My Action Research in Context

A description of the context or setting of your study:Prior to the study I have to set up the website with as much information for new teachers as is humanly possible. I will continue to gather more information as the study itself begins and progresses. I will introduce the website to new teachers during their professional development week prior to veteran teachers returning to work. Subsequently, the study will take place on the district intranet which will house a site for my topic which I named "New Teacher Resources". That site will have pages for announcements, resources and links, and a discussion board. An operational definition of your target population:New teachers - any teacher that has just been hired into the district, including teachers who have taught previously in other districts. (The definition is being expanded to include 2nd year teachers.)How you will select your sample:That will be determined for me and will include all new hires. A brief rationale for your sample size:I believe that my mentors want every new hire to participate, especially since they want everyone to begin using the intranet. However, I have not gotten any information from the curriculum director who is in charge of the mentoring program and I do not know if participation will be mandatory. I am somewhat at the mercy of the mentoring program. My sample size will include new hires from this year as well as next year. I happened to see the curriculum director this morning and that is what she told me. She does not expect many new hires in the upcoming year but we all think it will benefit the teachers already here in the district. With new hires from this year and next she estimates about 40 teachers who will participate.A brief description of how you will conduct your research:My research will be conducted through pre, mid, and post surveys, and through monitoring the discussion board and the ways that the teachers use the information provided, or whether or not they use the site at all.