EDLD 5326 - Action Research Update

My action research project is complete and I am almost finished writing the report.   Going through the research and finding relevant information to what I was trying to do was the most time consuming.  I have to revisit that literature to get the statistics I need that will support my conclusions since the research itself was so badly sabotaged. Since, the research did not go as planned, but the results still showed that there is a need for this kind of technological support; I will need the literature to really make that point.  Originally it was supposed to be a mandatory part of the mentoring process and then at the last minute I was told that I was not allowed to do that.  Therefore, it was done on a voluntary basis and either fortunately or unfortunately I had different teachers answering the questionnaires from beginning to end.  The reason I say that it might have been fortunate is because what all of this told me is that the teachers think that they don’t need help in implementing the use of technology in the classroom but they really do.  The numbers clearly showed that even veteran teachers who are new to the district need to learn about implementing the use of technology.  So a research project gone horribly awry still yielded some good information.  Therefore I am not totally disappointed with the project or the outcome, because it did somewhat prove what I was saying all along, just from the opposite direction.

EDLD 5326 - Web Conferences

I don't really find the web conferences as helpful as I used to.  I think that is because the sizes of the classes and there are so many people either in different programs or at different levels of the programs.  People in their second course are going to have a lot more general questions and I understand that but those of us who are in our ninth course have already been there and done that.

I think having them as an optional part of the course is good.  I am happy when I get my course related questions answered but I can get them answered by email just as easily.  The web conferences are very helpful when they are course specific.