"It's Not Like He Was Being a Robot:" Student Perceptions of Video-Based Writing Feedback in Online Graduate Coursework

Video Feedback and Instructor Social Presence in an Asynchronous Online Course

“…It can be easy for learners and instructors alike to view each other as names on a screen, not as real people. This study's findings echo those found in previous studies suggesting that the use of video-based feedback helps to humanize the instructor and foster greater instructor social presence (Darby & Lang, 2019;Marshall et al, 2020). Research suggests that feedback is both important for student learning and that it often fails to meet student needs (Nilsen, 2016).…”

“…Additionally, studies have reported that students found the linear nature of video feedback to be problematic as they were unable to scan the feedback (as one would text comments), requiring them to review the videos multiple times and slowing down the revision process (i.e., Borup et al, 2015;Thompson & Lee, 2012). While some studies have found video feedback to soften the impact of receiving challenging feedback (e.g., Marshall et al, 2020), other studies have reported that students experienced negative feelings when receiving video-based feedback, such as anxiety, nervousness, discomfort, awkwardness, or a hesitancy to watch the feedback (Ali, 2016;Edwards et al, 2012, Hyde, 2013Lamey, 2015). Therefore, it is important to continue to investigate student perceptions of video feedback to fully understand the impacts it may have on student engagement and instructor social presence.…”

“…Recent literature has demonstrated the ways in which asynchronous, one-to-one video feedback is advantageous for building student-teacher relationships, with students claiming that watching video feedback felt personal (Darby & Lang, 2019;Marshall et al, 2020) and made them feel like the instructor knew them (Parton et al, 2010), cared about them, (Henderson & Phillips, 2015), and valued them (Harper et al, 2012). Students have also reported that video feedback made asynchronous instructors feel more real, which motivated them to complete assignments (Borup et al, 2014).…”

“…The other member of the team was not connected with the course under study but had also previously used video-based feedback for writing deliverables assigned in their online coursework. Both members of this research team have studied and published on writing feedback previously (Marshall et al, 2020). Similar to the study's participants, both researchers have been involved with teacher preparation programs previously and both were formerly secondary public education teachers.…”

A dialogic technology-mediated model of feedback uptake and literacy

“…In addition to offering higher perceived quality and quantity (Crook et al 2012;Henderson and Phillips 2015;Borup, West, and Thomas 2015) screencasts are thought to be more efficient and workload sustainable than providing text comments (Dawson et al 2018). Learners have also reported themselves more likely to engage with screencast feedback (West and Turner 2016) and report viewing it multiple times (Grigoryan 2017), feeling feedback is personalised to them (Henderson and Phillips 2015) and more human (Marshall, Love, and Scott 2020). Screencasts may be especially useful in educational contexts in which there is a need to bolster socio-affective aspects of the teacher-student relationship (Dawson et al 2018) as they are thought to convey rapport (West and Turner 2016) and 'social presence' (Thomas, West, and Borup 2017) more effectively.…”