Action research can be defined as "any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, administrators, counselors, or others with a vested interest in the teaching and learning process or environment for the purpose of gathering information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how their students learn" and is "characterized as research that is done by teachers for themselves" (Mertler, 2020). It allows teachers to study their own classrooms and teaching methods in order to better understand how effective they truly are as well as how to refine their methods to improve them.
Mertler (2020) breaks action research down into 9 specific steps that are split up between four different stages: the planning stage, the acting stage, the developing stage, and the reflecting stage. You will see the specific steps within each stage below.
Step 1: Identifying and Limiting the Topic (June 2020)
My innovation plan revolves around implementing blended learning which is a teaching method that combines online and face-to-face learning. It is widely known for its ability to increase engagement and personalize learning. I have utilized a flipped classroom, one of the many blended learning models, in my classroom for the past five years. While I have seen the increase in engagement and personalized learning for the majority of my own students, this model, just like any other teaching method, is not a one-size-fits-all model. I noticed there seemed to be a disconnect between students' perception of their engagement and how productive they were actually were. Students tend to believe that the flipped classroom model is more challenging than the traditional model despite the fact that the at-home portion of the work uses lower-order thinking skills. The purpose behind this study is to see how students are actually using their time during a flipped classroom to discover more about why they might feel this way.
Step 2: Gathering Information (June 2020)
For this step, I had conversations with my colleagues to gain feedback on the feasibility of my research topic. I am the only teacher in my school who utilizes a flipped classroom so they did not have much input on their own experiences with the topic; however, they did find it to be a feasible topic and were curious to see the results. I also used self-reflection of the problem at hand as a tool to understand more about why I believe there is a disconnect with students' perception of engagement compared to their productivity level. I realized this is due to the fact that I have had students explain how they just hurry up and copy the notes rather than actually engaging in the content that is being taught at home through videos.
Step 3: Reviewing the Related Literature (June 2020)
In this step I read countless articles about blended learning and flipped classrooms to support my study. I wrote a literature review of my findings and discovered that while there is a lot of literature about student engagement in the flipped classroom as well as their perceptions of the components of a flipped classroom, there is not much literature on students' own perceptions of their engagement level. This further confirmed the need to continue my action research plan.
Step 4: Developing a Research Plan (June 2020 - September 2020)
After following steps 1-3, I developed an outline as well as a research question: How do students’ perception of engagement compare to their actual productivity level in a flipped classroom setting? For my research I will used a mixed-methods design in order to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The study will take place during one grading period (9 weeks) of the school year. The number of completed videos on ED Puzzle, answers to survey questions at the end of each video, amount of in-class activities completed, and grades on those activities will be recorded each lesson. Before each test (3 total) during the grading period, students will be interviewed to gain insight on their perception of their engagement and productivity. Data will be analyzed at the end of the 9 weeks grading period to identify any correlation between students' perceptions of their engagement and their productivity level. Students, parents and administration will be made aware of how the study will be conducted and what data will be collected. I will also get permission from students and parents. Data will be collected on each student and only the teacher will have access to student names. Data will be shared anonymously.
Step 5: Implementing the Plan and Collecting Data (October 2020 - December 2020)
My research plan will be implemented in the second grading period of the school year. The first grading period involves the first couple weeks of school which are normally set aside for policies/procedures and review; therefore, I think it would be best to wait for the next grading period. All 4 sections of my on-level algebra 2 classes as well as all 3 sections of my honors algebra 2 classes will be involved in the study.
ED Puzzle will be used to track completion of the assigned videos. Each video will also have Likert scale questions at the end for students to rate their engagement level during the video. During the in-class portion of flipped classroom, I will use observations to collect data on students' engaging either with myself (teacher) or with other students when help is needed. Semistructured interviews will be used to collect qualitative data on students' perceptions of engagement.
Data will be managed on an Excel spreadsheet. I will use a coding scheme to help analyze the qualitative data from the student interviews and teacher observations. The median score will be analyzed for the Likert scale that is used to measure students' engagement level during an assigned video.
Step 6: Analyzing the Data (January 2021)
I will compare students' ratings on the Likert scale to their completion of assignments as well as their grades on those assignments. I will also compare students' perceptions of their engagement during the interviews to their grade on their test. Lastly, I will use the teacher observation data of students' engagement with other students as well as the teacher to compare to completion of assignments as well as grades on assignments.
Step 7: Developing an Action Plan (February 2021)
This is an individual action plan; therefore, I will be the target of the action plan. After the data has been analyzed, I will use the findings from that data to create an action plan to answer the following questions:
What was learned from this study?
What are recommendations for actions related to the research question?
Who is responsible for those actions?
Who needs to be consulted, informed, or approached for permission for the implementation of future actions?
Who will monitor and collect future data?
Create a timeline for implementing the actions.
What are specifications of any needed resources?
My hope is to find positive outcomes in my research that will support the use of my innovation plan so that I can not only create an action plan for my own classroom, but for my school as well.
Step 8: Sharing and Communicating the Results (March 2021)
While this may be an individual action plan, it is important that I share my findings with other educators. I will create a presentation of my results to share with my department as well as my administration in hopes of being able to share it with the school board as well.
Step 9: Reflecting on the Process (March 2021)
While reflection is the last step in the process, it also something that will be done continually throughout the study by the teacher. At the end of the study, I will also reflect on the process overall by answering the following questions:
How well did the process work?
Am I sure that the data collected was the most appropriate in order to answer the research question?
Were there additional types of data that could or should have been included in the data collection?
Mertler (2020) also states that is critical to reexamine exactly who was involved, what led me to want to examine this aspect of my practice, why I chose to do what I did, where is the appropriate place to implement future changes, and how this has impacted my practice. I will be reexamining these things as well for my reflection process.
Mertler, C. A. (2020). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.