What is Action Research? My View

I can honestly say until this course began I had never heard the phrase "action research."  As I started reading about this type of professional/personal development I started with resistant and then eventually moved to accepting of this idea.  Here is what I've learned about action research.

Inquiry is something we all do, some of us do this every day by asking questions about ourselves, our performance, our results, our relationships and more.  But, often it stops with the question or "wondering" as it is sometimes called.  As our students might say, that's an "epic fail."  Instead of just posing a question about our work we should move forward, forming a focused question then reviewing literature that pertains to our question along with analyzing readily available data.  Reviewing the literature helps us avoid duplication of effort, or reinvent the wheel so to speak.  Often there is existing data and information that can help us with the research and save time in the process.  Along with a literature review and data compilation it is likely that subquestions or an even more focused question could arise.  Once these steps are accomplished a plan can be formulated and put into action.  This plan needs to be related to the data and literature, aligned with the question and measurable.  As we progress through the plan evaluation and refinement will be necessary.  This might lead to more literature review and data collection, which in turn may result in a more specific question.  This cyclic process is where the improvement begins to occur, and as changes are implemented and improvements noted these should be shared with colleagues.  Sharing the results in the final step in action research and just as we tell our students that teaching is the ultimate sign of learning, sharing solidifies our learning and may be beneficial to our fellow educators.  Action research is a vital method of development for educators because it is personalized, relevant and meaningful.

I plan to use this new knowledge of action research to improve our district's agriculture education program.  In the future I know that I will also be able to self-evaluate my performance and my school's performance which will lead to increased student learning and community support.