scholarly journals Exploring Veteran Teachers' Collaborative Action Research Experiences Through a School-University Partnership: "Old Dogs" Try New Tricks

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-68
Author(s):  
Mary Frances (Molly) Buckley-Marudas ◽  
John Dutton ◽  
Charles Ellenbogen ◽  
Grace Hui-Chen Huang ◽  
Sarah Schwab

This article shares insights from the experiences of three high school practitioners and two university faculty who participated in a school-university-based action research program as a voluntary part of the teachers’ professional development. The three high school practitioners conducted action research projects around questions that stemmed from and were relevant to their own teaching practice.  As part of the action research program, the practitioners were paired with university faculty to support the research. Building on practitioner inquiry traditions and critical case study methodologies, this study used qualitative methods to explore the experiences of practitioner action research processes.  Drawing on in-person meeting notes and reflective memos, four key ideas emerged: Infrastructure, We are all Partners in Education, Engaging Pathway for Experienced Teachers, and Challenges. Insights gained from this inquiry will have implications for professional practices in the areas of school-university partnership, professional development, and action research process.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Artieta-Pinedo ◽  
Carmen Paz-Pascual ◽  
Paola Bully ◽  
Maite Espinosa ◽  

BACKGROUND Background: Despite the benefit it can give women, Maternal Education needs new tools that increase its effectiveness and scope OBJECTIVE To develop a multifunctional, personalized eHealth platform aimed at the self-management of health in relation to maternity METHODS The International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) were applied. A website prototype was developed for implementation in the public health system using a collaborative action research process in which experts and patients participate, with qualitative research techniques as well as prioritization and consensus techniques. RESULTS A website is proposed which includes (1) systematically updated information related to clinical practice guidelines, (2) interaction between peers and users/professionals, (3) instruments for self-assessment of health needs as a basis for working on counseling, agreement on actions, help in the search for resources, monitoring and evaluation of results and (4) access for women to their clinical data and the option of sharing them with other health agents. These components, with different access requirements, would be permanently reviewed through iterative cycles depending on the frequency and effectiveness resulting from their use and would be accessible from any digital device CONCLUSIONS This public healthcare website would facilitate use, maintenance and effectiveness to increase quality of care without increasing costs. The participation of professionals and users in the creation of new tools will result in greater satisfaction with their use, with the decisions made, and with the decision process itself.


2021 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 158-175
Author(s):  
Zahra Fathian ◽  
Majid Farahian

Technology can be integrated in teacher education and, hence, be used to empower teachers to extend learning beyond their classrooms. Therefore, the present study was an attempt to investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of action research and explore the impact of their collaborative action research in an online discussion group on their reflective practice. In addition, we were interested to know how online collaborative research action research contributes to their promotion of reflective thinking.The participants of this study were 23 Iranian EFL teachers who were recruited based on convenience sampling. The design of the study was a pre-test post-test design. As such, two questionnaires were given to the participants at the beginning and end of the study. As the next step, the participants took part in online discussion groups for 10 sessions in which they read and watched some essays and videos, wrote about some topics, and shared their ideas and experiences. To consolidate the findings, semi-structured interviews were held with 12 participants. The result of the study indicated that most of the participants of the study had optimistic views regarding action research. In addition, participating in online discussion groups enabled them to think more about their teaching practice and gain higher levels of reflectivity. The results of the qualitative phase indicated that the online courses had effect on the teachers’ practice and reflectivity in different ways. Despite all studies conducted on action research in Iran, contradictory results have been found regarding teachers’ perception of action research. In addition, to the researchers’ knowledge, no study has investigated the use of online collaborative action research on teachers’ reflection. As such, it seemed necessary to conduct a study to explore the role of action research as a framework for improving reflective practice.


Author(s):  
Ronda Cypret-Mahach

This chapter describes transformational experiences of a faculty of teachers during a yearlong action-research case-study of professional development, infused with digital technologies intended to capitalize on self-directed learning strategies, in the use of essential questions specifically designed to target critical thinking in students. Teachers who began to adopt the essence of essential questioning into their teaching practice also began to seek ways to engage in personalized self-directed learning as they looked for avenues to continue development of successful practice. The ability to self-investigate and self-delineate pedagogy was critical for most of participant teachers. The faculty of teachers involved in the action-research case-study demonstrated statistically significant growth on the Measure of Questioning Skills, indicating the experience encouraged teacher growth in questioning abilities. Research data also reflected statistically significant student growth in STAR Reading and STAR Math scores, and an increase in student's Measure of Questioning Skills.


Author(s):  
Beril Yucel ◽  
Meral Güçeri

This chapter aims to present two action research case studies conducted in the English Language Schools of two universities in Turkey and discuss the long-term effects of this Professional Development activity on teachers' professional lives. In both of these studies, teachers were involved in collaborative action research. The first case study discusses a small scale collaborative Action Research project which targeted 16 English language teachers. Case Study Two, on the other hand, is a large scale project which explores 160 English language teachers' collaborative action research study. Detailed information about each case study is provided by highlighting the aims, institutional contexts, participant profiles, methodology used and findings. Teachers' perceptions about action research and the long-term impact of it on their professional growth are also discussed. Conclusion part highlights the factors that need to be taken into consideration while setting up collaborative action research projects in institutions. Finally, future research recommendations are made.


Author(s):  
Maximilian C. Forte

Ethnography has traditionally involved the sustained presence of an anthropologist in a physically fixed field setting, intensively engaged with the everyday life of the inhabitants of a given site, typically, a village or other small community. Conventional notions of the field, especially in anthropology which has been the premiere field-based discipline (see Amit, 2000; Gupta & Ferguson, 1997, 1992), involved basic assumptions of boundedness (the field was a strictly delimited physical place); distance (the field was “away,” and often very far away as well); temporality (one entered the field, stayed for a time, and then left); and otherness (a strict categorical and relational distinction between the outsider/ethnographer and the insider/native informant). The key mode of ethnographic engagement in the field was, and is, that of participant observation. When the Internet enters into ethnography, and when ethnography acquires an online dimension either in the research process or in the production of the documentary outputs of research, we end up facing a situation that leads us to reconsider relationships between the researchers and those who are researched. This is especially true of collaborative, action research projects that involve researchers and activists producing materials for the Web.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-201
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Curry ◽  
Jackie Mania-Singer ◽  
ED Harris ◽  
Shawna Richardson

This qualitative case study utilized distributed leadership theory and Capobianco and Feldman's (2006) conceptualization of conditions for collaborative action research (CAR) to describe the implementation of CAR as professional development (PD) and school improvement strategy in two educational contexts, one alternative school and one rural, in a Midwestern state. Findings indicate that distributed leadership facilitates CAR as a powerful PD tool and results in development of action plans for school improvement; however, conditions are necessary for CAR to effect professional practice.


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