Fellowship Overview

The Ursula Williams Faculty Fellowship is a one-semester fellowship for Teaching Professors and Professors of the Practice in the College of Arts and Letters that focuses on the application of technology, instructional design, and second language acquisition study to pedagogical practices.

Over the course of the semester I have had the privilege of engage in a myriad of workshops that have each improved my instruction. Additionally, I had the opportunity to engage in action research around the topic of video feedback of "veedback" in three distinct ways. What follows is a basic outline of the research questions and findings.

Research Questions

  1. In what ways might asynchronous video be used to facilitate faculty feedback and observation?


  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages to different video platforms?


  1. In what ways do teachers participating in a virtual EL Instructional Methods course perceive video feedback? (How) do they feel that the feedback transforms their EL instructional practices?

Data Collection

  • TORSH Talent feedback for two assignments (n = 2 videos of teacher instruction [whole class and individual tutoring session])


  • Analyze of a Google Meet recordings (n = 1 teacher and principal conversation)


  • Video feedback over email (n = 1 teacher and one assignment)


  • Student survey regarding video feedback


  • Student focus groups (n= 2 sessions)


  • Faculty presentation and survey (n = 5 faculty members)



Outcomes + Next Steps

  • The students each found the video feedback to be more informative, helpful, and effective than traditional inline paper comments and summative feedback.


  • Of the three video platforms analyzed, TORSH was indicative of the most comprehensive, easy to use, and most impactful platform. The drawback is that this is not a free tool.


  • Students indicated that the feedback, particularly, the "real time" comment feature, was the most effective way to directly improve their practice.


  • Next steps: Faculty survey results and a formal vote have resulted in the purchasing of TORSH for all six courses in the ENL licensure preparation program for the upcoming year.


  • Additional research inquiries:

    • Running two tracks within a course to determine effectiveness;

    • conduct a robust survey around student perceptions of the tools / feedback (efficient, enjoyable, ease of use, effective),

    • examine the unique and nuanced setting of EL instruction and language instruction

    • evaluate the role of TORSH recorded videos in peer-to-peer feedback

    • investigate using screencasting as a way to provide feedback