018-0637-6","article-title":"The moral machine experiment","volume":"563","author":"Awad","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"B7","first-page":"1","article-title":"Robot and human teacher","author":"Blar","year":"2014"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.1109\/mc.2017.154","article-title":"Standardizing ethical design for artificial intelligence and autonomous systems","volume":"50","author":"Bryson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Computer"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.1177\/1525822x19838237","article-title":"A team-based approach to open coding: considerations for creating intercoder consensus","volume":"31","author":"Cascio","year":"2019","journal-title":"Field methods"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.26822\/iejee.2021.182","article-title":"Expectancy value theory as a tool to explore teacher beliefs and motivations in elementary mathematics instruction","volume":"13","author":"Day","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. Electron. J. Elem. Educ."},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167295213003","article-title":"In the mind of the actor: the structure of adolescents' achievement task values and expectancy-related beliefs","volume":"21","author":"Eccles","year":"1995","journal-title":"Personality Soc. Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153","article-title":"Motivational beliefs, values, and goals","volume":"53","author":"Eccles","year":"2002","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Psychol."},{"key":"B13","article-title":"Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors","volume-title":"Achievement and achievement motivation","author":"Eccles Parsons","year":"1983"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.11114\/jets.v7i12.4491","article-title":"A review into effective classroom management and strategies for student engagement: teacher and student roles in today\u2019s classrooms","volume":"7","author":"Franklin","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Educ. Train. Stud."},{"key":"B15","article-title":"Using a telepresence robot in an educational contex","author":"Gallon","year":"2019"},{"key":"B16","volume-title":"The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research","author":"Glaser","year":"1967"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"962","DOI":"10.1109\/tro.2007.904904","article-title":"A two-month field trial in an elementary school for long-term human\u2013robot interaction","volume":"23","author":"Kanda","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. robotics"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1080\/00131857.2020.1793534","volume-title":"I, robot teacher","author":"Kupferman","year":"2022"},{"key":"B19","article-title":"Redefining the Role of the teacher: it\u2019s a multifaceted profession","author":"Lanier","year":"1997","journal-title":"Edutopia"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"976836","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2022.976836","article-title":"Higher education personnel\u2019s perceptions about telepresence robots","volume":"9","author":"Leoste","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Robotics AI"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.320.7226.50","article-title":"Qualitative research in health care. Assessing quality in qualitative research","volume":"320","author":"Mays","year":"2000","journal-title":"Bmj"},{"key":"B22","first-page":"307","article-title":"Sociable robot improves toddler vocabulary skills","author":"Movellan","year":"2009"},{"key":"B23","first-page":"3","article-title":"New teacher and student roles in the technology-supported, language classroom","volume":"2","author":"Murch\u00fa","year":"2005","journal-title":"Int. J. Instr. Technol. Distance Learn."},{"key":"B24","article-title":"Teachers of the future: meeting the needs of 21st century learners","year":"2020","journal-title":"Natl. Cent. Educ. Econ."},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.18848\/2327-0144\/cgp\/v23i04\/9-25","article-title":"Virtual inclusion via telepresence robots in the classroom: an exploratory case study","volume":"23","author":"Newhart","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Technol. Learn."},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1281","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-020-00714-0","article-title":"Telepresence robot use for children with chronic illness in Australian schools: a scoping review and thematic analysis","volume":"13","author":"Page","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robotics"},{"key":"B27","article-title":"Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks. Cal","volume":"4","author":"Patton","year":"2002","journal-title":"Sage Publ."},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tate.2004.06.004","article-title":"The classroom as a stage and the teacher's role","volume":"20","author":"Pettersson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Teach. Teach. Educ."},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.311.6996.42","article-title":"Qualitative research: reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services research","volume":"311","author":"Pope","year":"1995","journal-title":"bmj"},{"key":"B30","volume-title":"The coding manual for qualitative researchers","author":"Salda\u00f1a","year":"2021"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1016\/s0193-3973(99)00057-x","article-title":"Teacher development: roles of domain expertise and pedagogical knowledge","volume":"21","author":"Shulman","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Appl. Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"B32","volume-title":"Qualitative research: studying how things work","author":"Stake","year":"2010"},{"key":"B33","volume-title":"Global report on teachers: What you need to know","year":"2024"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4637","DOI":"10.3390\/su15054637","article-title":"The effectiveness of educational robots in improving learning outcomes: a meta-analysis","volume":"15","author":"Wang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11339","DOI":"10.1007\/s10639-023-12243-0","article-title":"Robots2school: telepresence-mediated learning in the hybrid classroom\u2013experiences in education support for children during cancer treatment: a qualitative study","volume":"29","author":"Weibel","year":"2023","journal-title":"Educ. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"6514","DOI":"10.21125\/inted.2022.1653","article-title":"Trine: telepresence robots in education","volume":"1","author":"Wernbacher","year":"2022","journal-title":"INTED Proc."},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1006\/ceps.1999.1015","article-title":"Expectancy\u2013value theory of achievement motivation","volume":"25","author":"Wigfield","year":"2000","journal-title":"Contemp. Educ. Psychol."},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1016\/0886-1633(94)90023-x","article-title":"Discovering the future of the case study. Method in evaluation research","volume":"15","author":"Yin","year":"1994","journal-title":"Eval. Pract."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Robotics and AI"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frobt.2025.1441382\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T07:54:44Z","timestamp":1751356484000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frobt.2025.1441382\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"references-count":38,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frobt.2025.1441382"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frobt.2025.1441382","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-9144"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-9144","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"article-number":"1441382"}}