Remote University Supervision of Student Teachers

This chapter outlines the shift of a U.S.-based university teacher preparation program from in-person supervision of student teachers to fully remote supervision during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Strengths identified in the shift to remote supervision include elimination of travel to school sites, modest cost savings, improved frequency and scope of feedback provided by university supervisors, increased flexibility in timing and nature of observations, and the use of recorded videos for reflection. Challenges identified include the need for ongoing professional development among all parties, missing school and classroom context, and weaker relationships between university supervisors and K-12 mentor teachers. The chapter makes recommendations for university teacher education programs considering a shift to remote supervision of student teachers, including provision of professional development, implementation of video coaching cycles, and explicit planning for relationship development with K-12 school partners.

On the safety assessment of an automatic train operation system

The paper examines the automatic train operation system as part of the locomotive control and protection system, the remote supervision centre’s means for control of onboard and trackside machine vision facilities. The focus is on the dependence of the system’s safety and dependability on the dependability characteristics of its components and adverse weather effects. The criteria of a system’s wrong-side and right-side failures were defined, the graph models were constructed of the safety and dependability states of an automatic train operation system. The Markovian graph method of calculating the safety and dependability of complex systems was substantiated. That allowed defining such key safety indicators of an automatic train operation system as the mean time to wrong-side failure, probability of wrong-side failure, wrong-side failure rate. The study established that the safety of an automatic train operation system primarily depends on the dependability of machine vision facilities. The growth of the system’s wrong-side failure rate is limited to half the failure rate of machine vision facilities. It was also established that the dependability of an automatic train operation system is defined by the failure rate of a locomotive control and protection system and the failure rate of machine vision facilities. The conducted analysis allows concluding that in order to achieve an acceptable level of safety of an automatic train operation system, efforts should focus on machine vision redundancy, ensuring the SIL4 functional safety of on-board and trackside machine vision facilities, as well as regular comparison of the outputs of on-board and trackside machine vision facilities, redundant output comparison, integration of the outputs in motion. Additionally, adverse weather effects are to be countered by improving the efficiency of machine learning of the machine vision software.

Putting a face to a name: Telephone contact as part of a blended approach to probation supervision

This article is about the experience of telephone supervision from the perspective of practitioners. It is set in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which changed and challenged the nature of probation supervision and required service users and supervisors to communicate remotely, using the telephone, rather than by meeting face-to-face. The article explores some of the impacts and consequences of telephone contact and examines the extent to which this approach has a part to play in future, post-pandemic, ways of working. The article draws on findings from a research project examining remote supervision practice during the pandemic. Fieldwork (comprising an online survey and a series of semi-structured interviews) was conducted between July and September 2020 in three divisions within an English community rehabilitation company. The article reinforces the importance of face-to-face work in probation practice but suggests that there is scope to retain some use of telephone supervision as part of a future blended practice model. Further thinking about telephone supervision might consider these three themes identified in the research: remote working limits the sensory dimension of supervision, relationships remain at the heart of practice, and good practice requires professional discretion.

“Yes, I can hear you now …” Online working with probationers in the Netherlands: New opportunities for the working alliance

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, online supervision has increased markedly, including within the Dutch probation services. In the present research, we systematically collected and analysed both clients and probation officers’ experiences of working online in the prior year. Although the clients were generally positive about remote supervision, some expressed that they missed the personal contact. According to most of the probation officers, remote working is flexible (efficient, saves time, travel costs), appropriate for certain phases of the probation process (especially at a later stage when a working alliance has been established) and particularly suitable for probationers with mild problems and low risk profiles. The general experience was that conversations are both more pragmatic and business-like, which, in turn, can produce both strengths and limitations. Once a foundation has been established, it appears to be possible to continue working remotely with clients, albeit the probation officers stressed that this depended on the type of client, type of offence and risk level.

Real-Time Sensory Information for Remote Supervision of Autonomous Agricultural Machines

The concept of the driverless tractor has been discussed in the scientific literature for decades and several tractor manufacturers now have prototypes being field-tested. Although farmers will not be required to be physically present on these machines, it is envisioned that they will remain a part of the human-automation system. The overall efficiency and safety to be attained by autonomous agricultural machines (AAMs) will be correlated with the effectiveness of information sharing between the AAM and the farmer through what might be aptly called an automation interface. In this supervisory scenario, the farmer would be able to both receive status information and send instructions. In essence, supervisory control of an AAM is similar to the current scenario where farmers physically present on their machines obtain status information from displays integrated into the machine and from general sensory information that is available due to their proximity to the operating machine. Therefore, there is reason to expect that real-time sensory information would be valuable to the farmer when remotely supervising an AAM through an automation interface. This chapter will provide an overview of recent research that has been conducted on the role of real-time sensory information to the task of remotely supervising an AAM.

SP2.1.14Remote examination of surgical skills is feasible and desirable during COVID crisis and beyond

Aims We aimed to investigate the feasibility of employing Zoom technology to undertake structured remote examination of surgical skill during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond as a mean to complement remote training and supervision of basic laparoscopic skills. Methods We have adapted a previously reported method of remote training and supervision of laparoscopic skills training successfully used with 7 trainees. Five consultant surgeons with established expertise in surgical education participated in remote mock examination of LapPass skills using Zoom technology. We assessed the feasibility of remote examination by assessing image quality on Maryland visual comfort scale and undertook a trainers’ survey using a 5 point Lembert scale. Result The remote examiners recorded excellent quality of views, identical in clarity and detail to the source images. Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility and the benefit of using modern internet technology in delivering a flexible approach to examination of surgical skills met with strong satisfaction by established trainers and trainees alike. All trainers supported the idea of introduction of remote examination as beneficial for all stakeholders and ready to replace face-to-face examination in specific settings. The surgical community should embrace, on a larger scale, the concept of remote supervision and examination whenever possible.

A Web-based Mobile Medical Monitoring System

A hospitalwide mobile medical monitoring system is described. Telemetry devices are attached to patients to acquire, store and process continuous data about their state of health. Medical staff may examine realtime graphical information and make comparisons with historical data. Parameters may be set to cause an automatic alert to portable devices held by appropriate staff if a patient requires urgent observation. The system uses the services provided by Internet and Intranet to allow remote supervision and consultation. A hardware/software prototype has been constructed to demonstrate realtime data acquisition, wireless transmission/reception and connection to the Worldwide Web. The realtime, supervisory and remote teaching aspects of the software system are being designed and are in the process of implementation.