iPad Use Action Research Outline

In my former education path, I was a science teacher. I taught anything from physical to life science. No matter what flavor of science I was teaching, I always pushed my students to continue to ask questions, and think deeper about how they saw the world. As a professional educator, I push myself as well. Investigating new trends, looking at research, trying out concepts and ideas, and reflecting on how the trials went, and then revising and retrying. To be a professional at anything is to improve your practice, and I don’t think education should be any different. Action research, “to improve one’s own professional judgment and to give insight into ... desirable educational outcomes” (Mertler, 2017, p. 13), lends itself to this thought process of professionalism. Within action research the process of planning, acting and observing, and then reflecting and revising (Bachman, 2001) will lead to better educational goals. My innovation plan has followed the same cycle. As I have progressed through Lamar University's Digital Learning and Leading program, my innovation plan has developed from a broad, non-discrete overview of what I thought a 1:1 iPad program needed to a more refined, research-driven plan. My action research question will focus around the how to best support the consistent and effective use of iPads in the classroom.

Purpose and fundamental question

For iPad use to accelerate, the iPads must be present in the classroom. I see there are two needs for this to occur. Teachers must feel comfortable in creating lesson designed with technology and iPad integration and be comfortable with using the iPads during instruction and classroom management time. The second is to increase the use of iPads to occurring daily in every classroom. The purpose of this action research study is to determine how these needs can occur. To increase the comfort of technology integrated lesson design, increase the comfort of using the iPad during classroom activities, and determine what ways will best support the use of iPads daily in every classroom. To support these goals I am asking the fundamental question of:

What are the best ways to encourage and support teachers in the use of iPads in the classroom on a consistent basis?

Research design

The study will look at both the feelings or perceptions of iPad use and the actual number of times the iPads are used. As such, both quantitative data (the number of times per week and iPad is used in lesson design and delivery) and qualitative data (the feeling or perceptions of iPads in the classroom) will be collected. This mixed-method of research design has the analytical aspect of this study but also keeps the importance of the human side of classroom use and perceptions. In their book Influencer, Patterson and Greeny describe that in order to gain influence on a new or changing situation you have to consider all six sources of influence. Utilizing both the feelings and structure of iPad use in the classroom I will influence using the social, structural and personal motivations and abilities (Greeny & Patterson, 2013) of the teachers.

A quasi-experimental design will be utilized to determine groups and compare to the fundamental question. A pretest determines groupings of teachers comfort and current iPad use in the classroom. From these groupings, development can be tracked and patterns will be analyzed for trends.

Measurement instruments

Data collection will be done with weekly reports collected through Google Forms. The forms will be based on four questions.

How many times did you include student use of the iPad in the classroom this past week?
How many times did you use the iPad in teaching content or in normal teacher responsibilities?
How confident do you feel in creating lessons that include the use of technology (specifically iPad use)?
How confident do you feel in utilizing the iPad in the classroom?

A copy of this survey can be found be here (https://goo.gl/forms/hDOXLKs2YUAUN8ox2). The survey will allow me to easily determine both the feelings of iPad use, the motivation sources of influence, and the actual numbers of iPad use in the classroom, the ability sources of influence (Greeny & Patterson, 2013).

Literature review focus

A review of literature will be done before the collection of data and support is given to teachers to increase the use and effectiveness of iPads in the classroom. The review will focus on three main themes of study:

• Effective use of iPads in the classroom
• What does and does not work with 1:1 iPad initiatives
• How to increase feelings of success and comfort in new learning

With a review of literature a look at what has and has not worked in each of these themes. Looking at what has already been studied will help set a clearer and more efficient path to answering the fundamental question. As Mertler writes there is a disconnect between the scholarly (university and college professors) research and the typical classroom teacher’s need for research (2017). With the review of the literature and a continuation of action research, I hope to bridge this disconnect.

Increased opportunities for improvement

It is the master teachers that are continually looking for improvement and better ways to help their students be successful (Mertler, 2017). Action research can help support this continual improvement, driving change for increasing opportunities for both the teacher and ultimately the student. Currently, iPad use in my district classrooms has taken a laissez-faire approach. It appears to be a good idea, and the district is supporting with devices, but there is a disconnect with the actual continual, consistent and effective use of the devices in the classroom. This action research plan will hope to address the reason for the lack of use. Without an increased use of iPads in the classroom, one cannot get to the more necessary action research that needs to be done of how to increase engagement and student success with the iPads. With continual implementation, data analysis, and revising and reimplementing an increase of the opportunities that iPads can deliver will occur.

References

Bachmann, L. B. R. (2001). Review of the agricultural knowledge system in Fiji - Opportunities and limitations of participatory methods and platforms to promote innovation development. Retrieved from http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/dissertationen/bachmann-lorenz-b-r-2000-12-21/HTML/bachmann-ch3.html

Grenny, J., & Patterson, K. (2013).Influencer: The power to change anything. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Mertler, C. A. (2017). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.