Quality of and Attention to Instructions in Telementoring

There is a long-standing interest in CSCW on distributed instruction - both in how it differs from co-located instruction as well as the design of tools to reduce any deficiencies. In this study, we leveraged the unique environment of laparoscopic surgery to compare the efficacy and mechanism of instruction in a co-located and distributed condition. By implementing the same instructional technology in both conditions, we are able to evaluate the effect of distance on instruction without the confounding variable of medium of instruction. Surprisingly, our findings reveal a higher perceived quality of instruction by trainees in the distributed condition. Further investigation suggests that in a distributed learning environment, trainees change their behavior to attend more to the provided instructions resulting in this higher perceived quality of instruction. Finally, we discuss our findings with regards to media compensation theory, and we provide both social and technical insights on how to better support a distributed instructional process.