Question 1
Discusses a variety of challenges action researchers face with implementing positive change.
What potential challenges or obstacles do you predict facing in your current or future role as an educator when implementing positive change (lack of resources, resistance to change, reluctance to interfere with others' professional practices, reluctance to admit difficult truths, difficulty finding a forum to share what you have learned, lack of time for action research endeavors, unsupportive administration, other)?
Describe how you would apply what you have learned regarding the challenges of implementing educational change to overcome potential obstacles that you may encounter in taking action.
Question 2
Describe some of your take-aways from this course. Consider all of the topics including use of digital tools when responding. Do not respond in list form. These are merely prompts to get you thinking:
What concepts or principles have you learned from this course that you might use in your work setting?
How do you feel about conducting action research now, compared to before you started this course?
Describe how you perceive the value of qualitative and quantitative data when considering improvements.
How do you plan to use the knowledge you gained in this course to be a positive change agent in your own work setting? In other words, what are your next steps?
Include a new, different quote than you did in you r week one introduction. Why does this quote inspire you?
Final Project
Action Research Proposal
The final project for this course is an Action Research Proposal, which will be created and shared in the form of a formal presentation in PowerPoint, including detailed speaker notes for each content slide. The purpose of the final project is for you to culminate the learning achieved in the course by demonstrating the ability to effectively present an Action Research Proposal.
As you create the presentation, imagine that you are given approximately ten minutes to present this information to your fellow teachers in your school during a staff development day, to your school board to solicit support for their ideas, or to your managers as part of your organization's continuous improvement program. Your goals are to gain approval to conduct this study and implement your proposed innovation or intervention in your place of work.
To create your presentation, use your current, updated action research plan outline that was originally submitted during Week Four. Additionally, you may want to use your mock presentation from Week Five as well as the feedback acquired from your classmates in the discussion forum to build an improved, more complete presentation for a wider, more important audience.