EDLD 5315
Assessing Digital Learning Instruction
In EDLD 5315 I created an action research plan to implement in my classroom. I began the course by learning about action research and its benefits from the book Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators (Mertler, 2019). In the beginning stage, I created an Action Research Outline containing my initial research question and preliminary ideas for the methodology my study would use. I chose to do my research on using Pear Deck, a digital student response system, to impact students' critical thinking skills in the 10th-grade World History classroom. This topic is of interest to me because Pear Deck is an instructional tool I have used frequently in my own practice. I then conducted a literature review to develop a stronger understanding of the existing literature surrounding student response systems. This review reaffirmed the need for more research on the Pear Deck tool. Lastly, I developed an action research plan to implement in my classroom. This plan includes the methodology I have chosen to use for the study and a timeline for implementation and assessment. Throughout the course, I worked with my peers to improve our understanding of research and the development of our plans. These interactions are further described in my Contributions to Learning and the Learning Community.
This outline contains the preliminary ideas behind my action research plan. This is where I first selected my topic and developed my fundamental research question. During the creation of this outline, I considered the various types of data collection methods including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.
Literature Review
This document contains my research on the impacts of student response systems such as Pear Deck. By reviewing the research, I developed a stronger understanding of how student response systems have evolved over time. The literature helped shape the methodology of my final action research plan.
Action Research Plan
This document contains my final action research plan. In it, I explain the reason for my research study and the importance of the fundamental research question I chose. There is a detailed description of my planned research methodology and how the data collected will be analyzed, with a rationale for the methods chosen. Lastly, I include my plans for sharing the results of my study and how I will reflect on these results to improve my instructional practice.
Contributions to My Learning & the Learning Community
Self-Assessment Grade:
I have given myself a score of 99 for my collaborative efforts to enhance the learning of my peers and myself in EDLD 5315. After reflecting upon my assignments and interactions, I believe I have met all of the key contributions in this course by collaborating with my core group, completing all assignments and readings, and completing all activities by the dates in the syllabus. Furthermore, I actively participated in all formal and informal activities for the course including class meetings and I was an active member in the Blackboard, GroupMe, and Facebook forums for the course. Lastly, I took on the leadership role of organizing and hosting the weekly study group call with my core group and seeking out students who had recently switched from the administrative courses.
What is working?
Fall 2023 is the final semester in my journey toward a Master’s degree in Educational Technology Leadership. At this point in the program, I found systems and created collaborative groups with peers to support my learning. I have been a very active member of my collaborative group since the administration part of the program. This semester I continued to work with these peers, which included Veruschka C., Mesha S., Nikki (Angela) T., and Nneka G. from last semester. I was in contact with my core group members several times a week. However, I continued to expand my group to include additional peers including Taylor K., Jeremy R., Rosalyn P., and Jessica R. among numerous others. As a high school teacher, I have especially benefited from discussing assignments and educational issues with my peers who work at the lower grade levels.
At the beginning of the semester, I created a one-document "Media Guides" with all the readings required for each course to keep myself organized. I shared my guides with classmates on GroupMe and Facebook so they could benefit as well. The media guides allowed me to access all of the readings, videos, and supporting resources in addition to my notes from them in one place. The guides helped me stay on pace with the course and organize all of my notes for class on one page. I used these guides to ensure that all of my assignments were turned in before the due date. I also created planning templates for choosing an action research topic and for the literature review. Below are templates of my media guides and templates that were shared with peers.
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Action Research Topic Template (Photo on right)
Throughout the semester I sought feedback on each assignment through discussion posts, group messages, and Zoom study sessions. Throughout the peer review process in EDLD 5315, I learned about the variety of topics my peers were researching including FlipGrid, Flocabulary, and Seesaw. I also saw several variations of what action research can look like across classrooms. Although it was the first time many of us had created a literature review and action research plan, receiving each other's work helped me see the numerous possibilities in action research.
What can be improved?
I will admit that I fell short of my personal expectation to finish all assignments early in this course. It was difficult to balance two graduate courses and teaching AP Psychology full-time. My primary area for improvement is completing the discussion boards earlier. If I had posted my initial posts to discussion boards earlier, it would have given my peers more time to read and respond to. However, I was still able to meet the class deadlines and to have feedback from peers.
Connecting My Learning
To further my understanding of my publication’s topic, I also chose to investigate the digital tool Pear Deck for my Digital Resource Publication in EDLD 5317. This provided me with a stronger background on the digital resource and a greater familiarity with the publication process. After I have conducted my action research plan, I will be able to create another publication with the results of my research. Publishing the results of my action research would be the pinnacle of connecting and applying the learning from EDLD 5315 and EDLD 5317 together.
Highlights of My Further Contributions
1. Leadership
During this semester I took on the leadership role of organizing Study Group calls for classmates on the Facebook Group to collaborate. I hosted a weekly Zoom call in which we would review the course materials and assignment expectations. Whenever possible we would share our assignments with each other to give feedback through dynamic conversations. These meetings were consistently attended by Veruschka, Nneka, and Rosalyn every Saturday.
2. Discussion Boards
I participated in all discussion posts to maximize my ability to collaborate with my peers on the Blackboard Forum. For each post, I responded to at least 2-3 peers. I aimed to include at least one member of my core group and one member from outside to improve my understanding of my peers’ experiences. This pushed me to converse with peers outside of my familiar core group.
3. Supporting Peers
During class meetings, I sought out my peers who recently switched from the Educational Administration courses to help support them in the transition. Many of my peers were confused by the change in course structure. However, I was able to help several peers find their footing in the technology courses.
4. Active Contributions
As discussed earlier, I participated in all of the discussion boards on Blackboard throughout the course. In addition to the required discussions, I also posted access to the ETL Facebook group in the Student/Faculty Lounge discussion boards for both courses. I attended all class meetings hosted on Zoom throughout the course. Lastly, in the class Facebook group, I was labeled as a “top contributor” because I often posted resources, answered questions, gave feedback, and organized events. These resources included my media guides for EDLD 5315 and EDLD 3517.
Evidence of Collaboration
Below are a few screenshots that show my collaborative efforts throughout this semester.
The list of study group events I organized on the Facebook group.
A popular sharing post I created on Facebook for quickly sharing one element of our assignment.