Courtney Williams is the founder and CEO of TORSH. This technological resource provides users with the opportunity to observe and learn through video posts. Teachers use this platform in order to improve their teacher skills and to receive real time feedback from peers and other teachers in the TORSH community.
“Courtney Williams is a seasoned executive with a passion for education reform. As an immigrant, he is intimately familiar with how a good education can change the trajectory of an individual’s life. Courtney founded TORSH after more than 15 years of experience in the technology industry, where he held senior executive roles at companies like AOL, Time Warner, and Interactive One. He is an active member of his community, serving as a Big Brother and a former board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters. He is a Board Member of the Johns Hopkins School of Education National Advisory Council and a 2010 CUP Fellow, a fellowship awarded to executives with a keen interest in social change through public service. Courtney is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Oberlin College.”(TORSH website)
My Review:
I have never personally used TORSH, but after watching videos/exploring more of the website, it seems like a platform that I would like to use in the near future. Learning through video and connecting with a community of teachers is something I really enjoy doing already, and I look forward to doing it even more on this platform. Whats great about this platform is that I can also decide to use it with teachers within my school. I can create a video observation videos and post them for my community of teachers to see, learn, and give me constructive feedback. It can be a tool I use to better my community or even further improve my already great dynamic I have with my work colleagues! Below are some reviews from the TORSH website:
References:
TORSH website ( https://www.torsh.co)
I can see the value in this in critique and reflective practice. Much like Voicethread, you can tag comments to certain times. This is good.
Thank you Trevor! Resources like TORSH and Voicethread provide us teachers with the opportunity to further our professional learning, and be more in touch with the communities of teachers around us, and communities we are already involved in.