I just finished up my first master’s course of the summer. It feels good to be finished with it, but I’ve got a long way to go before I graduate on July 30! This course was Introduction to Educational Research, which is something that I was looking forward to taking, as I enjoy reading research, but I am certainly no expert in understanding some of the nuances of how it’s put together. The course was well taught and organized, so I definitely got a lot of out of it. We read quite a bit of research, and a large part of the course focused on conducting teacher action research. I loved the focus on action research, as it is something I’ve heard a lot about in the past, but not studied in depth. Here are some take-aways from the course:
Enduring understandings (these are my opinions, not from the course outline or anything …):
- There is a major disconnect between formal (university) education research and teachers/the practice of teaching. Therefore, much of the educational research that is published does not get used in the classroom.
- Teacher action research allows teachers to investigate their own practice through inquiry. Through action research, teachers can become more reflective about their practice and find ways to improve their teaching in their classroom.
- Action research can be used as professional development. Using action research across a school can create a “center of inquiry.” When action research is the focus of PD, the locus of control moves from administration to teachers. Change can be more organic and there can be a norm of collegiality and experimentation.
- The theory of action research is inspiring – and in line what most teachers probably believe (or say they believe)! But, most of our schools are not set up in a way to facilitate this inquiry. In other words, even though it is an incredibly valuable process, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of teacher action research going on out there.
Essential questions:
- What steps can school leaders and teachers take in order to make action research and the inquiry cycle a greater part of their professional development and improvement efforts?
- What can I do to make my action research project a success? (see below)
- What role does formal educational research have in schools?
Final Project
For our final project we had to design an action research study. Mine is a qualitative case study, focusing on the question: What role can iPads play in making my students more motivated? This question arises in light of our 1:1 iPad pilot and my efforts to use the technology to inspire students in their learning (both with and without technology).
For the final project, I had to design an action research project, which I hope to conduct this school year. I had to do a literature review, looking at some academic research and articles relating to my topic, and design the study, which included considering what sort of data I would collect and how I would analyze the data. I created a timeline for the project, which looks like this:
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Here is a word cloud from my final paper and if anyone actually wants to see the final product, click on the link below.
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Click here to read the full action research proposal.
I’m off for two days now (although I am already getting ready for my next course as well as finishing up the report from the third semester of my internship, so I am way too busy!). Next up is school law, which should be interesting as well!