New Research

Vocal tone, gestures and facial expressions provided by video feedback surpasses textual means, in that text can lack the personalized communication and supportive nature that can uplift the relationship between instructor and student (Yiğit & Seferoğlu, 2021). 

When teachers take advantage of recording their voice, their tone can soften the criticism and illustrate the instructor's underlying respect, encouragement and desire to motivate their students (Fang & Wickersham-Fish, 2021; Bissell, 2017; Ali, 2016).  Surprisingly, students also cited the efforts of the teacher in creating video for their benefit, so students reported a reciprocal desire to put more effort into their own revisions (Yiğit & Seferoğlu, 2021). 

Additionally, video feedback was found to be “more conversational, supportive, and fully developed” when compared with text-based feedback (Kaplan-Rakowski, 2020). The effectiveness of screencasting feedback was found to be “more intimate” and “more motivating” according to participants in one study (Inan-Karagul & Seker, 2021). 

Making the switch to video and/or screencasts for communication over traditional methods offers a more manageable approach for online learning, with the provision of short, timely and individualized feedback (Ryan, 2021).  Students perceive feedback in this manner as easier to comprehend and more effective as a change agent, creating authentic engagement with their own work (Yiğit & Seferoğlu, 2021). A renewed enthusiasm for teachers in the evaluation process was noted by students in their instructor’s ability to teach concepts that could not be conveyed through text alone (Henderson & Phillips, 2015). 

Teachers can be discouraged by a lack of student action taken or even dismissal of their feedback, especially as the provision of feedback in and of itself requires ample time and effort to generate (Fang & Wickersham-Fish, 2021; Bissell, 2017).  Feedback can often be ignored by students who are failing to comprehend the meaning of the feedback or find it impersonal (Cavaleri et al., 2019).  Student engagement with instructor feedback is known to be an existing problem in education which may be mitigated through the use of the screencasting approach (Ryan et al., 2020; West & Turner, 2016).  Through teacher assisted feedback (via screencast), students can become more independent and complete tasks without as much teacher intervention required for future learning scenarios, making the feedback “feedforward” (Henderson & Phillips, 2015; Boud & Molloy, 2013).