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Multi'olelo Bite-sized Learning Workshop: Action Research for Language Teachers — Transcript

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0:05I have actually taught an entire
0:07graduate full semester long graduate
0:10class on action research which probably
0:13won't happen again until most of you
0:15have graduated but uh
0:18I was just thinking I should revive it
0:20but I'm not next year and then I'm on
0:22soatical so it'll be at least three
0:24years before I do it so sorry but um
0:28anyway this This this is going to be a
0:30very high level overview, but also with
0:34some resources that'll give you a chance
0:36to kind of start brainstorming what you
0:39could do as action research and um plan
0:43for your own potential projects. And um
0:47I'm always here to consult if you would
0:49like as well. Um so if anybody wants
0:52slides to follow along, it's this URL
0:56go.hawawaii.edu So you lowerase X,
0:59capital D, lowercase I. I'll give you
1:01the link again later. You don't have to
1:04get it now unless you really want to
1:06have them up there to follow along as
1:08it's on the screen too. So
1:11um small X big V lowerase I.
1:18Okay, everybody got it? All right.
1:20Unfortunately, the clicker they gave us
1:22doesn't seem to work. So, uh, I will
1:24have to touch the screen every time we
1:26move forward, maybe.
1:31Okay, there we go. Now, and I have to
1:34say, yes,
1:38no, not there.
1:42Oh, maybe.
1:46All right. I don't know why it really
1:49really wants to be in the middle of the
1:51screen. you know, look down there
1:52instead.
1:53Okay. So, what is action research? How
1:56many of you are think you know or you
1:58have a definition?
2:01Anybody got a SOS so
2:05Okay, some people Lucas, you better know
2:06because you're going to tell us about a
2:07project that you actually did. Um,
2:10so
2:17okay.
2:21All right, there we go. So, action
2:23research is um it is a form of research
2:27and one of the reasons that we're
2:28talking about it here is because it is a
2:30very
2:32very accessible and doable way for
2:34teachers to do research. Um but it's
2:37also a very democratizing approach to
2:40research. Um as you can see some of the
2:43some of the theories that start action
2:46research or that that ground action
2:48research democratization
2:50rather than saying researchers are
2:53university people and teachers just take
2:55what researchers decide is best
2:57practice. It makes the teachers the
3:00researchers. Um problematization. So
3:03really looking at classrooms and saying
3:05things aren't necessarily working. How
3:07do we decide what is this problem and
3:10how do we understand it? Um empowerment
3:13of teachers uh ownership of the
3:16curriculum. So if you've ever worked in
3:18a program where you were just told
3:21here's the curriculum, somebody else
3:23designed it, you teach it. That's very I
3:27mean first of all that's not a
3:28particularly democratic way of teaching.
3:30Um, but it really gives teachers instead
3:33a way to say, "I've tried something and
3:36here's how it works. We could put this
3:39into our curriculum or at least in my
3:42class it works." Professionalization.
3:45This is another one of those discussions
3:47of um, how do we treat teachers? Are
3:50teachers just people who implement
3:52things or are pe are our teachers people
3:55who actually are professionals who have
3:58expertise and know what they're doing?
4:01Transformation and teacherdriven change.
4:04Um some scholars of action research say
4:07it should lead to changing society. Um
4:11and it has that potential if you're able
4:13to document things work for my students,
4:17my students lives are better. This is a
4:19change to society and some action
4:22research can even implement change much
4:24farther beyond that. Project based
4:26language learning is one where if you're
4:28doing research on a project, you really
4:31have a strong evidence for making change
4:34in the world beyond just your classroom.
4:39So this is sort of the traditional
4:41action research cycle. It's a
4:45depicted as a circle. You start up at
4:48the top with figuring out what is it
4:50that I want to change. That's the
4:52planning phase. Then you put it into
4:54practice. You actually teach the lesson
4:56that or the activity or the intervention
4:59that you want to try out. Then you
5:02observe the results,
5:05reflect on what they mean, which it can
5:07actually go much deeper than just
5:09reflection. It can be your analysis um
5:12in whatever format you want to do. And
5:14then this is what makes action research
5:16different from other research studies.
5:18You actually make changes to what you're
5:20doing based on the outcomes of your
5:23analysis. Uh rather than trying to
5:26document the like keep the intervention
5:29consistent and measure you know the way
5:32a a more quantitative study would do
5:35action research. The whole point is to
5:37revise and change the intervention and
5:40then to document how it works when you
5:42teach it again.
5:44So in the plan stage, things you want to
5:47do needs analysis. Figure out what's
5:50going on in my classroom. What do my
5:51students need? What's working and what's
5:53not working? Because if it's working,
5:55you don't necessarily need to make a
5:57change. But there's things that aren't
5:58working. That's what you want to change.
6:01um figuring out what instructional
6:03points you want to change, what um what
6:06is your students language level at the
6:08beginning. And this is one that's a
6:09really important piece of action
6:11research because if you want to make any
6:13claims for your intervention, changing
6:16students learning, you need to know what
6:17they knew before you did the
6:19intervention. Um developing some sort of
6:23learning outcomes and planning your
6:25materials and your lesson.
6:28See if I can turn this so I can actually
6:29look at my
6:33Okay, I can actually look at the screen
6:35while I'm talking instead of having to
6:37keep turning around. Um, okay. Yeah. So
6:40then, and you also then you start
6:41planning out over how much time am I
6:44going to do this? How is this going to
6:46work? And so you make your lesson plan
6:48to reflect what you want to try in your
6:51teaching.
6:52Then you act. You actually do the thing
6:55you're trying you want to investigate.
6:57So you carry out the intervention
6:59however long it takes. It may be a small
7:01thing you want to try just for one week
7:04or one unit or it might be a bigger
7:07change that you want to try over an
7:09entire semester. I was on a student's
7:12dissertation committee where she did
7:14semesterl long cycles of action
7:16research. She was teaching Vietnamese
7:17101 and 102. And so her first cycle was
7:21the entire first semester and she tried
7:24out using more task based language
7:26teaching in her curriculum.
7:29By the end of the semester, she'd
7:31figured out what worked, what didn't
7:33work, and then she revised her plans for
7:35102 to use what she had learned. And
7:38then she had an entire year where she
7:40could use the results from that previous
7:43year to retach 101 and 102 using her new
7:47findings. So the the amount of time
7:50depends a lot on what it is you want to
7:52try. Um but you do want to make sure
7:56you're doing good teaching. So it
7:58shouldn't just be this is one thing I'm
8:00doing and the rest of my teaching
8:01doesn't matter. I'm assuming you're here
8:03because that is not how you feel about
8:05teaching. Um so you do all of your
8:09normal teaching but you're also really
8:11trying this new approach and then you're
8:15documenting how is this working? That's
8:17the observation part. Um, and that's
8:19also part of what makes this research
8:21rather than just good teaching. Taking
8:24notes while you're doing the
8:26intervention, collecting students work
8:29to see how are they doing with this? Um,
8:32as you're starting out, are they
8:34responding the way you thought they
8:35would? If not, you can also make changes
8:38in the middle. It doesn't have to be at
8:40the end of a cycle. Um, you might make
8:43video or audio record students
8:46discussions, various ways of documenting
8:49how are they actually doing with this
8:51activity. But you could also be talking
8:54to the students. So you don't have to
8:56just see what they do in class. You
8:58could actually sit down. You could
9:00survey them. You could do interviews
9:01with them. You could do a focus group
9:03where you have several students talk
9:04together to find out, you know, what's
9:07your experience with this? Are you
9:09enjoying it? what's working for you,
9:12what's not working for you, what are you
9:14going to do with this information in the
9:16future. So, it's it is research. You're
9:19collecting data. But another really
9:21important piece is this last point. You
9:24should also be keeping a teacher
9:26reflection journal because as the
9:28teacher and the researcher, what you are
9:32doing and how you feel about it is an
9:34important data point. So keeping a good
9:37journal where every time you do
9:39something related to your intervention
9:40or your teaching or you interact with a
9:42student, you write stuff down because
9:45afterwards
9:46you won't remember every moment of every
9:49class period. So you need this record
9:51and that is data and that can actually
9:53be an important part of your analysis.
9:56It's also something that can be part it
9:59can be an initial analysis phase too.
10:03your journaling about how it works is
10:05you starting to analyze the effects,
10:09but then you're going to do much more
10:11analysis of the data you've collected
10:14and a lot of it will be reflective where
10:16you're interpreting it. Action research
10:19isn't specifically a qualitative
10:22research method, but in general, because
10:25it's a small sample size, it's a very
10:29personal interpretation of things, it
10:32lends itself much more to qualitative
10:34analysis. So you may have some
10:36quantitative things you if you did a pre
10:38and post, you might measure what was the
10:41change, how much did my students know of
10:44this language feature change. But you
10:46may also be doing more qualitative
10:48analysis looking at how much did they
10:50participate? How did they feel about it?
10:53How did you feel about it? Um what how
10:57how do you know the intervention worked
10:59or didn't work? So what evidence do you
11:02have that it went the way you thought it
11:04was going to or that it didn't work the
11:06way you had hoped it would?
11:09And then you come to that point in the
11:11cycle where you start thinking about,
11:13okay, if I'm going to teach this again
11:15or I'm going to teach this same way
11:18again, what do I have to change? How am
11:21I going to make this better to address
11:25the things that didn't work the way I
11:27thought they were going to at first?
11:29And then you might start another cycle
11:32whether that's in a new semester or a
11:34new unit in your class or you wait until
11:37that same whatever content comes up
11:40again the following year. So when your
11:44cycles happen really depend on what
11:46you're researching and what the timing
11:48is. So this I thought playing around
11:52with the uh with um the art things you
11:55can do in PowerPoint. This seems like a
11:57more realistic representation of action
12:00research. So instead of being a perfect
12:02circle, it's actually this sort of cycle
12:06where you plan, you act, you observe,
12:08you reflect, and then your planning
12:10isn't exactly the same point as it was
12:13at the beginning.
12:17So sometimes people are say, well, how
12:20is this different from other research?
12:22You're collecting, you're trying
12:23something, you're collecting data, and
12:24you're analyzing it. Well, one is that
12:27dual role that the teacher and the
12:28researcher have. Um, and it's an
12:31important one to keep in mind because
12:35your one of your primary
12:36responsibilities is to be a teacher and
12:39so you need to keep that at the top of
12:42your mind. Um, sometimes you might get
12:44really excited about something in the
12:46data but then you just can't persist
12:50with it because you need to move on or
12:52your students need something different.
12:54Um, sometimes you you really want to
12:58push students, you know, like make more
13:00of this thing or talk more about this,
13:02but it gets in the way. You have you
13:04have other things you have to do. You
13:07have a responsibility to be the teacher
13:10even if your researcher curiosity is
13:13getting the better of you. So, that's a
13:15big piece and you have to balance it.
13:17Um, you can't also though just say, "Oh,
13:21I I won't do this right now because I
13:22need to teach my class." And then you
13:24get to the end of the intervention and
13:26you're like, "Oh, what happened? How did
13:28it work? I wasn't taking notes because I
13:30was too busy or I didn't record what the
13:33students did in their presentations. Now
13:35I don't have any evidence." So that's
13:37part of it. You really need to keep both
13:38parts in mind. The cyclical part, I
13:42mentioned this before that other
13:44research wants to keep everything
13:47steady. So you would do the same
13:49intervention over and over or you would
13:51do the same measures over and over. But
13:53in action research, as you go through
13:55these cycles, you change it because
13:57you've already analyze the data to
14:00figure out it works or it doesn't work.
14:03I need to know something different. I
14:05want to try something else. my students
14:07are responding in different ways than I
14:10thought. Another option is to bring
14:13students in as collaborators. Um, a lot
14:16of great action research, the students
14:19are part of it. So, it's not just that
14:21they're the subjects of the research.
14:24They actually the teachers can bring
14:26them in as helping to analyze the data.
14:30Uh one of my master students did that
14:32where he had the students um what he was
14:34trying out was if we use one Google doc
14:39all the students are writing on the same
14:41Google doc rather than each student has
14:43their own text what's the effect of that
14:46and so he um he each student got like a
14:49tab in the Google doc they could go and
14:52look at what the other students were
14:53producing across the whole term and then
14:57he actually brought the students in to
14:59analyze it and said, you know, let's
15:01look at this and see where did you draw
15:04on or make use of what your classmates
15:07were writing. And a lot of them were
15:09able to point things out and say, oh,
15:10see that, you know, that thing I did in
15:13my writing here, that was because I
15:15looked at so and so's and saw she was
15:17doing this thing. And so I thought, oh,
15:18I could do something like that, too. So,
15:21it turned out that the students really
15:23were a piece of the the process beyond
15:26just producing the text that was
15:28analyzed. And then the beauty of action
15:30research is it's super flexible. You
15:33could do a tiny little action research
15:35study on one, you know, one day of
15:37teaching something and then figure out,
15:40you know, the next time I teach this,
15:41how am I going to do it similarly or
15:44differently or it could be a two full
15:47years of teaching across university
15:49level classes. So any kind of scale
15:53works.
15:54So the other thing sometimes people push
15:57back on is they say, "Well, but what
15:58you've just described is what all good
16:00teachers should do. Good teachers should
16:03be reflective. They should look at what
16:05their students have produced and think
16:07about how well their teaching is
16:08working." And that's very true. I mean,
16:11you reflective teaching is a good
16:13practice and you should do it. Um, but
16:16what makes action research another step
16:19beyond that is really the connection to
16:22scholarship. thinking about it as
16:24research rather than just teaching. So
16:27you may be developing interventions
16:29based in what you've seen in in
16:31literature you've read or heard teachers
16:33and researchers talk about at
16:35conferences. It may be something
16:37theoretically grounded as grad students.
16:40You have learned about theories and you
16:42think okay I want to see how well does
16:44this explain how my students are
16:46learning this concept. The other piece
16:49is the really systematic data
16:51collection. So reflective teaching, you
16:55may not collect data beyond just the
16:58work that the students are producing.
17:00But in action research, you may collect
17:03additional data. You might survey the
17:05students specifically to find out what
17:07do they think about it. You might
17:09interview them. You might have them,
17:11like I was saying with my students,
17:13collaborative analysis, actually have
17:15them an analyze the data too.
17:18And then this last point, sharing the
17:20findings beyond the classroom.
17:23So it's not required. You could do
17:27action research just for yourself. But a
17:29lot of the scholars in action research
17:31say one of its contributions is that
17:34democratizing of research. And if you
17:38share your findings through presenting
17:40them at a conference, publishing them in
17:43an article, there are more and more
17:44journals that will publish action
17:46research studies. Um, then your your
17:51findings actually go far beyond just
17:54changing your own classroom. So keeping
17:56that in mind as why it's more than just
18:00good teaching um is really good because
18:04we want and multilo's whole purpose is
18:06this democratization of research making
18:09it accessible to teachers and the other
18:13way around having teachers show
18:16researchers that they are doing good
18:17research.
18:19Okay. So, before I go into the how are
18:22you going to get this done, I'm going to
18:24turn it over to Lucas
18:26who will tell you about a study he did
18:28way back when he was a master student.
18:30>> Yeah, this is 10 years ago. But thank
18:34you to MultiLo and Betsy for inviting me
18:36to talk a little bit about this. So, I'm
18:40going to, as Betsy already mentioned,
18:42action research is kind of this cyclical
18:44process. So today I want to talk about
18:48what I did here at uh and I'll kind of
18:52talk a little bit about what I did
18:53during each parts of these this process.
18:57And so just for context, this was back
18:59in 2016. I was teaching in the ELI. So I
19:03taught ESL 100, which is the freshman
19:06composition course for multilingual
19:08writers, so all second language
19:10learners. And then in 2017, I taught two
19:13sections of that course. So this
19:15research project actually spanned those
19:17two semesters. So it's kind of a
19:19semester by semester design.
19:24And as Betsy said, the first step to any
19:27action research is thinking about some
19:30type of problem. So thinking about
19:31something that could be improved in the
19:34course design. And one thing that I had
19:37noticed was related to the research
19:39paper. So based on my own experience and
19:42also my experience teaching uh
19:45composition courses, I found that
19:47students often struggled with this part
19:50of the class, writing a research paper
19:53for a couple different reasons. First,
19:56oftentimes students struggled finding a
19:58topic that was deemed academic. Um this
20:01was something that came up really early.
20:02I had a student who went to high school
20:04actually here and she told me how much
20:06she hated doing research projects
20:08because in high school her teacher kind
20:11of forced her to do a topic that was
20:13considered academic and she wrote I
20:15think it was a paper about economic
20:17consumerism and so she hated it so she
20:19came into the class being like I don't
20:20want to write I don't want to do this
20:22project so that was one thing that was
20:25in my mind but related to that so
20:28students because of that they feel
20:30disconnected from the topics and they
20:31don't really know how to add their voice
20:34sometimes into the writing project. It's
20:36often framed as you need to read all of
20:39these research papers that other people
20:41have written and just kind of synthesize
20:43it, right? But then they don't know how
20:45can they add their own perspective.
20:48And so the question that I came up with
20:50is how can I still teach this genre and
20:53keep it in the curriculum but make it
20:56more engaging and meaningful?
20:59And so when I thought about the
21:01intervention, I had a couple different
21:04ideas, but what I ultimately decided was
21:07that it might be interesting to try
21:09piloting a field research project unit.
21:12So instead of just having the students
21:14do a traditional library-based unit, I
21:16would actually encourage the students to
21:18go out, choose some type of site or
21:21topic, social issue that they were
21:23interested in, and then do interviews,
21:26surveys, observations, whatever made
21:27sense to them.
21:30And so this was kind of based on a
21:33couple different theories that were in
21:34my mind. One is Vanlier's action-based
21:37pedigogy, which is an approach to course
21:40design, which take students agency and
21:43kind of their own values as the core
21:45component of the design. But I also drew
21:48from things like critical literacy, for
21:50instance, thinking about multimodality
21:52and writing for different purposes and
21:54language learning ethnographies.
21:58And so ultimately what I did was I
22:00designed kind of this project unit with
22:02the goal of not only helping them
22:05improve their writing skills but also
22:07think more critically about issues that
22:09were related to their own lives. And the
22:13product that it ended up being through
22:15the second round of this was a portfolio
22:18with a research report uh two-page
22:21reflection but then also a lot of
22:23reflection along the way. So it was a
22:25portfolio kind of based approach.
22:30And so these were the outcomes that I
22:31came up with that they would engage with
22:33a variety of academic texts. They'd work
22:35through the process of writing and
22:36research. They would read, summarize,
22:39site works, and then they'd analyze
22:40their own data. So all of this is things
22:43that are regularly done in a composition
22:46course, but I was kind of changing it or
22:50pushing it more into their own
22:52direction. So they had ownership over
22:54what they were doing in terms of the
22:55research.
22:58And so ultimately the product of this
23:01action research project was a project
23:04unit. It was about eight weeks with four
23:06different sections where we I introduced
23:09field research. I did a short unit on
23:11methods and then we worked on writing
23:14and presenting. So this was kind of the
23:16end of the semester. So before that we
23:18had already worked with other genres and
23:20they already had some of the
23:21foundational skills. Um but one thing I
23:24want to mention is this was not the
23:26initial unit that I organized. So this
23:29came about from the action research
23:31cycle. So I piloted one thing my first
23:33semester and it went okay and then I
23:36kind of revised it over time.
23:41And so in terms of the data as Betsy
23:43already mentioned there's a lot of
23:44different data that we can use. And I
23:47think one thing that's really important
23:48to note is that most of the data is
23:50stuff that we already are doing, right?
23:53You don't actually and in my case, I
23:55didn't have to do a lot of additional
23:57research in this project. So most of the
24:00data that I used included things like
24:02student work and their reflections,
24:05their feedback, my own classroom
24:07observations, and then also I did record
24:10some meetings. So that might be the one
24:12extra step that I took where I had to
24:14record and transcribe things. But other
24:16than that, everything was regular
24:18classroom practices that then I used for
24:20the reflective process.
24:24And so, as I already mentioned, I
24:25piloted the project in the fall of 2016.
24:28And then based on the first round of
24:30notes and the student feedback, I
24:31updated the unit and tried it again in
24:34the spring of 2017.
24:36And in terms of how I reflected on this,
24:39I kept all of the data in a binder. So
24:41this is back when I mean it's 10 years
24:43ago but we still printed out worksheets
24:45and stuff. So I had a whole binder of
24:47all my notes and all the student work.
24:50Um and so I had that and what I mostly
24:53focused on and reflected on was first
24:56were students actually improving their
24:58writing skills and applying the skills
25:01in the writing that they were doing and
25:03then also what was their own reflection?
25:05What was their feelings and progress
25:07about their own project and progress?
25:11And so based on this, I mean, this is
25:13just kind of what I thought of as what
25:16were some of the outcomes that I noticed
25:18was I thought yes, students did engage
25:21in topics that were meaningful to them.
25:22In a lot of the comments at the end of
25:24the semester, the students had mentioned
25:26how
25:28much they enjoyed this and felt like it
25:30was something that was uh
25:33they something that they'd never done
25:35before where they were kind of given a
25:36hand in choosing what they wanted to
25:38study. Um there was a lot of
25:40collaboration throughout. So both with
25:43me and with each other and also
25:47because of this project since some of
25:50them or many of them or all of them were
25:52second language speakers this also
25:55pushed them to communicate with people
25:57outside of the university. So for most
25:59of them they had to do interviews uh and
26:02so they also had chances and
26:04opportunities to build other skills.
26:09just I thought it might be interesting
26:10to show some of the topics that they
26:12chose. Um, one thing that I was nervous
26:14about was because it was kind of focused
26:17on social issues. I thought some of the
26:18science students would not really be
26:20that interested, but they actually came
26:22up with some really cool topics. Um, I
26:24had one student who was in earth
26:27sciences and he did his project on beach
26:29erosion and how tourists understand
26:31that. So he actually went to Wiki Ki and
26:33he went to uh some other beaches and
26:37basically just asked people like do you
26:39know about beach erosion and do you know
26:41that the impact you have? So it was
26:43really interesting. I had an engineering
26:45student who thought uh who looked at
26:48freshmen and the difficulties they face
26:50but then other different topics. One
26:52student looked at Japanese identities in
26:54Hawaii. She moved here when she was in
26:56high school. So she was interested in
26:58kind of migration. uh one student looked
27:01at international students in
27:03homesickness. Another looked at
27:05community efforts to help the unhoused
27:06population. So that one was really nice
27:08example of also that community
27:11engagement. So he actually for the
27:13project joined I can't remember what but
27:15some like NGO or community group where
27:17he was going out and helping uh provide
27:21food and shelter.
27:25And so one of the things so I I have a
27:27lot of comments that the students had
27:29but one thing that I wanted to highlight
27:30was the thing that I thought was
27:32interesting was a lot of them did kind
27:34of shift their orientation towards
27:36research and writing. Um so for instance
27:39the first student talked about how they
27:42were really surprised that research can
27:45be and I think for all of us we think of
27:46research as data driven right we go out
27:49and we collect data but at that level a
27:51lot of them don't have that
27:53understanding. So I think this was
27:54something really new and interesting for
27:56them. And then also just kind of
27:58reflection on what culture means, right?
28:00So they were interested in thinking
28:02about research as an approach to looking
28:05at something from new perspective. So
28:07here we see evidence of that kind of
28:09critical thinking skills that are
28:11important for any writing and research.
28:15And so even though I'm just talking
28:18about what I did that first year, that
28:20was a project that I've brought with me
28:22into many different contexts. So before
28:24coming back to uh I also taught at IEPs
28:28in the US. I taught an international
28:30university in Japan and I've continued
28:32updating and developing this project and
28:35trying to see how it works. So even
28:37though the action research part I focus
28:40on that first year, uh it's something
28:42that is ongoing and I've tried to
28:45continue to update and adapt for
28:47different levels. So for instance, one
28:50year I was teaching kind of a lower
28:51level group and I wanted to see if this
28:53worked, right? So there's different
28:55things that you can continue doing that
28:57you have the foundation for.
29:00And so I thought this was really
29:02beneficial to me because it gave me kind
29:03of an organized approach to improve my
29:06classes, but also in teaching in
29:10different institutes, right? If like
29:12Betsy said earlier, if you are given a
29:15curriculum, but you want to make the
29:16changes, you're going to need some type
29:18of documentation and rationale. So
29:20having this all of this data helped me
29:23implement this project into other
29:26teaching context because I already had
29:27something that said this works and we
29:30can try it here. But also on a more
29:32personal note, I think it's made me more
29:34observant and reflective because you're
29:36always kind of thinking about what's
29:37happening in the classroom.
29:40All right, so that's all about my first
29:43project. I put a couple references in
29:46here. These are some kind of uh
29:49classical works on action research and
29:52then a couple papers about different
29:54ways to an do analysis. So for instance,
29:56classroom discourse analysis or content
29:58analysis. All right. Thank you.
30:06>> Thank you, Lucas. That was a great
30:08overview of what it can look like when
30:11you get into doing action research. But
30:14I'm really glad that you were able to
30:15kind of continue doing that after you
30:17finished your masters. Um, I also want
30:19to just point out this Burns book that
30:22uh Lucas has in his references is
30:24available as an ebook in the uh library.
30:27So you can get it and read it yourself
30:31um for no extra cost. Uh but it's a
30:34really useful reference. It's it says
30:37English language teaching but doesn't
30:39have to be about English language
30:41teaching. It works in any language. So
30:45yeah. Okay. So now's the workshop part.
30:48This is where you're going to actually
30:50do some thinking and planning and
30:52everything. So I put the if you haven't
30:54got the slides up, you're welcome to get
30:56them up and then you can just click. But
30:58all the things I have for you are uh
31:01short URLs with uh QR codes too. So you
31:04can get them that way as well. Okay. So
31:08the first thing is
31:10is action research right for you?
31:13um we've been singing its praises, but
31:17sometimes you're just not in the right
31:19place to do action research. So, you
31:23want to think carefully before you jump
31:25off into the deep end. Um so, this is a
31:29uh force copy Google doc. Um I think
31:31it's the one I used last uh
31:34last week month um for a conference. So,
31:36it might say RELP conference at the
31:38bottom of it. That's okay. It's the same
31:40document that I just keep changing the
31:42thing at the bottom of and figured I
31:43already had a QR code for it. So,
31:48make it your own. Um, so basically this
31:51is a set of questions. It's a pull down
31:54menu to say yes or no for each one and
31:57then a little box where you can reflect
31:59on what does this mean for you? Um, and
32:03you don't have to answer yes to
32:05everything to be in a good place to do
32:07action research, but if you answer no to
32:10a lot of things, it might be time to
32:13think about like maybe now is not the
32:15right time. Um, some of the factors are
32:18personal and if you are not very
32:21comfortable with uncertainty
32:24and you don't think you're going to
32:25change that in the future, this may not
32:28be the right action or the right
32:29research method for you. Um, but if you
32:32if you're if the issue is something that
32:34can be changed, you know, like finding a
32:37mentor to help you as you're doing
32:39research, then that's certainly
32:41something to keep in mind. Um, so how
32:45are we doing for
32:47Oh, we got plenty of time. Okay, I'm
32:49going to give you five minutes to do
32:50this on your own. um to kind of just go
32:53through it, think about, you know, if
32:56there's one that you want to write a
32:57little reflection, you can use the box
32:59to the right of the pull down menus. And
33:02um if you go through it pretty fast,
33:06feel free to chat with somebody next to
33:08you.
33:15>> Yeah, I'm the
33:18dog university.
33:20Yeah. I just wanted to come down because
33:24see in what kind of space this was and
33:27uh I really liked the format. So like I
33:30would be interested in doing something
33:32similar to Yeah.
33:34>> So I just wanted to kind of take part
33:36and
33:38>> yeah and yeah to talk more if you want
33:41to bring like things you could do with
33:44your own features and stuff like that.
33:46>> Yeah. I've done a bunch of action
33:48research myself. So if you want to
33:49utilize me that's Or if you want me just
33:52be part of the
33:54>> Yeah, either way.
33:56Yeah, I'm thinking we're actually of
33:58what I was thinking of the schedule. So,
34:00we may have some time for more story.
34:10I got to go the other direction in order
34:11to see what people are doing.
34:25That's it.
34:46if you want to make your own short
35:24I don't know.
35:38And no, that's why.
35:41Yeah. Okay. So, now
35:44go to
35:55that will turn off here.
36:09What was that?
36:11Yes. Yes. Yes. go through the whole quiz
36:13for yourself. Um, maybe like two more
36:16minutes on
36:19it all.
36:2062.
36:33Yeah.
36:48Or did you get my
36:53Yeah. So you just have to make sure
36:59is a different that's
37:05all right. Is anybody
37:09anybody finding that you're uh
37:12well suited for doing some action
37:14research now or right now is not the
37:16right time for you?
37:21Maybe. Yes. No. Okay. Good. All right.
37:24Um I'm going to move on just in the
37:27interest of time, but this is your copy
37:30of this document. So hold on to it. You
37:32might come back to it later and sort of
37:34fill in more on the the boxes
37:38um
37:40and uh to think about, you know, what
37:43what exactly would it take for you to be
37:46ready to do some research. um as you go.
37:51Okay. So once you know yes I am good at
37:55doing I mean I am ready to go to do some
37:58research. Um then you've got to think
38:01about what do I want to research finding
38:03your topic. Um so what you want to do
38:07think about who are your students? What
38:10do you know about them? What do you know
38:12about what they are interested in? I
38:15mean Lucas had a great example of
38:18understand starting to understand that
38:20his students thought research was one
38:22very narrow thing when as academics we
38:27actually know a lot more that research
38:30is not just going and looking things up
38:32in the library. Research is actually
38:34having a question to begin with and then
38:37collecting data that will help you
38:39answer the question. Um, and so that was
38:43what drove the innovation in his
38:45teaching. And you may have something
38:47else where you see, oh, my students are
38:49really stuck on this.
38:52Maybe it's because of the way we've been
38:54teaching it so far. So, let's try
38:56something different next time. Um, what
38:59could I do that might address this thing
39:01I'm seeing in my classroom? Um, so you
39:04might start with thinking about
39:05challenges. If you've realized a lot of
39:07things, sometimes you get kind of hung
39:10up on there's a lot going on in my
39:12classroom that I don't like. You might
39:14need to prioritize it. You know, what
39:16would be the most pressing thing or what
39:18would be the thing that I could actually
39:20address through changing something in my
39:22teaching? Sometimes there's stuff you
39:25just don't have any control over. You
39:26know, it's your students lives outside
39:28of school that's the problem. Um, but if
39:33you maybe you've also noticed that you
39:35tried doing something in your teaching
39:37and it's just not getting through to the
39:39students. So, that could be a place to
39:41start too. Um, could be, you know, last
39:45time you taught this, this particular
39:47grammar topic was problematic and they
39:49just didn't get it. Um, so that might be
39:52an area to work on, but this is a good
39:56place to start and doing a lot of
39:58reflection of what's going on, what do I
40:01see happening in my classroom, what am
40:04I, you know, what are my students doing,
40:06where are they struggling, what do I
40:09need to do in the end? So, really
40:10thinking about for my class, what are
40:12those learning outcomes that I have to
40:14achieve by the end of the term? Um, that
40:18can also be a piece that's important to
40:20think about, you know, how do I use my
40:23research to help my students get to that
40:25end goal?
40:28And then you want to think about the
40:31intervention. So, what is it that you're
40:33going to try that's different from how
40:36you've been doing it before? So, given
40:38those problems that you've noticed, um,
40:41what could you try? And, uh, Lucas had
40:44the definition. I sometimes put that one
40:46on slides so you can go back and look at
40:48that. Um, but the idea that an
40:50intervention, if you're coming out of
40:52the K12 world, you might think about
40:54interventions as being like these things
40:57that are done when a kid is has
40:59particular learning difficulties. But
41:02intervention really just means stepping
41:04in and trying something different.
41:06Whether it's um trying something
41:10completely different, making something
41:12up because you can't find any possible
41:15solutions, or trying something you saw a
41:18colleague try in their classroom, or you
41:20went to a conference and you saw
41:21somebody explain it. Um or you read a
41:25research paper where a professor
41:28speculated like, "Here's the thing we
41:31could try in this situation." and
41:33nobody's tried it before, but you think,
41:35"Okay, I see how that might work in my
41:37class." So, intervention can be any of
41:40those kind of things. Um, it could be a
41:44change to the materials you use. It
41:46could be a change to assignments, could
41:49be a change to the way you teach. So
41:52potentially you have been doing a lot of
41:54like standing up in the front of the
41:56room and talking you know to the whole
41:58class and thinking about maybe what I
42:00could do is stations you know students
42:03are in small groups some of them are
42:06self- access you know they're teaching
42:07themselves or doing an activity together
42:09and then I will work with a small group
42:11to teach a thing um so lots of different
42:15possibilities for what your intervention
42:17could be. Um, oh, at this conference,
42:21that slide was copied out of a
42:23conference slide, so oh well. Um, but
42:27then you also want to think about how do
42:28I customize it for my own class?
42:31Because, um, most of what you'll see
42:34from coming from outside isn't going to
42:36be exactly, you know, like you can take
42:39it and just make photo copies and it's
42:41ready to go in your class. You may need
42:43to change things to make it work with
42:45your students.
42:47um thinking about like if you're
42:49teaching people who grew up in Hawaii
42:50and the um the reading is all about snow
42:57or trains. I've just talked with one of
42:59our undergrad students who's excited to
43:01go to Thailand because he's never taken
43:02a train in his life. Um yeah, but if the
43:05the materials were originally about
43:07trains and nobody in Hawaii knows how to
43:09what it's like to ride a train, um then
43:13maybe the trying to customize it so that
43:16it appeals to what your students
43:18understand.
43:22And then also, as I noted before, you
43:25want to start before you even do the
43:27intervention thinking about how are you
43:30going to collect data? And Lucas
43:32mentioned naturally occurring forms of
43:34data. Action research in teaching your
43:37students are generating all kinds of
43:40things that can be data. So student work
43:43projects, so whatever they do at the end
43:46of their their, you know, a unit where
43:49they're creating something, all of the
43:51drafts that go into those projects, too.
43:54So, not just the final product, but
43:56also, you know, the things that they
43:59scribbled down and then decided they
44:01didn't want to do that. That could be
44:02really interesting data. Um, slides from
44:06a presentation. So, if they're talking
44:08about something they've done,
44:11um, essays they write, exercises,
44:14worksheets, you know, if it's printed
44:16out, keep a binder of them, pile it all
44:19up. there's or just scan it. You know,
44:22taking pictures of everything they do
44:24can be a way to give it back to the
44:26students, but you still have a copy. But
44:29then also, you can observe what's going
44:31on as the students are working on
44:34something. So, if you have them working
44:36in groups and you're not needed like to
44:39stand up in front of the room, you can
44:41actually kind of walk around and pay
44:42attention to what they're doing, jot
44:44down some quick notes during class so
44:46you don't forget. You know, maybe a
44:48little quote you heard somebody say or,
44:51you know, make some notes on which
44:52students are working with which which
44:55other students.
44:57As we say in ethnography though, you
45:00don't want to leave just those little
45:01rough notes because a lot of the details
45:04are in your head right now, but they'll
45:07dissipate by the time you move on. So
45:11after class, taking those little notes
45:13and writing up a much more detailed
45:15description of what happened during the
45:17class. So making a record so you have a
45:21a trace of this is what happened during
45:24class. And that can include, you know,
45:26what did you do as a teacher? What did
45:28you see your students doing? How did it
45:30feel? You know, did this feel like
45:32everybody was doing well and enjoying
45:34it? Or did it feel really hard trying to
45:37help the students in a particular way?
45:41You can also collect data that's
45:44recordings of students doing things. Um,
45:47we'll talk a bit about this when we get
45:49to the IRB part, but if you are able to
45:53do this or allowed to do this, making
45:55videos of students doing stuff can be
45:58really helpful because then you'll be
45:59able to hear them and see them. You can
46:02see as they're doing things, whatever
46:06they're doing, talking to each other,
46:07gesturing,
46:09uh, moving around. Also, presentations.
46:12Um, and presentations can be a great one
46:15because you could also then share the
46:17video with the students and have them
46:19reflect on how did it go? Did you
46:21present the way you plan to? Do you see
46:25yourself doing something now that you
46:28didn't intend to do? Um, so videos don't
46:32have to be just for your research. They
46:34can also be a piece of your teaching.
46:37But all of these are things that don't
46:38actually require any extra work on your
46:41part as a teacher. They're pieces of
46:45your normal teaching.
46:47Um, and they show you a lot of what
46:50students do during class and in the how
46:53they perform. But sometimes your
46:56research questions may need a bit more.
47:00You might also want to know what do they
47:02think about it. So, you might do
47:05surveys, some sort of, you know, liquor
47:08scales, uh, multiplechoice, open-ended
47:12where you ask students about various
47:15things. It could be how they enjoyed an
47:18activity. It could be what they are
47:21planning to do with the knowledge that
47:23they've gained from the project. Um, any
47:26kind of thing would be possible to
47:28survey students and then you get their
47:30perspectives. Um, one of my students
47:34when she was doing some action research
47:36in Thailand found that she was asking
47:39students um, she was trying a lot of
47:41different activities to try to get them
47:43engaged and she would ask them did you
47:46like this activity and every single
47:48activity they said yes yes yes and she
47:51was like it didn't look like that from
47:54my observations. So I've got to figure
47:56out how do I get at which activities did
47:59they like better than the other ones?
48:01And she figured out that if she had them
48:02rank the activities, then it forced them
48:06to figure out which ones did I like the
48:08most. And so that turned into a much
48:11better use of um or a much better way to
48:16gauge, you know, the effect of or the
48:18impact of the activities on the
48:20students.
48:22Interviews. If you've got a good
48:24relationship with students where they
48:26would be comfortable talking with you,
48:28do an interview. sit down with them,
48:30have them tell you about their process
48:33in making a thing of some sort or what
48:36how they interact with their classmates
48:39during an activity. Um, all kinds of
48:42stuff can be asked in interviews that
48:43you wouldn't be able to see specifically
48:46when you observe them.
48:49Sometimes focus groups are students are
48:51more comfortable this way because
48:53there's several students and it's not
48:56like one-on-one with your teacher. So it
48:58could be a more of a conversation. Focus
49:01groups sometimes also allow students to
49:02sort of build ideas. You know, they
49:05might not immediately think of
49:07something, but somebody else mentions it
49:09and the other person will go, "Oh, yeah,
49:11I did that, too." Um, so if you know
49:14that your students get along with each
49:16other, you don't want to do a focus
49:18group with students who absolutely hate
49:19each other because then they'll probably
49:21talk less. But if they get along with
49:23each other, they may build and help each
49:25other. um with contributions.
49:29And then like I was mentioning, if you
49:31want to see does this intervention help
49:33students learn to do X, you really need
49:36a measure before the intervention of how
49:39well can they do X be to begin with? And
49:43then you do that same measure at the end
49:45to see are they better at doing this
49:48thing. um whether it's a grammar
49:50structure, some sort of vocabulary, some
49:53kind of a genre knowledge, all kinds of
49:56things you can measure with pre-post
49:58tests.
50:00And then you could also have other
50:02people come in and observe. So sometimes
50:05if you feel like I'm too busy at
50:06teaching to take notes, you could have a
50:09colleague come in and take notes for
50:11you. It may be that what you're hoping
50:13is your intervention will help you know
50:16improve students willingness to
50:18participate and um you could have some
50:22you give them a list of all the students
50:24and where they're sitting and then they
50:25just make tick marks every time they see
50:28a student raise their hand or offer
50:30something, speak up, talk to a partner,
50:34whatever kind of thing you want some
50:36evidence of. other people are able to do
50:38that when you can't completely do it
50:41yourself. So, lots of forms of data that
50:44you can collect. Um, and sometimes
50:49you may not end up using it, but it's
50:51better to have it and not need it than
50:54get to the end of your project and
50:55realize I think they've learned this
50:58grammar structure really, really well,
51:00but I don't have any measure of what
51:01they were doing before. So pre-post test
51:05even if that doesn't turn out to be the
51:07most important part of your pro your uh
51:09research outcome it's okay if you've got
51:13it you've got it okay so this is another
51:16uh reused one I don't remember what the
51:18footer on this one will say but um this
51:21is a
51:23table basically and this is one that I
51:26recommend even if you're not doing
51:27action research whatever kind of
51:29research you're doing think about
51:32aligning your research questions with
51:34the forms of data that will help you
51:37answer those questions. And once you
51:39know the data, then you also want to be
51:41thinking about who are you going to
51:43collect it from? Do you need to collect
51:45data from all your students? Can you
51:47collect from a subset of students? How
51:50often do you need to collect it? Is it
51:52something you want to do every day or
51:55can you collect it once a week or once a
51:57month? How are you going to collect it?
52:00Is it something that they can do on
52:02Lamaku or is it um something that you
52:06need to actually go record?
52:08Lots of possibilities with that. So, be
52:12thinking about how you're going to get
52:13that data.
52:15Um, so I'm going to give you I know
52:17you're not you don't have a plan on
52:19research questions yet and everything,
52:21but give you a couple minutes to get
52:24make your own copy of this table and
52:26then sort of start thinking about, you
52:28know, for a possible study I would do
52:30what how am I going to do this? What
52:32data? All of that. Did it come up? Okay,
52:35good. I had another one that somehow the
52:40short URL stop.
52:43Yeah. So
52:51basically
53:09>> yes
53:22Yeah. So I
53:26am now
53:37on
53:50some secrets to show
53:58Well, if you wanted
54:00a regular basis
54:04and have somehow trace
54:10measure
54:19question about
54:29Okay.
54:33So then you would probably sort of
54:35measur
54:45Yeah.
55:00>> Yeah.
55:10>> I do this all the time. I'll never do
55:12this. you know those tents that are seen
55:14through a bunch of different skills but
55:16it's like they go through and say
55:23every time
55:25and then do that same thing
55:36and then maybe also having some students
55:39like kind of thing where they walk
55:41through their processes. Here's a good
55:43word for you.
55:45>> Yeah.
56:05>> I really like being in the class.
56:08A lot of my research and even
56:15do a bunch of
56:32>> obviously
56:34my research that's like international
56:36students.
56:40the cultural biases.
56:51I do actually for my university.
56:56So usually
57:03>> we do have
57:05pool of students
57:11all of them. So kind of that's kind of
57:13where my person I guess research.
57:18>> Yeah. So that's
57:37did
57:39my topic.
57:43So yes,
57:48in terms of everybody
57:58doing it, this is where it is.
58:23I'm working together.
58:37IRB
58:44is
58:47tier one.
58:53Yes.
58:59So, I'll be here for a year.
59:23I'm enjoying this hearing people's
59:25potential research ideas. Um,
59:29we do have a few people in the chat, so
59:31we'll Are you monitoring if anybody's
59:34chatting about anything? Feel free to
59:36ask questions in the chat online people
59:39because um I can't see if you're doing
59:42anything but Sarah can let me know. So
59:45yeah, keeping track of what you want to
59:48what you're doing and how you're doing
59:50it is a really important piece of making
59:53it research rather than just good
59:55teaching.
59:57Okay. And this was part of the selling
59:59point for this workshop is how do we get
1:00:01IRB approval for this? Um because if
1:00:05you're doing research at the university
1:00:07and you want to use this as any kind of
1:00:10a graduate degree paper or you want to
1:00:13publish it or present it at a
1:00:15conference, you do need ethical
1:00:17approval. Um just doing your teaching,
1:00:22you are not allowed to share what your
1:00:25students create outside of your
1:00:28classroom.
1:00:29So things that you want to be thinking
1:00:31about, one is this dual role. I
1:00:35mentioned it earlier. I mean, it's it's
1:00:38a challenge for you as the teacher and
1:00:41researcher, but it's also something that
1:00:43the IRB is really concerned with because
1:00:47they're cons they they worry that as the
1:00:50teacher, your students might feel like
1:00:52you're coercing them. they have to agree
1:00:55to participate in your research or
1:00:57you'll give them a bad grade. Um, and so
1:01:00you you want to really reflect on how am
1:01:02I going to make it really clear to my
1:01:05students that they don't have to
1:01:07consent. They have to come to class and
1:01:09do things. The intervention is your
1:01:11teaching, but they don't have to consent
1:01:14to let you analyze their data if they
1:01:17aren't comfortable with that. um consent
1:01:20forms in the IRB, you can have multiple
1:01:22yes no lines also. So you could also
1:01:25tell students, you know, you can if
1:01:28you're comfortable letting me analyze
1:01:30your work, you can check yes to that.
1:01:32But if you don't want to do an interview
1:01:33with me, you can check no on that one.
1:01:36If you don't want me video recording
1:01:38your presentation or you don't want me
1:01:41to analyze your presentation, you can
1:01:43check no on that line. So having many
1:01:46options for students, it may be some are
1:01:49willing to let you look at the things
1:01:50they've done already in class. And
1:01:52sometimes that's great data anyway, even
1:01:55if you don't have every student's
1:01:58interview um consent.
1:02:01Another one though is to continue to be
1:02:04aware of how your students are
1:02:06responding in class because it may be
1:02:08that they still check yes on the consent
1:02:11form because
1:02:13even though you've tried to make it
1:02:14clear to them they're not required to
1:02:16participate, they feel like they should.
1:02:18But then while you see them or if you
1:02:21try to get them to come for an interview
1:02:24and you sense they're kind of reluctant,
1:02:26they don't really want to do this. it
1:02:29may be a case of they're showing you
1:02:32they don't want to participate even
1:02:34though they signed the consent form. So,
1:02:36it's important to really keep checking
1:02:39in with students. It's not something
1:02:41where you can just say, "Okay, consent
1:02:43form signed. We're good to go." Um,
1:02:47and then you also want to really think
1:02:49about the research specific data. So,
1:02:52classwork things that students are doing
1:02:55anyway, that's fine. they're that's part
1:02:58of your teaching and they're doing it
1:03:00because it's part of the lesson. But if
1:03:02you're also asking students to do other
1:03:05things, um you know, if you want
1:03:07students to be um coming in for
1:03:10interviews, if you're doing various
1:03:13surveys that don't lead into your
1:03:16teaching at all, you might think about
1:03:18am I asking students to do more than is
1:03:21reasonable? Um, and reasonable really
1:03:25depends, but I mean thinking about
1:03:27college students who are taking five
1:03:29classes, probably working a job, maybe
1:03:31also in a club or playing a sport or
1:03:34doing responsibilities for their
1:03:36families. It may be that giving them
1:03:39surveys every so often on top of their
1:03:42regular classwork is just too much. Um,
1:03:46one of my grad students, uh, last time I
1:03:49taught the, um, action research class
1:03:52was, um, she had her students writing
1:03:56reflections that were a part of her
1:04:00teaching, but more so she had them doing
1:04:03it because she really wanted the data.
1:04:05But what she realized was it was just
1:04:07she was kind of pushing them to do all
1:04:09these reflections and it wasn't
1:04:12advancing her teaching as much as she
1:04:14needed it the teaching to go. The
1:04:16students were kind of getting burnt out
1:04:18writing a lot of reflections. And so she
1:04:20decided to scale back on that because it
1:04:24I mean it was useful for the teaching
1:04:26but it wasn't the most important part
1:04:27and she didn't want to you know ruin the
1:04:30students experience just generating data
1:04:33for her research. Um, so that's an
1:04:36important part, monitoring that impact.
1:04:39Um, and also really being flexible
1:04:43because even the greatest intervention
1:04:47may not be right for your class. And if
1:04:50you start seeing it's just it's either
1:04:53just not working or the students are
1:04:55really responding badly to it, it may be
1:04:58time to just say, "Okay, scrapping this,
1:05:01not going to continue with this
1:05:02intervention. will do something
1:05:04different to help you learn. Um, and
1:05:08that actually in action research terms
1:05:10is not a problem. That's a finding. I
1:05:13mean, realizing as long as you document
1:05:16it. So that's why that teacher journal
1:05:17is important. But saying, you know, in
1:05:20my notes, I realized I was continually
1:05:23seeing students doing X, Y, and Z, and I
1:05:27realized it wasn't working. So, I
1:05:30stopped doing the intervention. That's a
1:05:33finding and that's perfectly okay. Um I
1:05:37mean even in quantitative research these
1:05:39days there's talk about how um
1:05:42non-significant results actually should
1:05:44be published because we need to know
1:05:46what doesn't work. Um we can't just
1:05:49publish the things that are amazing and
1:05:52wonderful and have impact. We've got to
1:05:54know I tried this and it didn't work. Um
1:05:58and that should be publishable. It's too
1:06:01often it's not yet, but there are a few
1:06:04places where you can publish it. You can
1:06:07also talk about it at conferences.
1:06:08That's sometimes a good place for
1:06:10non-significant
1:06:12results.
1:06:15Okay. But then there's also the question
1:06:17of how do you explain all this to the
1:06:19IRB? Um, so I when I taught this action
1:06:23research seminar, it was in 2020 and I
1:06:26made some templates for my students. Um,
1:06:29that's what's in this Google folder.
1:06:32There's, um, a consent form and a set of
1:06:35the questions that are on the IRB
1:06:37protocol. Some of that has changed a
1:06:39little bit in the last six years. So,
1:06:42please make sure you're using the IRB's
1:06:46most recent templates. Don't use my
1:06:49consent form template because the IRB's
1:06:52made some changes, but the parts that
1:06:55are specific to action research should
1:06:57be about the same still. So, feel free
1:07:00to
1:07:01um access those documents and check out
1:07:05the language on them. I probably should
1:07:07have highlighted them. Maybe I'll go in
1:07:08and do that after the workshop.
1:07:10Um the things that are really action
1:07:13research specific one is on the consent
1:07:15form having a line that tells the
1:07:17students I recognize that I have dual
1:07:19roles. I am your teacher and the
1:07:22researcher and I promise you that I
1:07:24won't um I won't do anything
1:07:28you know I won't if you it's something
1:07:31along the lines of if you don't want to
1:07:33participate I won't treat you any
1:07:35differently. something like that just to
1:07:37really show the students
1:07:40the research is not going to depend or
1:07:43determine your grade. So some of the
1:07:46things um I've had conversations with
1:07:48the IRB and I have actually found that
1:07:52if you don't if you're doing action
1:07:53research and you describe the study as
1:07:55action research but your title does not
1:07:57include the words action research, the
1:07:59IRB will reject your study and say
1:08:01teachers should not research their own
1:08:03students. But if your title says action
1:08:05research,
1:08:07then they will understand it as action
1:08:09research. So that's number one tip. The
1:08:11UHIRB include the word action research
1:08:14in your title if you're doing action
1:08:16research.
1:08:17The next piece is you don't have to tell
1:08:20them everything you're doing in your
1:08:22teaching.
1:08:24They don't need to know all the things
1:08:26you plan to do that are normal parts of
1:08:29your teaching. even if they're part of
1:08:30the intervention, it's a teaching
1:08:33intervention and that's just your
1:08:35curriculum. So you don't have to tell
1:08:37them that. The only thing you have to
1:08:39tell them is what you're actually going
1:08:42to collect for research.
1:08:44So they want to know the research
1:08:47specific things you're doing. So are you
1:08:50going to video record? Are you going to
1:08:53interview? Are you doing surveys of
1:08:56anything that's not part of your regular
1:08:59teaching? If you start every semester
1:09:01with a survey and that's what you do
1:09:03anyway, that's actually teaching
1:09:06related. That's just student work. And
1:09:09so you don't have to give them a copy of
1:09:10that survey. Um, but if you're doing a
1:09:13survey that's specifically asking them
1:09:15about how does this particular
1:09:18intervention work for you or here I need
1:09:22information about this that I wouldn't
1:09:24normally collect information about.
1:09:25That's a research specific survey. So
1:09:28those are the things they need to know.
1:09:30They also want to know how will you
1:09:32explain this to your students. So the
1:09:35the recruitment script,
1:09:38even though you know who your students
1:09:39are, you're not going out and recruiting
1:09:41random people, you're recruiting your
1:09:44own students, you need to give the IRB a
1:09:46sense of what are you going to say to
1:09:48the students to explain the study. And
1:09:51so that's an important part as well is
1:09:53that recruitment script.
1:09:56The other part is that how will you
1:09:58ensure them that you're going to treat
1:10:00them fairly even if they don't consent
1:10:02to participate. And so making that clear
1:10:05to the IRB. Um and then also if you are
1:10:10going to do any kind of research
1:10:12specific things during class time,
1:10:15making it clear what you'll do for the
1:10:17other students who are there. So if you
1:10:20want to do focus groups during class
1:10:22time, what will the students who don't
1:10:25consent do? Is there going to be an
1:10:27alternative activity? Is it some sort of
1:10:30discussion thing where they'll all be in
1:10:32a discussion and you'll just make a
1:10:34group of students who aren't consenting
1:10:36and then the ones that are consenting
1:10:38you'll audio record or something? Um,
1:10:41let them know. Same with if you plan to
1:10:43video record for your research purposes,
1:10:46how are you going to set up the room so
1:10:48the students who don't want to be in the
1:10:49video are not in the video but still get
1:10:52to do everything in class? Um, so you
1:10:56want to think about that. you know,
1:10:57video it's it's totally possible. You
1:10:59can angle it so that you get half the
1:11:01classroom and then you just make sure
1:11:03that consenting students are in the path
1:11:06of the video, non-consenting students
1:11:08are not.
1:11:11Okay. Whoops. And that's it. Um, so
1:11:16questions about the IRB? It's
1:11:19we got plenty of time.
1:11:22Has
1:11:23anybody successfully done an IRB for a
1:11:27teacher research action research kind of
1:11:29study?
1:11:31>> What happened you explain happened to
1:11:33me? I very clearly explained I even
1:11:36worked with I went to the IOB worked
1:11:39with someone there explained what my
1:11:40study was. I wrote it out exactly. He
1:11:44went through two rounds of feedback all
1:11:46changes where he came instead and
1:11:48finally the third person said exactly
1:11:50that teachers cannot be like everyone
1:11:53along the way know what my research is
1:11:57>> and then
1:11:59>> yeah it's I don't it was
1:12:032013
1:12:04I think that um Graham Krooks me a
1:12:09couple of professors from the college of
1:12:11ed and a nursing professor went to talk
1:12:13to the IRB because we'd all had the
1:12:16experience of them saying nurses can't
1:12:19research their own p patients, teachers
1:12:22can't research their own students. And
1:12:23we were like, but these are common
1:12:24practices in our fields. You know, this
1:12:27is what nursing research is. Nurses
1:12:29don't research other people's patients,
1:12:31they research their own patients. Um and
1:12:35um so we explained to them what
1:12:38practitioner research is, talked with
1:12:41them about and how do we make it so that
1:12:45we and our students can get permission.
1:12:47And finally it came down to they were
1:12:49like well we need a signal to know that
1:12:52this is acceptable practitioner
1:12:54research. And so putting action research
1:12:56in the title turned out to be the flag
1:12:59that if it says action research study of
1:13:03learning Spanish verbs or something like
1:13:06that, then they'll be like, "Okay,
1:13:08you're a teacher doing action research,
1:13:10that's fine." If it's study of learning
1:13:13Spanish verbs, they'll be like, "Nope,
1:13:15teachers can't research their students."
1:13:16So
1:13:18uh yes that is just a weird weird but uh
1:13:23and it only I mean that's here that's
1:13:25our IRB I if you go to another
1:13:27institution no guarantees how it's going
1:13:30to work. Um, so
1:13:33some institutions, like at UC Davis,
1:13:36they had a really big teacher education
1:13:38program where all the master students
1:13:40did classroom action research and so
1:13:42their IRB knew if a study was coming in
1:13:46that looked like that, it's a legitimate
1:13:48teacher research study. Um but other
1:13:53institutions still are the IRB has this
1:13:57big manual that they go by but it's for
1:14:00med like mostly medical research and
1:14:04action research isn't something in lab
1:14:07medical research. Apparently nursing
1:14:09research isn't in the book either. So
1:14:12yeah they also once told us that case
1:14:15studies weren't actual research because
1:14:17there was only one participant.
1:14:19Um we're like but we're collecting data
1:14:22and analyzing it. Isn't that research?
1:14:25Um so they they learn they are our is
1:14:30very responsive. The people that work
1:14:31there you can send them an email they'll
1:14:33write back. They'll try to understand
1:14:36the situation and help you understand
1:14:38what they need to know in order to
1:14:40review your study. So don't don't just
1:14:43shut down and be like, "Oh, they're
1:14:45mean. They won't let me do it." Reach
1:14:47out. find out what's going on and often
1:14:49they're very helpful.
1:14:53Okay. And I'm h I'm happy to review if
1:14:56you have a an IRB proposal and you're
1:14:59not sure if the wording sounds about
1:15:00right. I'm happy to consult on that too.
1:15:04Okay. So, the last thing
1:15:06you shouldn't do action research all by
1:15:08yourself if at all possible. I mean, you
1:15:11can, there's no reason you can't, but
1:15:15it gets very lonely. Um, it's a more
1:15:19work than just teaching. It's there's,
1:15:22you know, there's anything you're doing
1:15:24on top of teaching. And even if the only
1:15:26data you're collecting is student work,
1:15:28you still need to analyze that student
1:15:30work. So, that's more work.
1:15:33And a lot of times having some moral
1:15:36support is helpful. So finding other
1:15:40people that are doing action research,
1:15:43if you come up against some sort of
1:15:46dilemma or a challenge, somebody you can
1:15:48chat with. Um so taking a class or a
1:15:52workshop, you're getting started on
1:15:54that. That's great. Um attending
1:15:56conferences where there's sessions about
1:15:59action research. You can hear how other
1:16:01teachers did research, what their
1:16:04challenges were, maybe how they resolved
1:16:06those. um reading books, reading
1:16:09studies, um understanding how other
1:16:11people's research went is good, but then
1:16:14also reaching out for mentoring. So
1:16:17talking to someone who can help you if
1:16:19you're stuck on something, if you're not
1:16:23sure how to go about systematically
1:16:26collecting and analyzing data, that's a
1:16:28great reason to have a mentor who can
1:16:30help you more with that aspect. Um doing
1:16:34it together. So if there's several
1:16:36teachers in a program, do an action
1:16:38research project together um where you
1:16:41can collaboratively support each other.
1:16:43Try the same intervention in all of your
1:16:46classes. You can get a much bigger
1:16:47sample set, too. Um and building some
1:16:51time into your schedule. It's the same
1:16:52as any habit. You know, you've got to
1:16:55actually like block off the time and
1:16:58say, I'm going to do this and I'm not
1:17:01going to do other things. Uh and that
1:17:04too if you have somebody else you're
1:17:06doing this with you can schedule it
1:17:07together and say this is going to be our
1:17:09action research hour. We'll sit down and
1:17:12talk about the data we've collected and
1:17:15that's really helpful. So
1:17:18making it possible um and I am very very
1:17:23fond of having other people to work
1:17:25with. I don't get much writing done at
1:17:27all on my own. But anytime I'm working
1:17:29on a writing project with other people,
1:17:32I'm there because it's a commitment to
1:17:34another person.
1:17:36Uh looks like we do have a comment or a
1:17:38question in the chat.
1:17:41>> Oh, that was just you saying you can ask
1:17:43a question if you want. Okay, but
1:17:47that's it. So, this goes to the slides
1:17:51again if you did not get the slides
1:17:52ahead of time. Um, cap lowercase X,
1:17:55capital D, lowercase I for the sides. N

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