Action Research Formal Presentation of Findings
This Final Project is designed to report what you have learned and to apply the information obtained from your action research in its entirety including the proposal, observations, data collection, analysis, sharing, and feedback acquired through collaboration with your peers. As a scholarly practitioner, you have had the opportunity to continue your exploration of action research principles and implement your intervention/innovation in the setting of your choice.
To clarify, the planned action research intervention or innovation will occur in the approved setting while you are enrolled in EDU675. You will again submit the Informed Consent form during Week One of EDU675, verifying approval to conduct their AR intervention/innovation. The available settings for your research are limited depending on your personal situation:
- Employed in a classroom setting:
- Employed in a non-classroom setting:
- Not employed:
As you have learned, the rationale of this type of research is to discover evidence that examines perceived problems in a given setting. Recall, the purpose of action research is to improve practice or to implement change for the purpose of professional development. Mills (2014) states “. . . educational change that enhances the lives of children is a main goal of action research. But action research can also enhance the lives of professionals” (p.13). Furthermore, action research is the process of telling the story of your research journey. This final project is your opportunity to tell the story of your research experience in the Masters of Arts in Education (MAED) Program.
Writing the Final Project
Construct your final project to meet the content and written communication expectations below.
Content Expectations
- Introduction (1 point): Create a one-to-two paragraph introduction that provides a succinct overview of the scope and organization of the assignment.
- Context (2 points): In one-to-two paragraphs, explain what the reader must know about the organization/school setting to enrich their understanding of the intervention/innovation. (e.g., details about the organization/school, staff, number and type of learners/employees, programs, ages, locale, and any other pertinent details regarding the specific content of the project).
- Literature Review (3 points): In two-to-three pages, summarize the literature related to the problem using 4-5 scholarly resources including a brief historical overview and that expands the introduction and presents the current research published about the problem.
- Area of Focus Statement (1 point): In one-to-two sentences, discuss the issues that were addressed, how they emerged, and the goal of your research.
- Research Questions (1 point): State one-to-three questions addressed by the research in list format.
- Intervention/Innovation Description (3 points): In one page, describe the intervention applied for your action research study including comments on the type of adjustments you may have had to make to the intervention.
- Data Collection Strategies (2 points): In one-to-two pages, describe the data obtained through the observations using charts, diagrams, or other visual depictions of your data to supplement the description.
- Outcome Analysis (2 points): In one-to-two pages, explain the conclusions of the data analysis addressing the specific strategies that were successful, which strategies did not work as well as was anticipated, and how the strategies support the research questions.
- Learning Themes (2 points): In one-to-two pages, reflect on the research themes, including the unintended/unexpected outcomes, what worked well, what worked less well, and any process you would conduct differently.
- Action Plan (3 points): In one-to-two pages, explain the anticipated steps that are necessary to continue with this change initiative and the leadership strategies needed to implement them action plan.
- Conclusion (2 points): In two-to-three paragraphs, summarize the major outcome and analysis of the project including the gaps that were uncovered providing insight into the relationship between the topic of the literature review and your overall findings.
Written Communication Expectations
- Page Requirement (.5 points): 18-to-20 pages, not including title and references pages.
- APA Formatting (.5 points): Use APA formatting consistently throughout the assignment.
- Syntax and Mechanics (.5 points): Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.
- Source Requirement (.5 points): References five scholarly sources in addition to the course textbook, providing compelling evidence to support ideas. All sources on the references page need to be used and cited correctly within the body of the assignment.
Next Steps: Review and Submit the Assignment
Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to be sure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Next, submit the assignment to the course room for evaluation no later than Day 7.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
More Inform
Overview
| Activity | Due Date | Format | Grading Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact Reflection | Day 3 (1st Post) | Discussion | 4 |
| Final Project | Day 7 | Assignment | 24 |
For help with the Course Calendar, review the overview video in 
Learning Outcomes
This week students will:
- Analyze proposed action research intervention/innovation for purpose, value, appropriateness.
- Apply ethical standards to data collection.
- Make decisions based on outcomes.
- Evaluate personal leadership qualities as a means to improve practice.
- Construct conclusions from research data.
- Determine next steps for continued improvement and sustainability.
- Explain ways that action research can be a catalyst to improve student.
- Propose a plan for continued improvement to support long-term success in teaching 21st century skills.
Introduction
Congratulations! Now is a time to start reflecting on all you have experienced in our course. You have accomplished plenty of new learning through the implementation of your action research and the development of your leadership skills! The past five weeks have addressed the implementation of your action research as well as learning more about your own leadership qualities. This week you prepare your final project consisting of a comprehensive, formal presentation of the action research process including your intervention, and sharing your findings. As indicated below, we have now explored all the phases of the Action Research cycle except the final phase, which is the focus of this week. In Week Six, we focus on the final phase, Share Process and Results:
- Research Proposal
- Implementation and Data Collection
- Data collection and Initial Data Analysis
- Data Collection and Apply Changes
- Data Analysis and Interpretation
- Share Process and Results
Hi there, its a pleasure working with you. I will deliver the work in time.
EDU675: CHANGE LEADERSHIP FOR THE DIFFERENTIATED EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Instructor Guidance
Week 6
Introduction
You are almost there! We are now in the final week of the course. Last week was spent analyzing the data collected during your intervention or innovation. From this information you had the chance to interpret the meaning of this information in order to prepare for the formal written presentation of the findings.
This week you will submit your final project and reflect on the continuous process of action research and how it will inform the change process.
As with prior weeks, let’s begin this guidance by first reviewing and reflecting on our learning expectations for this week. These learning outcomes are aligned to the discussions and the assignment for Week Six. They can be found in the Week Six overview page, which is the first page seen when the name of unit in the navigation menu for the course is selected
This week’s final assignment is a culminating paper. Each of the above outcomes has been explored in previous weeks. Now, we are putting it all together.
Week Six Overview
You have made it! You are in the last week of your course. This is an exciting time and it is suggested that you don’t give up now! Keep up the momentum as the final presentation of findings is due this week. This is the fun part of your action research project.
Figure 7: EDU675 Action Research Cycle, Week Six Focus
Week Six Elaboration
As you enter the end of the course, it is valuable to reflect back on the learning process you’ve experienced. In Week One you reviewed the benefits of collaboration, ethical and historical considerations of research, as well as the process of collecting data. During Week Two you officially began implementing the intervention of your study. Additionally, you learned about the specific steps to take and questions to ask yourself when collecting data.
In Week Three you learned about your own leadership motivation and how to inspire others. You also became knowledgeable as to why some change initiatives fail. You developed a digital presentation using contemporary software to share these new ideas as well as began to identify the early themes from your data. During Week Four you had the opportunity to discover opposing viewpoints regarding action research and obtained valuable feedback from your peers regarding your data collection strategies. Week Five required you to make sense of the data leading to the overall implications of your study and subsequent formal presentation of your findings.
Typically and as presented previously, action research includes more than one cycle of intervention and data collection focusing on the same or similar research question. It is a recurring process conducted to effect positive change in any setting that is studied. “Action research is research done by teachers for themselves” (Mills, 2014, p. 8).
When the research is engaged in multiple cycles of research, planning will occur before the action is applied. The researcher then uses critical analysis and reflection after the completion of the next cycle. This procedure will produce layers of data to further inform the data analysis and implications of the study. The conclusions will emerge slowly over time and through the course of the study. Alternatively, you have conducted a single cycle of action research, which will yield valuable information to your research. This information will be presented in the final project for the purposes of this course.
Action research often leads to a better understanding and improvements in behavior that may also lead to new questions to examine. These new questions can translate into new cycles of the research to be initiated, thus continuing the action research cycle (Brydon-Miller, Greenwood, & Maguire, 2006). Practitioners can create their own knowledge and understanding of a situation and act upon it, thereby improving practice and advancing knowledge in the field (Buczynski and Hansen, 2014).
Action research is exactly what it sounds like – action oriented. It’s about taking progressive, deliberate steps based on the research to make informed decisions and improvements in the school, community, or other organization.
Week Six Assessment Summary
In this final week, you will prepare a formal written paper that incorporates all of your findings. Be strategic in this process. The previous week’s assignments have been prepared as groundwork for this final project. This paper will be the final, culminating assignment for this course. You will also reflect on the process of action research itself.
Discussion 1: Impact Reflection
Reflecting on all that you have learned in this course, you will explain how the continuous improvement efforts through action research methodology can inform the progress of a school, community, or other organization. Your guided response will elicit further exploration and conversation using the lens of the teacher, administrator, or other personnel that was involved in the study. Follow the instructions for this assignment closely and use the Grading Rubric as a checklist to ensure you have all of the required components addressed in your initial post as well as your responses.
Assignment 1: Action Research Formal Presentation of Findings
This is the final project of the course and provides the opportunity to answer the essential questions of the course as a scholarly practitioner. This assignment is the formal presentation of findings of the action research project. Please review the assignment rubric prior to submitting your paper to ensure that you are meeting each of the set criteria in order to earn full credit. Be sure to include relevant professional, personal, and other real world experiences in a manner that is rich in thought and provides valuable insight to the contents of your paper.
Recommendation
This project is one to save for use in EDU 695: Capstone. Save your work in personal and/or cloud based storage for extra assurance you can access it later. For example, in EDU 695: Capstone, you will construct an ePortfolio where this project is likely to be included. Additionally, you may want to save your work for potential use beyond course completion such as for publishing or professional opportunities. It is strongly encouraged you save your coursework on a flash-drive (e.g., a USB removable drive) or store in a cloud based option such as Dropbox, GoogleDrive, or something similar.
References
Brydon-Miller, M., & Greenwood, D. (2006). A Re-Examination of the relationship between action research and human subjects review processes. Action Research, 4(1), 117-128. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/isw6/articles/ch3brydon.pdf
Buczynski, S., & Hansen, C. B. (2014). The change leader in education: Roles and strategies in the differentiated environment. Bridgepoint Education.
Answer PreviewOver the last couple of decades, research has become a critical part of many industries. This is both in business as well as in fulfilling personal needs that a person may have. In general, it is correct to state that research is important in identifying problems that can be found in within…