Abstract
While the value of robotic telescopes in research is hardly contested, it is often assumed that effective astronomy teaching requires hands-on experience with a physical instrument. We examined the impact of student perceptions of remote instruction technologies in undergraduate astronomy projects at The Open University, UK. Key contrasts in attitudes and outcomes exist between more and less advanced cohorts, but our findings indicate that students value virtual telescopes as effective training for live instrument control and that remote observation can be coordinated effectively among multiple simultaneous non-colocated users.
