Final Reflection for EDLD 5301

I have been a part of the education community for twenty plus years. I was not familiar with the term action research until this class. Based on what I have read and learned, I like the idea using action research to facilitate change.  According to Dana (2009), “action research refers to research intended to bring about change of some kind, usually with a social justice focus, whereas practitioner research quite often has a goal only of examining a practitioner’s practice to improve it or better understand what works “(p. 6).  As a software specialist, I believe it is important to strive to improve or better understand what works for me on the job.  By using action research strategies, it will be easy to determine how the technology department impacts student performances.  It makes sense for the technology department and teachers to collaborate on activities that impact student learning. It also makes sense to systematically collect data about the effectiveness of an activity and technology tools used to enhance the activity.  As I reflect on what I learned from this class, I can apply various techniques of collecting data. Ongoing data collection will indicate the maximum use of technology tools used for developing and implementing   interactive lessons. 

There is an eight step guideline for school leaders to gauge school improvement processes and boost student achievement (Harris, Edmonson and Combs, 2010). I summarized from the reading, school leaders must have continues improvement plans. It is important for schools to move beyond the maintenance strategies and plan for the future. 

Another thing I learned from this class is how to be an online learner.  I consider myself to be more of a one-on-one person who likes seeing facial expressions when talking.  At first, I was a little frustrated with using the discussion board, blogs and wikis. I am beginning to feel more comfortable using these Web 2.0 tools. I enjoyed posting messages about my action research plan and having others respond. Action research provides an opportunity to give support and encouragement while developing a plan; collecting and analyzing data; and communicating findings to show how and why your services or tools are important to optimizing student learning. 

I am ready to revise my action research project to address the comments and questions given by my site mentor and colleagues.

References

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education