Action research for ICT in the classroom

methodology

as with the "how to contribute" section the text here is all on one page; useful if you prefer to print it out to read away from a computer

Some thoughts on methodology

Remember that this is not a PhD... on the other hand for it to be genuinely useful for colleagues in other schools it needs quality and some rigour, which means a number of details need to be observed by contributors - hence the "form" we use to capture your contributions.

But clearly, we want to leave you plenty of freedom to report what actually works in your institution with your students and this helps to illustrate to others why you think a particular activity was worth doing.

 

This freedom raises some interesting thoughts for contributors and readers:

• Firstly, the measures of success are complex. Very often you will have been excited by what your students are doing precisely because what they are doing with ICT is clearly different from what they used to do. This makes it very difficult to compare, for example, their "old" log table work with their "new" spreadsheet work. Or their "old" essay writing with their "new" word processing.
  You can see that criterion referencing, particularly when it is focussed on the product or outcome of their learning, is not much use in this situation and you can also see (doubtless you knew this already!) how your judgement as a teacher of why the "new" activity is "better" than the "old" activity is so important. This is why your thoughts, your views, your judgements are what the users of this collection will want to hear.
  You might describe these gains, generally, as learning change gains.
  
• Sometimes of course the gains will be more straightforward to report: perhaps your students' understanding developed sooner through your ICT approach, maybe their test scores were higher, or they attained those scores far earlier.
  You might describe these gains, generally, as productivity gains.
  
• It is quite likely that what you observe improving is not measured as part of the Standards agenda; does that your observations are not valuable? Of course not, indeed the observations you post may well be instrumental in changing parts of that agenda. They key thing is to be clear about what you have seen changing and also to be clear about why you thought that change worth pursuing. Sometimes this is obvious, but at other times there are subtleties that only you can see as the teacher who is there week in week out but which will need spelling out to others.
  You might describe these gains, generally, as outside the current curriculum gains.
  
• There are many other potential gains to reflect on too, of course: often, colleagues report that the injection of ICT into a part of the curriculum has the effect of avoiding problems observed in previous years (for example boredom during the revision period) so that whilst nothing got better the gains were that nothing got worse at a time when things usually did. Other examples that are hard to categorise might include greater parental interest or perhaps increased local esteem for the school
  You might describe these gains, generally, as other gains.

Some strategies

Capturing observations over time requires some planning and thought. Obviously you are a teacher and an already full day does not have time, probably, for a whole layer of observation and analysis. As we've said before, this is not a PhD. On the other hand our experience at Ultralab is that capturing the moment is best done at the moment rather than trying to remember back some days or weeks later. What tools help? We've found that a brief note in the back of your diary, or in a note pad works quickly, doesn't intrude in the lesson and accumluates a lot of evidence over time. Some use a small dictaphone but the problem there is that sooner or later playing all the tapes back becomes a big task and transcribing the best bits is a bigger task. A pocket Palm-type device works really well if you are lucky enough to own/borrow one, because your handwritten notes become text without any additional efforts. The great thing about simple notes is the ease with which they can be created and reviewed.

There is no reason why you shouldn't involve your students in your observations. They may see and feel benefits that add to your action research and the opportunity to reflect on their own learning is a positive meta-level outcome that many teachers have commented on. If students are involved, or at least informed about the action research you are doing, then more obvious data capture can be used. A small, cheap, disposable camera can capture some clear images of engagement for example and is a pocketable tool to bring out when something visual is worth recording.The collection offers you a place to show as well as to tell and there is help on the site's contribution form for including photographs. Authentic images are better than posed ones, this is about research not aesthetics!

The time period you are studying is not prescribed. Be clear though that a one-off observation of a single moment in time will not fit into the collection in any way, we want observations over time. Probably the time period will be weeks or months rather than days or years but it is entirely your choice. Some immediate gains can be clearly evidenced over a few days, some take literally years to become embedded. Whilst it is tempting to pick the shortest possible observation period so that you can get your certificate asap it is also likely that colleagues will particularly value longer term research gains so that you may have to trade esteem with immediacy!

More detailed methodology suport will be added shortly if you need it.

Be assured that, whatever you choose to do, however you choose to do it, we will value your contribution to this collection.

 

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