Action Research – What is it and what can I do with it?
The term or practice of action research is not new. It is known by other terms such as practitioner inquiry, classroom research and teacher inquiry and when undertaken by an administrator, it is called administrative inquiry.
Even though action research has been around, it has never been the accepted method to address school improvement until now.
So, what is action research? In a nutshell, action research is the process that a person (teacher, principal or anyone directly involved in the situation at hand) engages in to question, research, reflect, learn and take action to improve their school and their individual practice and professional development.
There are four major ways that action research is undertaken: university coursework, superintendent/district meetings, leadership teams and professional learning communities. Through my graduate courses, I have been able to take advantage of action research just by taking inventory of my thought process and my method of teaching and assessing. I reflected, researched, and reflected some more then made changes that immediately improved some areas in my classroom. This process of inquiry can be used by anyone for anything. I have formed a professional learning community where we discuss issues and concerns and together, we come up with our own solutions instead of going outside of the group to get answers.
Why Should Educational Leaders Blog?
Blogging offers an opportunity for your thoughts and plans to be shared with an audience that you would not otherwise have. Blogging is great for feedback and it is great for networking. Superintendents, principals, teachers, parents and students can all benefit from blogging because it opens up communication and it is not hindered by face-to-face time or hours of operation, it is 24/7 communication.
Richa,
ReplyDeleteI see that you have formed a professional learning community, do you implement action research to its full extend? Our campus also has our professional learning communities, but communities are not being utilized to their fullest potential. Maybe initiating action research might help.
Well, I am taking the vanguard position at my school to get the PLC started this year. Through my graduate studies, I am learning about and plan to implement action research as well. So, to answer your question, no, we are not using anything to it's fullest extent because we haven't started; and yes, I think action research will definitely help. What have you done so ofar on your campus?
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