Juan Fernando Flórez Marulanda, from the Doctorate in Electronic Sciences, presented this research work examining the design of the video style used in a synchronous remote course mediated by an Immersive Virtual Classroom (IVC) and the perceived social presence of the teacher by the students.

The work titled "Perception of higher education students in a remote synchronous class of the social presence of their teacher mediated by an immersive virtual classroom," presented by the student of the Doctorate in Electronic Sciences, Juan Fernando Flórez Marulanda, along with professors César Alberto Collazos and Julio Ariel Hurtado, achieved recognition as the Best Work in the main session of the IX Ibero-American Human-Computer Interaction Conference, an event held from September 13th to 15th at the National University of La Matanza (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

The research work by the student and professors from the University of Cauca stands out because previous studies have examined students' preferences for specific video styles in asynchronous and synchronous courses and social presence in online virtual courses. However, only a few studies have examined social presence and user experience in synchronous distance learning courses conducted in an immersive or augmented reality classroom. In this case study, a sample of 198 students is used to examine the video design used in a synchronous remote course mediated by an Immersive Virtual Classroom (IVC) on the perceived social presence of the teacher by the students, including factors such as usability, communication, and reliability.

The results showed that the immersive video style of the Immersive Virtual Classroom used to deliver a synchronous remote class significantly and reciprocally conditions the perception of the teacher's social presence by the students. Likewise, they also established that social presence in the IVC, enhanced by a video style that allows non-verbal immediacy responses, has a significant influence on the perception of reliability and communication, while usability has a significant positive influence on the perception of communication, video style design, and social presence.

In the experiment, 11 professors from the Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of Cauca conducted a class in IVC averaging 59 minutes, reaching a total of 277 students from 12 courses in the PIS, PIAI, and PIET programs of the Faculty. The professors' experience using IVC suggests that the visual design provides a sense of immersion in the taught material.

The IVC technology is part of the doctoral proposal called "Digital ecosystem to improve interaction through multimodal interfaces in higher education scenarios," aiming to define an interaction model through multimodal interfaces in higher education scenarios that increase engagement levels by integrating awareness and augmented reality. This doctoral work is led by professors César Alberto Collazos and Julio A. Hurtado from the IDIS Group in the Doctorate of Electronic Sciences at the University of Cauca.