Reflections on Research Class

 

Week Five is here and I will celebrate with a post on reflections about the class, er, I mean do the assignment to post reflections. (Insert smile)

Looking back over the last five weeks of this course, I am able to see what an adventure it was as I started my very first action research study. I will go through some of the things that impacted this study and give my insights and opinions below.

The lectures in this course were helpful as I got to see what was expected as I began my action research study. However, in the beginning process of nailing down exactly what I would be inquiring about, the lecture in week three seemed too vague. This was done to give researchers the freedom of really thinking about what they wanted to explore. I think that overall they were helpful in restating the guidelines and expectations each week.

The readings, especially from the Dana text, were useful to me because they provided examples of other’s research inquiries and made guidelines even clearer. Tables and examples given such as the Sample Inquiry Brief on page 100, helped with giving a visual to the type of plan that accompanies the action research. This is especially helpful when getting started on an inquiry with many aspects and narrowing down the topic.

When needing more information on my topic of one-to-one devices in the classroom, I was pleased to see that there were quite a few readings and data websites with information regarding my topic. This is going to be helpful as I try to come up with a way to help teachers successfully implement the devices into pedagogy. There are many different ways to incorporate trainings and keep teachers in the know about current technology practices.

The blog required for this class will serve a great purpose in time lining my action research project. It will show the events that had me add to my inquiry or take a different direction, if need be. I think also, it allows others to comment or add what they are thinking about topics of my research. Already, my peer’s have given feedback on things I could change and what I might add to make my action research more effective. I also feel like the blog is a kind of field study notes place to get the learning and findings out in writing. At the end where a conclusion is needed, I can go back and read through the journey to remind of what was taken from it.

I found week three to be the hardest in the course. I am someone who likes to have all questions answered before beginning a project and I feel I had a lot of unanswered questions. This led to constant questioning of what I was doing as I created my first action research study. I was very unsure of what I needed to include or what would be the most focused way of putting my inquiry on paper. I also have in mind the internship hours and didn’t want to get overwhelmed juggling my action research study and those. Seeing other’s action research posted in the discussion boards and on the blogs helped with some fears I was having about my own study. I was able to see the depth that I needed to add to my project. I also got to see the organization aspect of other’s work and tweak my own to make it flow more.

As fearful and uneasy I was about starting my action research project, I feel more ready now to tackle it and get started. The hardest part about this project so far is planning for the future experiences before a school year has started. So many things come up and I fear that my action research study might be thrown for a loop. I am hoping to stay on top of things and make sure this gets done and to look out for effective ways to easily incorporate this project and my internship hours. 

Until next time...

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