Research Course Reflection

When I look back at the discussions and assignments assigned during the course, I see that the goal of the course was for us to develop quality and transferable action research. However before we could develop a wondering or create an action plan we had to learn the meaning of action research. Action research is meant to bring about change. However in our class the term changed from action research to practitioner inquiry, which changed our focus to improving practitioner practice. The concept reminds me of a book called QBQ! The Question Behind The Question, which explains that our questions should focus on what action an individual can take to bring about change based on the current context. (Miller, 2004) The first and most important change to practitioner practice is to schedule time for improvement planning. “The initial steps in the improvement process take time, patience, thought, and reflection. Rushing through these steps can produce superficial activities, characterized by all show and no substance” (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs, 2010).

The different steps that we were supposed to take should have guided us in producing practitioner research that passes all the quality indicators. We developed wonderings that were based on real world problems. We wrote discussions that caused us to articulate our context and the significance of our inquiry. We developed an action plan and identified potential challenges to implementation. We examined four strategies to maintaining improvement. We were required to our response to the questions and provide feedback to each other on the discussion board. While some of the feedback is helpful most of the peer feedback is simply just to receive the points for discussion. The only good part about the discussion board is being able to see the thinking of others on the discussion questions. I would have preferred more discussion from the Professor on the process of developing the data action plan in his videos. Feedback on the assignments would have been helpful as I attempted to complete the next assignment.

We were encouraged to reflect each week to share what we were learning and to receive feedback from our peers.Dana states that “an unshared practitioner inquiry is like a stone lying beside the pond. Unless that inquiry is tossed into the professional conversation that contributes to the knowledge base for teaching and administration, it has little chance of creating change” (2009).



Sources
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. (p. 135). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps from analysis to action. (p. 7). Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education.

Miller, J. (2004). QBQ! The Question Behind The Question. New York, N.Y.: Putnam.