Action Research Plan

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

Bring Your Own Device Program

·      Goal: to determine the effectiveness of the Bring Your Own Device Program to increase student engagement and achievement.

Outcome 1: Students engagement in classroom learning will increase.

Outcome 2: Overall student grades will improve.

·      Activity 1:  Students will interact with learning through Socrative Application.

Activity 2:  Students will synthesize information through Padlet.com

Activity 3.  Students will access learning through google searches.

·      Resource1: Student grades from target class last year and this year.

Resource 2: Student surveys and interviews to gauge level of engagement.

·      One activity will be added each of the first three grading periods.  All three activities will be continued through the last three grading periods.

·      I will implement the plan in my three theatre one classrooms.

·      Goals and objectives will be monitored at each progress report and major grading period.

·      Assessments will be based on the difference between last years grades in theatre one and this years grades.   In addition surveys and interviews will also be used to assess the success of the program.

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION

Through meeting with my principal and other administrators I detect a need for action research on the topic of the Bring Your Own Device Program.  Beginning this year our district is encouraging all teachers to adapt this program for their classroom.  Specific action research on the program used in an actual classroom on campus will be helpful in the continuing effort to implement this program school wide.

2. ANALYZING DATA

I will research procedures for implementing a BYOD program from a pilot school in our district as well as academic literature.  I will use the data they have already collected as a starting point for my action research plan.  I will collect two types of data from students in my classroom.  The first will be Grades in my theatre one class.  By comparing grades from previous years without the program I can assess the impact of the program.  I will also use a combination of anonymous surveys and interviews to determine the level of student engagement and whether or not it was impacted by the program.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

Throughout the action research as deeper questions arise I will interview key stakeholders on campus and in the district.  One of my primary resources will be the technology facilitator for our campus.  She has overseen implementation of similar programs on another campus and will be sure to have insight into the program in my classroom.  I will also use my administrators as a resource throughout the implementation of the program.  Several other teachers on campus are going to be using the same apps as I will and I will also ask them for insight into the action research.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION

I have engaged in self-reflection and determined that I have the necessary resources to carry out this action research plan.  I will continue to engage in self-reflection throughout the process, paying special attention to self-reflection at the end of each grading period as a review the data.

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS

After speaking with administrators and teachers on my campus as well as the technology facilitator I have decided to focus on three actions for my action research plan.  The first will be using an application called socrative.  This program will be used to give quizzes, surveys and exit tickets to students through their personal electronic devices.  The second will be using an application called padlet.com.  This application will require students to synthesize information into presentations.  The third action will be having students access information through the internet applications on their personal devices.  My plan is to implement one action each in the first three grading periods and then continue all three actions for the remaining three grading periods.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION

The following are the answers to the questions suggested in the template given:

A.  Are you clear on what you are attempting to solve (your research questions)?

Yes.  How will implementing the Bring Your Own Device Program impact student achievement and engagement?

B. Have you adequately addressed the skills and resources questions?

Yes.  I have all the resources necessary in my classroom including high speed wifi access, computer, projector and iPad.  I have many of the necessary skills and will be attending additional training before the start of school.

C. Have you established a collaborative approach to the issue?

Yes.  I am collaborating with the technology facilitator and several other teachers on campus.

D. Are your timelines realistic?

Yes.  By focusing on one action for each of the first three grading periods and then all three for the remaining three, I will be able to focus my attention on getting the most out of each application then implement all three together.  The entire process will be complete at the end of one school year.

E.  Do you have a reasonable plan to monitor the project?

Yes.  I have several different ways of monitoring the project including grades, surveys and interviews.  In addition, since I will implementing the program in my own classroom I can use personal observation to monitor the daily progress of the project.

F.  Do you have a reasonable plan for determining the level of success? How

do you evaluate if the plan is effective?

I will use the assessment tools described in E to determine if achievement and engagement have improved.

G. How will you revise and improve the plan based on monitoring and evaluation?

The program will be revised and improved constantly as the program is being implemented.  I will pay special attention to revising and improving the program after each lesson cycle.

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

I will be implementing this action research in my own classroom.  During the process I will be sharing my findings with the other teachers on my campus.  Hopefully my findings will be helpful to the other teachers who will implementing the program in their classrooms.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT

After this research project is complete, I plan to expand the project next year to include other teachers.  In addition I plan to continue finding new apps and new ways to engage students in the learning process through their personal electronic devices.

Reflection on week 2 of Action Research

I feel like this week was very helpful for my understanding of action research.  I found especially helpful the videos of educators in the field using action research.  It struck me that each of these educators approached action research from a different point of view but all of them believed in the idea of constant improvement in the education system through action research.  In the end I think my definition of action research can be simplified to a process of constant improvement through data analysis and literature review with frequent evaluation and adjustments.  I feel I am ready to launch into my own action research project.

How educational leaders might use a blog.

A blog would be a great way to share an action research process with others involved.  Especially if the educational leader is working with a group in implementing the plan.  Sometimes it is hard to meet in the hustle and bustle of the school year but requiring everyone to check on the blog and make comments once a week would be a good way to keep everyone engaged.

What I have learned about action research.

 I have learned a lot about action research this week.  When I signed up for this course I thought it was just a course about traditional research.  I thought the word action was just thrown in to make it seem more interesting.  Now I know that action research is a very different concept.  It does have some elements of traditional research especially in the literature review phase, but the focus of action research is on problem solving in a specific situation.  It allows for changes as data is analyzed.  It seems to be a very effective way to solve problems in a school.  As I read the texts for this class it brought to mind something my principal often says "we aren't going to do something just because that is the way it has always been done.  We will evaluate everything we do and make sure that it is furthering our vision of educating all our students."  I think this is one of the most powerful aspects of action research.  It actively engages the educator as a problem solver and not just a technician implementing an assigned solution.  I have thought of many ways that I can use action research in my classroom.  I am thinking about doing my action research project on implementing a bring your own device program in my classroom.