Week 5 Reflection

In week 1, Dana (2009), offered a thorough explanation
of action research. In this reading the differences between action research
and traditional research were described. This helped to lay the foundation of
the course because until I read the assigned readings in week 1, I was
unfamiliar with the concept of action research. However after reading I
understood the concept and the value of action research for educational
leadership.

Also, essential to this course was the blog that was
created as part of the assignment in week 1. This blog became a great place
for me to reflect on and share my learning and action research project with
my classmates and professors. Also, I benefited from following others blogs
and learning about their action research. With an online class, I think the
blog has been conducive to helping to build a professional learning community
that is made up of my classmates.

As the course progressed to week 2, it was the
reading from Dana (2009), which helped to guide me in the direction of developing
my wondering. As I read about the 9 areas that were suggested as good places
to find my wondering, I began to develop my question.

Although I had developed my wondering in week 2, I
was not satisfied with the wording of my wondering, so I blogged about my
concern. It was a comment to my post from Mary Angel that helped me to edit
my wondering and make it more concise. She said that she had a similar
struggle with her wondering question and shared her solution. Although I had
seen examples of wondering statements in my reading, it was not until I read
Mary’s comment that it made sense to me.

I understood the concept of action research after
the week 1 reading assignment and I was pleased with the wondering question that
I had written for my action research, but the whole process of action
research was still not clear to me until week 3. It was the reading from Harris,
Edmondson and Combs (2009) that gave me the greatest insight into action research
with the description of the Framework for Examining School Improvement. It
was in this reading that the 8 steps were clearly explained.

The subsequent assignment in week 3 gave me the
opportunity to put what I had learned from the reading into practice. With
this knowledge, I began to follow the Framework described in the reading and
use the 8 step to write my plan.

The discussion board in week 3 gave me further confidence
in my wondering as several of my classmates replied and all gave me positive
feedback about my description of the context of my action research and explanation
of how it would be completed.

In week 4, the Harris et al. (2009) highlighted
the importance of “…sustaining improvement while at the same time looking
futuristically (or forecasting) to prepare for the future” (p. 93). The readings
continued to list and explain four strategies for sustaining improvement. Of
the four strategies, the one that captured my attention the most was the Delphi
Method. It seemed to me to be a simple and effective strategy to use to
gather feedback from a fairly large group. According to Harris et al. (2009),
“Generally, as the process continues, the range of responses decreases and
the group converges towards some level of consensus” (p.94).

Finally, in week 5, it was again a combination of
the reading and the application of this reading in the assignment that was
most valuable to me. Dana (2009) provided five quality indicators that are
designed to “…spark a discussion among you and your colleagues about what
constitutes quality” (p.179). Then the assignment required me to apply these
five indicators to my own action research. This helped me to assess the
quality of my inquiry. Since I am a novice action researcher, this was a
helpful assignment for me as it provided a way for me to check my plan and improve
it.

I must say before I close that I have also enjoyed
the weekly webinars hosted by Dr. Abshire. These webinars have been very informative
and have helped me to feel more connect to this class and not like I am out
here alone in an online class.

I have enjoyed this course and feel that I have
learned a great deal from it. I look forward to continuing the action
research that I started in this class and seeing it through to find out the
results. I am sure that action research will be an extremely valuable tool
that I will use as an educational leader and look forward to continuing to
develop my skills in this area.