Reflective Essay

Introduction

The following is an essay that details the reflections that I have come to have regarding different elements that I have learnt in this course. This essay will therefore draw its examples from theoretical as well as practical elements of the course and the application they have to action research. Since the focus was action research, it will be important to detail the way my understanding of action research has evolved during the seven week period. I will also indicate the ways in which this learning experience can impact my own action research study.

From May’s inquiry I got to learn the importance of a diligently administered collaborative inquiry. This is a good example of action research since the researcher took her research subjects as equals. This enabled her to get much more insights than what she expected to get. This is because in addition to making her wondering a reality through changing the way she taught, the experience also exposed some elements about her approach to teaching.

Some of the specific areas of change in my perception of the action plan were the data collection tools, the timing of the research, the people to involve in the research and also the significance of the same (Centre for Collaborative Action Research, 2011). The first thing that I learnt about action research is the fact that it is a system of inquiry whose solutions are implemented in real time to the problem at hand. This fact helped me to correct the misconception that I had regarding the same. Initially I thought that that data collection took place in a separate activity but upon going through the program I learnt that it is somewhat concurrent with the execution of solutions. In the teaching profession for instance this means that the research needs to be restricted to the academic sessions such as semesters. In the case examples about action research, I noted the constant communication and contact with research subjects throughout the project as opposed to contacting them in the data collection phase as has been the norm in the different studies I have engaged in (AERA, 2000).

With respect to the timing of action research, I got to learn that it is necessary to plan the project in a manner that will grant the researcher an ample opportunity to analyze the problem at hand and how it affects different stakeholders. I now know that the researcher’s schedule is always at the mercy of the research area’s program. This grants him or an ample opportunity to observe and experience first-hand the problem being researched on. Implementation of solutions is also made possible with their workability too being easily observable. I learnt this when I read about the approaches that were used by different researchers who implemented action research. It simply can’t be used to generate knowledge exclusively for future analysis or archiving. The generated knowledge has to be applied during a specific period lest it lose its significance.

With respect to the people who need to be involved in action research, I got to learn that the most effective is first person, though other forms do exist. With first person research, the individuals who are directly affected by a given problem are taken as research subjects whose activities will be observed as part of data collection. Once the data has been analyzed, the researcher can propose solutions which will be implemented and evaluated immediately since the sample will still be under the researcher’s scope. The significance of the people involved in the research is the enhancement of their professional relationship (Dana, 2008). A teacher’s action research on her students will help her identify problem areas which she can work on by making improvements to different elements of her teaching process. This perception was altered when I was formulating the write up of the significance of this research because I noticed that it often has very high specificity to the subjects who have been researched on (CDN, 2013).

With respect to teacher inquiry methods I learnt that while there are several ways in which it can be applied, the most appropriate is inquiry that involves the students and their parents (APA, 2013). This is highly effective since the most important and influential stakeholders have been involved in the action research project. In teacher inquiry it is essential that the researcher embrace the use of both qualitative and quantitative data (Glense, 2005; UF, 2013). These will help present an all-rounded picture of a problem being investigated and it also introduces different angles from which the problem can be viewed (Farmer et al, 2006,; Meijer, 2002).

Since the teaching process is continuous, teachers need to deliberately collect data on a continuous process (Clauset et al, 2009). This is because action research does not have to be done as a separate thing. It can actually be incorporated into the teaching process. Outside of the classroom, researcher inquiry actions that I may take include the observation of the mundane elements that I may note subconsciously. These include the company a student has been keeping in and their performance in class. Something else I could not is the general school environment and the effect this has on the students on a daily basis. I could ask if the school makes them comfortable or on the flipside eager to get out at the first chance they have.

What I learnt can be summarized by my appreciation of the fact that being an action researcher is something that should be second nature for anybody in the teaching profession as this will improve the quality of their work, the students’ experience and the teacher’s fulfillment from the work he or she does (DuFour, 2004).

References

American Educational Research Association.AERA (2000) Ethical Standards of American Educational Research Association. Retrieved from http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/node/3178on December 12 2013

American Psychological Association, Privacy and confidentiality. APA (2013) Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=7 on December 12, 2013

CDN (2013) Dial a Researcher. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6733/01/mm/dialresearcher/index.html on December 12, 2013

Centre for Collaborative Action Research (2011) Action Research with Students. Retrieved from http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ccar/projects.school.html on December 12, 2013

Clauset, K. H., Lick, D. W., &Murphey, C. U. (2009).Schoolwide action research for professional learning communities: Improving student learning through the whole-faculty study groups approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

Dana, N. F., &Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2008).Facilitating the professional development of others: The role of action research and professional learning communities.In The reflective educator’s guide to professional development: Coaching inquiry-oriented learning communities (pp. 1–20). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

DuFour, R. (2004). What is a “professional learning community”? Educational Leadership, 61(8), 6–11. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database

Farmer, T., Robinson, K., Elliott, S. J., &Eyles, J. (2006). Developing and implementing a triangulation protocol for qualitative health research. Qualitative Health Research, 16(3), 377-394.

Glesne, C. (2005). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (3rd ed.). New York: Longman

Meijer, P. C., Verloop, N., &Beijaard, D. (2002). Multi-method triangulation in a qualitative study on teachers’ practical knowledge: An attempt to increase internal validity. Quality and quantity, 36(2), 145-167.

University of Florida, UF (2013) Practitioner Inquiry Network, Retrieved from http://inq.education.ufl.edu/ on December 12, 2013