Action Reseach (Mertler, 2016) is an evaluative design, originally meant to help educators reflect on their skills and their students' learning. Its impact reaches far beyond the classroom, though, and into many other industries. The approach is four-parts: Planning, Acting, Developing, and Reflecting. As with all things, efforts to improve practices and resources, require just that: effort. Below, I discuss how Action Research can improve practices, people, and programs at my organization, who will be involved, and how the analysis of data and reflection can impact multiple teams across Waterford.org.
Designing my Fundamental Research Question
The first step in my plan was to identify the problem, or maybe, to admit there was a problem. Narrowing down my Action Research fundamental question was both tricky and obvious. I needed it to be relevant, actionable, and one that would not just be a practice, but potentially impact my organization as a whole. After internal reflection, analysis of team practices, and consulting with colleagues, my fundamental research question was formed.
Outlining my Action Research Plan
Equipped with my research question, I was ready to plot my plan of action. I began with outlining my research plan. I invite you click below to learn about the implementation, design and analysis of my action research project. Some of these steps were put into place prior to this course, so I was able to pull from, and build on, that experience, as well.
Researching my Action Research Plan: A Literature Review
With my research question in mind & an outline in place, it was time to research current literature and launch my plan. I found a wealth of information around evaluating professional learning & development, improving school culture & systems, and changing models of teaching & learning in school and business settings. Initially, I hoped this course would lean towards evaluting educational technology tools, so I also used this as an opportunity to search for information down that path, as well. I invite my audience to experience my knowledge acquisition through both my Annotated Review of References and Sources & via my completed literature review at the link below.
Presenting my Action Research Plan
With my research question in mind, outline and research in hand, I'm proud to present my Action Research Plan focusing on the question, "What is the Impact of Personalizing Professional Learning for the Members of the Waterford.org Professional Learning Team of Consultants?" I'm excited to continue this work with teams across my organization. I'm also excited to see how it will impact our school and community partners, now and in the future.
Contributions to my learning and my learning network
Special thank you to my colleagues at Waterford.org, my classmates, and especially my core collaborative group, who have been my phone-a-friend lifelines throughout this class and the entire Applied Digital Learning (ADL) program. I greatly appreciate insight gained from all who supported my work, led my path, or shared feedforward as I ventured into the world of Action Research. To learn more about how we collaborate in Lamar University's ADL Program, I invite you to click below.
Mertler, C. A. (2016). Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators. SAGE Publications.
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