Telepresence Possible?

In class this week, we discussed distance learning and telepresence. Is distance learning all it promises to be? Is it egalitarian, cheap, efficient, grade-A education? Will distance learning ever replace classroom learning, or will the disembodiment of telepresence be the downfall of Internet education? Dreyfus, in On the Internet, claims that distance learning fails in education (beyond the mere delivery of facts) because students cannot get as emotionally involved in their work. The learners do not care as much about their performance in a ‘tele-classroom’ where all they can see is their far-away professor. If they mess up, no one (or next to no one) knows or cares. Thus, the learners can never move past the beginning levels, and certainly cannot become completely competent in their knowledge and/or skill. Stuck in the competency stage, the students cannot reach other, more advanced stages where they make their own maxims and eventually study under an actual master of the field/skill. Distance learning is indeed (nearly) void of emotional attachment and field experience, and thus, it is not as successful, Dreyfus writes. As a part of the Internet and its technology, distance learning disembodies us.
Dreyfus goes on to tackle the possibility of the effectiveness of telepresence, specifically in education. If one examines the difficulties of distance learning from a teachers’ point of view, it is easy to see that telepresence could never substitute ‘real’ presence. For instance, in a distance learning environment, a teacher cannot make eye contact with his pupils nor can he pick up on feelings within the classroom, like disengagement or boredom. In a word, the teacher cannot get immediate bodily feedback from his students. He cannot get the "feel" of the room, per se. Again, the disembodiment of distance learning becomes a problem.
Yet, what if a type of telepresence could be created that makes an exact replica of the classroom, with bodily feedback, eye contact and everything this implies? This question bounced around in my head all throughout class. Using other theories mentioned in this course, I deduced that this type of telepresence might be possible in the near future.
When I was younger, my dad watched Star Trek faithfully. Consequently, I picked up a thing or two about the show. One thing I remember vividly (probably because I thought it was so cool) is the Holodeck, a virtual-reality room on the ship that created 'perfect' telepresence for all the senses. It would take the user wherever and whenever he/she wanted to go. Because we’ve discussed in class the effect science fiction (and specifically Star Trek) has on future technology, and because of the technological imperative (which states that anything that can be produced, will be), I believe that the technology this Holodeck utlizes could be created in the future, in theory. With this ‘perfect’ telepresence, could the issue of disembodiment in distance learning be overcome? Or would the fact that, just knowing the teacher is not physically there even though it seems in every capacity that he is cause the students to be less emotionally involved? Is it unreasonable to think this ‘Holodeck’ would be an effective teaching device?