Final Reflections

My final reflections on EDLD 5301Research course started in the beginning of the course when I first listened to Dr. Arterbury’s video lecture. I felt as if the Action Research Project was attainable and reachable because of the way he so clearly laid the project out.  I was apprehensive at first because I thought it was going to be something that I wasn’t going to understand or be able to achieve, but as he and Dr. Jenkins unfolded the course I felt like it was a goal I could reach.  The planning of the weeks that followed with first meeting with my supervisor to generate a list of questions, and then exploring ideas, was a perfect avenue to building a successful research plan. I was able to tap into an idea that useful to my current position at work and develop a plan that was practical and useful.  

During week one of the course we learned to build blogs.  While I found this to be incredibly challenging at the time, I have gained useful and valuable feedback from my classmates regarding my action research plan. During this week we also asked inquiry questions regarding the reasons why inquiry based action research is valuable and useful. The discussion board provided useful feedback in this area.  I have formed valuable connections from the discussion board and from the blogs that I hope to carry into future courses. My classmates have given me feedback and suggestions for improvement that I found valuable.  Cooperative learning is vital in the classroom setting.

In subsequent weeks the lectures provided deeper insight and guidance. Both professors helped build confidence and understanding in my ability to complete my action research project. Each week the video lectures added greater depth to the text by supplementing  the text and adding insight to the readings. I enjoyed the nine passions in the Leading with Passions and Knowledge book. This helped me see how action research can be used in a variety of ways in my educational career. It gave me a richer understanding of why several things were done in the past and how I can better improve my presentations of staff development in the future. I also enjoyed Chapter 3 in this book (Dana, 2009), describing the various ways to collect data. I had not really considered  all of the possible options in data collection. I am considering other possible ideas for data collection in my action research plan, such as using STAAR data. I plan to discuss this with my supervisor.

Overall, I have this course to be incredibly valuable.  My action research project is timely in my job and my supervisors are excited about it and are actually quite eager for me to finish it! It is pertinent to my job and meets the needs of my district and my supervisors.  This has been a highly useful experience and I am grateful.

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge. Housand Oaks: Corwin.