Reflection on Outcomes of Action Research

Relationship to Scenario

Recall the title to the scenario: "Helping each other prepare for the post-CCT future in which each of you attempt to create supportive community for your professional and personal development." The angles addressed in the presentations obviously emerged out of the scenario, but the connection back to the scenario was mostly not made explicit.

• Ask for this in revisions to the reports based on the presentations.
• Emphasize the need for a connection in future instructions and coaching.

Relationship to Action Research Cycle

The angles addressed in the presentations ranged from evaluation of the current situation (e.g., how much do graduates really think they need post-graduation support) to proposals (e.g., process for developing a
CCT Supportive Community). The constituency that would need to be enlisted to adopt/adapt the proposals was mostly not made explicit.

Role in course learning

The AR unit certainly elicited a wider range of angles on the scenario than the instructor or anyone student could imagine on their own--this is to be expcted in real-world AR. It remains to be seen how well the experience of a very short-term AR project connects to the accounts of Action Research that we will read in class.

Use of wiki

To expose thinking about KAQF to each other & get responses

Few students used the wiki for exposing their KAQF thinking or getting responses from others (including the insrtuctor). My response to this is that more detailed instructions are needed and allowance for worksheets to be prepared offline and reviewed by me before being exposed to others.

• See addition of Specific Instructions for 693 Exchanges and Inquiry to supplement the General Framework for Exchanges and Inquiry. These instructions ask students to complete a KAQF worksheet for each idea you come up with, either on your own computer or on this wiki. (Note: General Framework was updated 1 Mar 06 to integrate some of the specific instructions and tease out phases of the exchnage & inquiry, including a less structured brainstorming phase.)

At the same time, it seems clear to me that email and wiki-based interactions need to be preceded or supplemented by spoken exchanges to coach students into critical thinking that the KAQF framework requires.

As wikipedia-like record of reports

One knowledge claim evolved into a substantive statement and another presentation took the form of a substantive statement in a pdf file. The information in the other presentations needs development or editing before any outsider reader could digest it as readily as a wikipedia entry allows.

• Instructions and more coaching are needed so that students move from results of surveys and other presentations into well-organized wikipages that convey the crucial information needed for themselves or others to move further along in the Action Research cycle (especially to build a constituency that develops or adopts/adapts any proposal).

Revised Instructions for Assignment 1 & 3 combined

Original Asmt. 1: Contribution and response to AR wiki by 2/4

The goal is for you to convey succinctly the process and current state of your inquiry and to respond to the inquiry of your classmates with questions that push their inquiry further.

Original Asmt 3

(from 693Notes.html) A presentation on Action Research should touch the following bases:

• Research—what did you find out that you didn't know before, which includes what would convince others of something you already know.
• Action proposals—what actions follow from/ are supported by your research.
• Constituency—Action Research is research that helps you take action, which includes convincing or enlisting others to take action that respects the resources, possible limited, that they have. Who are the people who you want to convince or enlist in carrying out the action proposals?
• Open questions—what more do you need to find out and how would you propose to do that research.

All these items should be framed in relation to the case, "Helping each other prepare for the post-CCT future in which each of you attempt to create supportive community for your professional and personal development," with which the Action Research unit began.

The substance of your presentation and the handout should be woven into the draft report on your Action Research, which is due in class as well (400-750 words per person).

Combined Asmt. 1 & 3

Because the wiki was hardly used as specified for assignment 1, the make-up assignment is to identify a key knowledge claim or an action proposal you made in your presentation and complete a KAQF worksheet following the specific Instructions for Action Research Exchanges and Inquiry. If you want to do this directly onto a wikipage, let me know--I have created a personal worksheet page for each of you.

This exercise should help you revise the draft report you submitted (or prepare the draft if you haven't yet submitted it) so as to be more explicit about the connection back to the scenario, about the knowledge that supports any action proposals that you make, and about the constituency that would need to be enlisted to adopt/adapt the proposal.

To guide your revision, I will also send specific comments on each person's presentation, wiki pages, and draft reports. Please email me if you need clarification about how these instructions apply in light of the submissions you have made already. In the meantime, think about how you plan to address the bases listed above in your revised report.



(original page by - pjt )