Research Methods

     This course really went by fairly quick.  When enrolling for the course I really did not know what EDLD 5301 Research Methods would really go over.  My thoughts were what would we research?  How would this course tie into my degree?  Is this course dedicated to one way to research or mainly just one research topic?  The first week answered all of those questions for me. The course is to learn about action research! 

     I found the books “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” and Examining what we do to improve our schools” very helpful.  I found that “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” gave detailed information on what Action Research is all about and why Principal and teachers would conduct action research.  The analogy about time to exercise and time to inquire (Dana, 15) I found amusing because I can relate to it 100 percent. The sample questions included in the text on page 65-66 really helped me develop questions of what I wanted my own action research to be about.  “Examining what we do to improve our school” helped me understand the process of developing and completing the action research plan.  This book is the perfect guide for action research. 

     The topic of time is what caught my interest. Time is always an issue. One of the things that I thought about the most was how will principals find the time to do action research with all of the unexpected issues that arise. "Lack of time will always be an issue" (Dana, 16) so if you plan on the inquiry into your schedule it will help the overall growth of the school.  I still would have liked more time to develop an action research topic because time was a factor due to the schedule for my mentor and my schedule. 

     I have stated to research about other action research about effective use of technology in the classroom and there really isn’t much data out there.  I have found that there are many articles on how to integrate technology and what kind of technology is normally used in the classroom but not about proficiency level of teachers and integration of technology.  I am excited about what the outcomes will be.  I do have some time to improve because the school I am at the research will be completed later in the year due to testing schedules.  I found the discussion board and blog comments helpful because it gave me feed back on the topic I choose. 

Action Research Topic

      Ok, we finally decided on a topic.  How does the proficiency level of the teacher affect the authentic use of technology in the classroom.  This research plan will answer will involve several components.  Does the proficiency level of the teacher affect the way he/she uses technology in the classroom?  Is technology (including technology labs) used for authentic technology use?  How are teachers implementing technology in the classroom? How can technology be used to maximize student learning?  I know that this is alot of questions to answer but the subject really will help develop a better use of technology in the classroom. 
     With the amount of technology around us it is suprisingly that the technology TEKs are not as detailed as they project the need will be in 2025.  Over a decade from now the students of today will have graduated and be in there higher level education or careers and it is important that just as we (digital immigrants) stay up with technology that the digital native must as well because it is ever changing. 

Action Research

So this week we were asked to develop some topics for actions research.  Since my focus is technology,  I decided to based them off of none other than ....TECHNOLOGY!

The three topics I have developed for action research are: 

·         Is the use of technology effectively used in the classroom?

·         Is online professional development a useful tool for getting information and training teachers? Are teachers really learning?

·         What are the comfort level of teachers to teachers to use technology in teaching reading effectively?

The subject topics are still up for review by the site supervisor but after reading more about action research this week, I feel that these are definitely topic that can be beneficial to the school.  The main topic I wanted to focus on is technology.  Technology can be involved in a lot of different aspects of the school environment.  Since my main focus is technology, it was decided to use this as an action research focus.

Without discussing the topic with my site supervisor I feel confident that these will be perfect topic to develop from.