EDITORS: TERI MARCOS, LINDA PURRINGTON, & CLOTILDE LOMELI AGRUEL

This is the first newsletter of one of the Action Research Communities (ARCs) of Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA). The ARC is called Supporting the Teaching of Action Research (STAR) and a small number of professors who teach action research have met between ARNA conferences over the last few years to think about strategies, issues, and resources to support the teaching of action research. We created a website (star-arna-arc.org) as a forum for our Learning Circle discussions (onlinelearningcircles.org) about our own teaching of action research. Eight teaching topics are featured on the STAR-ARNA-ARC website, and at the time of the ARNA Conference in San Diego these were led within a distributed model of learning circles by a STAR-ARNA-ARC member as follows:

1. Framing the Research Question by Linda Purrington

2. Ethical Challenges of Action Research by Jennifer Robins

3. Blending Theory and Practice by Margaret Riel

4. Data Collection and Analysis by Kathy Shafer

5. Leadership Development by Donna Azodi

6. Competence Development by Laura Dino

7. Teaching the Art of Reflection by Teri Marcos

We have reached a point where we want to extend the discussion and invite all of you to join the STAR community. We are launching the STAR-ARNA-ARC newsletter and we are looking for contributions to it. Please submit short essays on any issue in the teaching of action research, your feedback on what you would like to see in the newsletter, or books, conferences, or resources you would like us to add. We have also launched a blog to encourage more discussion around topics. Please join us at: https://actionresearchteaching.home.blog/ We are looking forward to seeing you at the ARNA conference.

What does it mean to do collaborative action research?

By Margaret Riel

What does it mean to do collaborative action research?

By Margaret Riel

As teachers of action research, how do we help students engage in collaborative action research? Collaborative action research is a process which involves people with different forms of expertise working together on problems of practice, or community problems. While this is a generally accepted definition, it conflates two different forms of collaboration. The first is action researchers working collaboratively with other action researchers; the second is action researcher(s) collaborating with their participant(s). How should we support our students to develop collaborative relationships with other action researchers, and, perhaps more importantly, with those involved in their action research? That is what I want to explore with you in this newsletter post

Collaboration among Action Researchers

The first form of collaborative action research is among a team of action researchers working in either the same setting, similar settings or very different settings (Copbiaco, 2007; Gordon, 2008; Hendricks, 2009; Sangor, 2010). All these studies described collaborative action research as a process where teams of teachers come together to solve problems, create change, and accomplish some shared goals regarding teaching and student learning. These studies report on teachers engaged in action research of their own but within a community of action researchers. Gordon (2008) and Sanger (2010) describe collaborative action research as a form of whole-school action research that forms the activity of professional learning communities. Chou (2009) reports using collaborative action research as part of an in-service teacher training program. All the in-service teachers worked together as an action research community. This process is similar to my own experience in a learning technologies M. A. program. Each year a group of working professionals participated in action research learning circles to help each other in their efforts to conduct action research in their different workplaces. In this case, all of the learning circle participants were engaged in the set of problems that are part of the circle, finding literature, suggesting strategies, evaluating outcomes and reflecting on next steps together. Currently, I am working with global educators for the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) network in action research learning circles. They are a professional learning community using collaborative action research as their core activity (iearnactionresearch.org).

Collaboration with Action Research Participants

The second and often overlapping form of collaboration focuses on the participants in an action research study. Since action research is always done with people rather than on them, the nature of that collaboration is an important part of the process. Collaborative action research can involve university researcher(s) working closely with teachers (Ross, Rolheiser, & Hogaboam-Gray, 1999; Ósk Sigurðardóttir, 2019), preservice teachers working with mentor teachers (Levin & Rock, 2003); professional learning communities in which a whole school engages in action research (Gordon, 2008); or activist researchers working with communities (Wood, 2016; Fine, 2018; Zuber-Skerritt & Wood, 2019). Doing action research collaboratively with more experienced researchers or peers is described as an effective way to help new teachers develop a disposition of learning from practice. When the group of participants includes a whole community as in the work of Leslie Wood and Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt in South Africa, it becomes important to focus on both the actions of the researchers and the learning of the participants. Leslie and Ortrun provide a nuanced understanding of the complexity of community-based participatory action learning and action research (Wood & Zuber-Skerritt 2013; 2019).

Collaboration with research participants becomes more complicated when the actions involve national and international communities. A recently new network has been formed in Sweden, the Centre for Collective Action Research (CeCAR), to explore the processes and dimensions of large-scale collective action research when the community involved may be international as in collective action research around issues like pandemics, climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

These collaborations raise ethical concerns as a major tenet of action research is to give voice and power to the people involved. So while we teach novice action researchers to take action, we also need to help them explore who owns the problem they are trying to solve, and therefore who has rights to help frame the solutions. Michelle Fine (2018) uses a quote from Fals Borda (1995) to warn those of us in the academy not to have arrogant assumptions about those we work with, but instead to “respect and combine your skills with the knowledge of the researched or grassroots communities, taking them as full partners and co-researchers (p120).” Fine mobilizes groups of underserved populations to take collective action to solve injustices that they experience, the communities are engaging in collective community action. Where expertise differs, she points to the issue of power, control, and division of labor in these collaborations. Can each action researcher claim their part of the action, or do they claim the whole action to be of their collective making? Then, when it comes to the analysis of the outcomes of the group action, who owns the findings? Who engages in the data analysis and who either has the responsibility, or the ownership to write about the change? These are complicated questions without easy answers. In collaborative efforts, the ownership of intellectual property is challenging. Is it up to each person to claim their vantage point in enacting a change and assume ownership of the understanding that follows? Or does the group own the actions and create a collective analysis and reflection of the process of change? Whose name(s) are on shared documents? These ethical issues are discussed in more detail by Locke, Alcorn, and O’Neil (2013 and Foster and Glass (2018). The intersection of participatory action learning and action research is explored further by Zuber-Skerritt, 2011; Wood (2016); and in a new book by Zuber-Skerritt & Wood (2019). But when communities find ways to work together, the benefits are clear. Fine (2018) ends her book suggesting that if we successfully engage in a critical collaborative inquiry through action research, “we might join with others to collectively ignite the slow fuse of the future (p. 119)."

Given this injunction, the questions become: how do we help our students understand both their responsibility for igniting change towards a more just future and their commitment to ethical partnerships with those who agree to join them in their endeavor? What is the nature of the relationship they need to develop with those who will be their co-researchers? Action research is a form of inquiry, and it is important that everyone who is a part of the project is engaged in a reflective, learning process. In some cases, this will mean helping participants to also become action researchers (Ósk Sigurðardóttir, 2019), but, for those that do not take on all aspects of action research, it will be helping the participants to become more active and reflective learners (Wood, 2016)).

Thinking about how we might model the relationships between action learning and action research I have borrowed a model from Ellstrom (2006). He described one form of collaborative action as involving the partnership of a university expert researcher and an action research practitioner. He discounts action research as primarily “practical” and with little or no basic research value. For the knowledge to have validity, he recommends collaborative inquiry between a university researcher with theoretical expertise and an action researcher with practical knowledge. I join with most of you in rejecting the premise of his arguments. However, I did see value in reworking his model of overlapping systems, but not between action researchers and university researchers. Instead, I have revised his model to help you think about how action researchers might conceptualize the way they partner with participants in their action research.

I raise these issues and share this model as a way to stimulate discussion about the strategies or process we use in our teaching to help new action researchers understand their role in fostering active learning as well as doing action research. I am interested in your ideas, and in developing a dialogue around these issues as I try to deepen my own understanding of the term “collaborative action research.”

Please visit our blog to share your views on these ideas: https://actionresearchteaching.home.blog/

References

Chou, C. (2010). Investigating the effects of incorporating collaborative action research into an in-service teacher training program. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2, 2728–2734. Available online https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.404

Copobianco, B. (2007). Science Teachers’ attempts at integrating Feminist pedagogy through collaborative action research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 44, 1, PP. 1–32.

Ellstrom, P. (2007). Knowledge creation through interactive research: A learning perspective. Paper presented at the HSS–07 Conference, Jönköping University, May 8–11, 2007. Available online: http://center.hj.se/download/18.7b2d1d971365d15588680006296/Per-Erik+Ellstr%C3%B6m.pdf

Fine, M. (2018). Just Research in Contentious Times: Widening the Methodological Imagination. New York: Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.

Foster S.S., & Glass R.D. (2017). Ethical, Epistemic, and Political Issues in Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Research. In: Rowell L., Bruce C., Shosh J., Riel M. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gordon, S. (2008). Collaborative action research: Developing professional learning communities. Teacher New York: College Press. ISBN 978-0-8077-4898-5.

Hendricks, C. (2009). Improving schools through action research: A comprehensive guide for educators. (2nd Ed.)Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Levin, B., & Rock, T. (2003). Professional Development Schools The Effects Of Collaborative Action Research On Preservice And Experienced Teacher Partners. Journal of Teacher Education 54; 135 DOI: 10.1177/0022487102250287. Available online http://jte.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/54/2/135

Locke, T., Alcorn, N., & O’Neill, J. (2013). Ethical issues in collaborative action research. Educational Action Research 21(1), 107-123. DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2013.763448

Ósk Sigurðardóttir, I. (2019). Preschool teachers’ professional development through collaborative action research: Creating mutual understanding and professional language about values and values education. Unpublished Dissertation: University of Iceland.

Ross, J., Rolheiser, C., & Hogaboam-Gray, A. (1999). "Effects of Collaborative Action Research on the Knowledge of Five Canadian Teacher-Researchers," The Elementary School Journal 99, no. 3 (Jan. 1999): 255-274. https://doi.org/10.1086/461926

Sagor, R. (2010). Collaborative Action Research for Professional. Learning Communities. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Wood, L., Zuber-Skerritt, O. (2013). PALAR as a methodology for community engagement by faculties of education. South African Journal of Education , 33, 1–15.

Wood, L. (2017) Community development in higher education: how do academics ensure their community-based research makes a difference? Community Development Journal, Volume 52, Issue 4, Pages 685–701, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsv068

Zuber-Skerritt, O., & Wood, L. (2019). Action Learning and Action Research: Genres and Approaches" Emerald (UK).

Contact Margaret Riel

Fostering Student Engagement and Inclusive Communities in Online Learning Environments

By Linda Purrington

For over nine years, I served as Director of the Educational Leadership Administration and Policy Ed.D. Program at Pepperdine University. During those years, I taught Action Research, Personal Leadership, Culturally Proficient Leadership, and Transforming Organizations in a 60:40 blended learning environment. Additionally, I chaired doctoral dissertations and conducted my own action research to improve my practice and the learning experience for students. One area of action research explored how to engage students in the online learning component of the program, and in the online portion of the six-course action research strand that spanned the two years of core course work.

Some key ideas that emerged from a review of the literature revealed that learners engage more fully in online learning environments when provided with multiple and meaningful ways to interact with content, each other, and with instructors (Anderson, 2003; Chen, Gonyea, & Kuh; Dixon, 2010; Ozogul, 2018). Through collaboration, learners establish community, which can foster deeper learning (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012) and result in greater satisfaction (Jun, Choi, Lim & Leem, 2002).

In online action research learning environments, another compelling reason for learner-learner collaboration exists. Action research is collaborative and focuses on the improvement of practice and the co-creation of knowledge of practices (McNiff & Whitehead, 2010). Action researchers collaborate with participants, critical friends, validators, and interested observers involved in their action research in the field (McNiff & Whitehead, 2006). Therefore, providing students of action research with opportunities to collaborate, fosters engagement not only within their academic learning, but also allows them to experience strategies that might be replicable and valuable in their action research projects in the field.

I focused on what I might do at the very beginning of the program in our summer opening three-day face-to-face retreat and in the first fall term. I selected and orchestrated certain readings and activities to prompt reflection, encourage a growth mindset, build relationships, create an inclusive community, and promote learner engagement in face-to-face and online settings. Several activities were specially designed to introduce cultural proficiency, a key tenet of the strand of action research courses and of the program overall. I provided students with the sources and related resources for the activities and students discussed how to apply these and similar activities in their work settings and in their action research. Students revisited the outcomes of these collaborative activities mid-program and again at the end of their program to reflect upon their learning and growth. The readings, activities, and revisiting of outcomes contributed to learning that was transformational.

Following are two activities from the same source, Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders. Adaptations are suggested for using in an online environment.

Cultural Portrait

Learners graphically describe their cultural identity. This activity is a creative way for participants to consider the many cultural groups to which they belong and to see how many cultures are represented in the group. Activity requires 45-60 minutes or more, depending upon size of group and time allotted for sharing, in face-to-face or synchronous virtual environment. Materials needed include poster paper and colored markers. If facilitated in a face-to-face setting, tape or putty is used to adhere posters to the walls.

Briefing (In person or in advance of virtual session)

Each of us belongs to a number of cultural groups. These groups reflect our ethnicity, occupational and vocational cultures, and social groups that shape or reflect our values. Membership in a group is determined by how you identify with the group members as well as how those group members perceive you. On a large piece of chart paper, draw intersecting and overlapping shapes and or designs to represent the cultural groups with which you identify. If you can, show the relative importance and influence of each group by the size and placement of the shapes and designs. Encourage each person to create a diagram that reflects the complexity of his or her cultural identity.

Activity Process (In person or in synchronous virtual session)

In a face-to-face setting, each person hangs his or her drawing on the wall. In a virtual synchronous environment, a gallery of drawings can be created using a Google Doc. Next, have each person explain his or her drawing to the group. After the last student has shared, invite everyone to mill around the room examining and discussing the drawings. Individuals may put a sticky note with a question directed to the person who designed drawing.

Debriefing (In person, synchronous virtual session or asynchronous session)

1. How did it feel to draw a diagram of your culture?

2. How well did you represent yourself?

3. What have you learned about your colleagues?

4. What did you learn about culture?

5. How can you apply this knowledge?

6. Given the diversity represented by the drawings in the room, how can you explain your ability to get along with one another?

7. How can you use this information in the work you are doing?

Strength Bombardment

This activity builds a sense of team among participants through sharing personal stories and discovering similarities and differences. This activity provides for a personal focus, allows for individual expression, and uses positive feedback as a communication tool. This activity takes 60-90 minutes, depending upon the size of sub-groups. Students need 8.5 x 11 paper, writing utensil, and small sticky labels for the face-to-face setting. For online, students can create strength bombardment sheet as a Google Doc.

Briefing (In person or in advance of virtual session)

In your small groups, you will be sharing stories about important aspects of your life.

Activity Process (In person or in advance of virtual session)

Write your name in the center of a plain sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper. On the reverse side of the paper, draw a timeline of your life in ten-year increments. During each of these time periods, identify accomplishments of which you are proud. This does not necessarily mean achievements from the perspective of society, but accomplishments as you define them. Participants can make notes on the page.

In person or in synchronous session, organize participants into small groups of 3-4 members. A group of three will need about 30 minutes. Add ten minutes for each additional group member. In the small group, each person takes five minutes to share the story of his or her accomplishments without any questions, comments, or interruptions from the listeners. While the first person is telling his or her story, other group members are writing one-word adjectives on labels that describe the character of the individual sharing in light of their accomplishments. When the first person has completed his or her story, he or she listens to feedback from colleagues. In turn, each colleague looks the storyteller in the eye and tells him or her what is written on each label and they affix each label to the reverse side of the speaker’s strength bombardment sheet (the side with name in the middle). For example, “Mary, I see you as courageous because you stood up to the person who was taking advantage of others.” In just a few minutes, Mary has many labels on her sheet that describe her character. Repeat the process for each participant.

For online courses, participants can create their virtual strength bombardment sheets in advance of the synchronous session. For asynchronous classes, participants could use Flipgrid to share video explanations of their accomplishments. Group members could provide video feedback, including the word labels, which could then be added to a Google doc.

Debriefing (In person, synchronous session, or later as an asynchronous activity)

1. What did you think, feel or wonder while assessing your life?

2. What did you think, feel, or wonder while telling your story?

3. What was your reaction to the feedback you received in the two forms of communication, the verbal message and direct eye contact from your colleagues and the labels affixed to your sheet?

4. It never varies with this activity that someone will minimize the feedback from his or her colleagues. If this should occur, remind them that it was that person’s story; the colleagues were only feeding back what they were hearing. Let participants know that, yes, life is not always expressed in terms of positive feedback, but it sure does feel good when it occurs. Then continue with the following questions:

5. What did you think, feel, or wonder as you heard the stories of your group members?

6. What implications does this have for our work with students? With parents? With one another?

7. Invite participants to keep this sheet in a safe place so in the future they can pull the sheet out and remind themselves of what people had to say to them on that day.

The Cultural Portrait and the Strengths Bombardment activities are drawn from of a series of activities designed to foster greater engagement, promote collaboration, create an inclusive community, and encourage deeper learning. Students’ comments suggest that these activities required them to be fully present and challenged their thinking. As a result of the collaboration, they saw themselves, others, and the group as a whole in a new light. Sharing personal stories helps to develop trust and respect that are essential for online learning. Students also reported that they made meaningful theory to practice connections.

References

Anderson, T. (2003). Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent developments and research questions. In M. G. Moore & W. G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of distance education (pp. 129–144). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Chen, P.-S. D., Gonyea, R., & Kuh, G. (2008). Learning at a distance: Engaged or not? Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 4(3), Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/innovate

Jung, I., Choi, S., Lim, C., & Leem, J. (2002). Effects of different types of interaction on learning achievement, satisfaction and participation in web-based instruction. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39(2), 153–162. doi:10.1080/14703290252934603

Lindsey, R., Nuri Robins, K, & Terrell, R. (2009). Cultural proficiency: A manual for school leaders. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2006). All you need to know about action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2010). You and your action research project. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ozogul, G. (2018). Best Practices in Engaging Online Learners Through Active and Experiential Learning Strategies. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 12(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1764

Shackelford, J. L., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Sense of community in graduate online education: Contribution of learner to learner interaction. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 13(4), 228–249. doi:10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1339

Contact Linda Purrington

Image source

Assisting Action Researchers to Design a Problem of Practice

By Teri Marcos and Clotilde Lomeli Agruel

As action research students begin to frame their studies around a particular passion, I have found a good springboard as that of inviting them to return to the key-learnings of their earliest childhoods. Aesop, a Greek slave and storyteller, lived to be 55 or 56 in approximately 620-564 BCE. Over his lifetime he wrote 240 stories, now known as Aesop’s Fables. I fondly remember mother reading Aesop’s Fables to me and my siblings as we listened eagerly for what would ultimately occur within the short stories. Mother always quizzed us on our key takeaways and how they might be applied in our own little lives.

Although largely represented as animals in his fables, Aesop characterized human values as central to each clearly communicated, easily internalized, story. For example: The Hare and Tortoise espouses ‘Slow and steady wins the race’; The Bundle of Sticks, ‘In unity is strength'; and, further, The Frogs who Wished for a King, ‘Be sure you can improve your condition before you seek to change’ (http://read.gov/aesop/). Given Peter Drucker’s (and others’) brilliance for managing organizations notwithstanding, Aesop’s primary values, as applied to identifying problems, perhaps hold the potential to drive everything organizational theory and development these 2,600 years later. As noted in the table below pondering the relationship between Aesop’s human values to organizations might assist action researchers to apply their key-learnings to the design of a Problem of Practice (POP).

Table 1. Sample of Aesop’s Fables, Takeaway Values, and Application to the POP

A particular advantage to this activity is that Bloom’s taxonomy is fully operationalized as the action researcher moves quickly from knowledge to application to creating. Timeless literature embedded with values and deeply internalized wisdom move the action researcher from lower levels of the taxonomy to a deeper understanding of a problem of practice (POP) that exists within their organization. Ultimately, through the steps and processes engaged by the action researcher over the course of their project, an innovative design of practice emerges, is identified, and is broadly and deeply described in response to the POP.

The Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate (CPED) espouses six design principles, one of which is the Problem of Practice. The POP is described by Carnegie member institutions as, “a persistent, contextualized, and specific issue embedded in the work of a professional practitioner, the addressing of which has the potential to result in improved understanding, experience, and outcomes” (CPED, 2018). I have found it helpful to assist my action research students to anchor their POP within their workplace. For example, while my university is San Diego based some of my students are members of the United States military. A currently reported POP that is deeply rooted in the Air Force is the lack of recruitable fighter pilots as the military continues to find itself competing with the civilian job market for would-be recruits. While the current economy has created a problem for recruiting, training, and retaining fighter pilots, both the first and third examples listed in the above table might be applied.

How might an action researcher describe the above as a POP? A three-color approach is helpful as action researchers begin to separate the following statements from each other. For example, they may wish to select a green font for #1, orange for #2, and blue for #3.

1. State the broad problem in society (perhaps begin with an introductory or

explanatory sentence).

2. Provide at least three evidential statements of the problem including citations. These are

statements that provide evidence that the problem exists in various forms.

3. State how this big problem manifests itself in your professional context.

Example 1: (Military)

Military recruitment and retention of Air Force pilots in a competitive civilian job market

The U.S. military is committed to recruit and retain the best talent, but there are challenges as the military competes with the civilian job market (House panel, April 13, 2018). Only one in four 17 to 24-year olds is eligible to join the Army, and one in eight has the propensity to enlist in the military (Army Lt. Gen. Thomsas Seamands deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, 2018). The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Army to grow by 8,500 to a total force of 1,026,500 soldiers. To build the Army of the future the service must recruit a diverse force of highly qualified men and women in their efforts to grow and develop members, to include embracing talent management as a way to retain the best officers and noncommissioned officers. Challenges remain and the Army remains focused on improving readiness, as well as personal resiliency, suicide prevention, family programs and ending sexual harassment and sexual assault in the ranks. Global demands upon the Navy continue to grow, which means that service will need to recruit, develop and retain highly talented people, however the propensity to serve is declining and each of the services as well as the civilian sector are vying for the same limited talent pool. The military is clearly in a war for talent.

To attract and retain the best, the Navy offers monetary and nonmonetary incentives to sailors. Those resources include Sailor 2025, a program to improve and modernize personnel management and training systems through a number of initiatives, including family resources and opportunities for education and career advancement. It is an operational imperative for the Navy to increase its number of women in the ranks, and recruiting messaging is geared toward this segment of the population. The Air Force’s No. 1 priority to accelerate readiness is increasing end strength. The president’s budget increases the Air Force’s ranks to 680,400 military and civilians, an increase of 4,700 from fiscal year 2018. The fiscal year 2019 budget supports airmen and family readiness. It also funds increased pilot production capacity, and initiatives aimed at improving pilot retention by addressing the assignment operational tempo and quality of life issues. While the Air Force is continuing investments in key areas to include cyber, intelligence and remotely piloted aircraft operations challenges remain in other areas. As of October 2017, the total force pilot shortage was approximately 2,000 with the largest shortage -- 1,300 -- in the fighter pilot inventory.

Example POP adapted from: https://dod.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1493328/military-leaders-highlight-efforts-challenges-in-recruiting-retention/

An additional example follows out of medicine as San Diego, too, is ground zero for much medical research and practice.

Example 2: (Medicine/Health Care)

Big data and access to personalized medicine for all

Access to large omics data (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomic, metagenomics, metabolomics, nutriomics, etc.) has revolutionized biology and has led to the emergence of systems biology for a better understanding of biological mechanisms and personalized medicine (Hood L, & Flores M. 2012). While The developing world is home to 84 % of the world’s population it accounts for only 12 % of the global spending on health (Gottret P, Schieber G. 2006). The generation and management (storage, and computational resources) of omics data remain expensive despite technological progress which implies that personalized medicine could be restricted to the wealthier countries (Hardy BJ, Seguin B, Goodsaid F, Jimenez-Sanchez G, Singer PA, Daar AS, 2008). This is mirrored by a growing gap in our abilities to generate and interpret omics data. The bottleneck in omics approaches is becoming less and less about data generation and more and more about data management, integration, analysis, and interpretation (Mardis, E., 2010). There is a large disparity between the distribution of people and global health expenditures across geographical regions. While public financing of health from domestic sources has increased globally by 100 % from 1995 to 2006, a majority of low and middle-income countries experienced a reduction of funding during the same time. Several life-threating but easily preventable or treatable diseases remain prevalent in developing countries (e.g. malaria). Personalized medicine will further increase these disparities and many low and middle-income countries may miss the train of personalized medicine (Li A, Meyre D., 2014, Parts 1, 2, and 3) unless the international community devotes important efforts toward strengthening health systems of the most disadvantaged nations. There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between advances in high-throughput technologies and our ability to manage, integrate, analyze, and interpret omics data (Yuan Y, Failmezger H, Rueda OM, Ali HR, Graf S, Chin SF, et al. 2012; Kumar V, Gu Y, Basu S, Berglund A, Eschrich SA, Schabath MB, et al. 2012; Brugmann A, Eld M, Lelkaitis G, Nielsen S, Grunkin M, Hansen JD, et al. 2012) while addressing the growing gaps in socioeconomic and scientific progress toward personalized medicine (Citation to organization’s records).

Example POP adapted from: https://bmcmedgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12920-015-0108-y

Engaging students in activities to assist them to identify a POP within their organization, such as the example above which uses the guiding principles of Aesop's Fables, is helpful to both their learning about the broad possibilities that exist for research, and strengthens their understanding of those potential applications to organizational theory and development from the perspectives of self, team, and organization. This particular activity generally delights participants as they engage a rather playful childhood romp of literature they haven't thought about in years. New key-learnings become anchored, and applied, to the intersection of current possibilities and opportunities for creative and meaningful Action Research.

References (please see the two links above for POP examples)

CPED, 2018. Retrieved 2/26/2019 from: https://www.cpedinitiative.org/page/framework

http://read.gov/aesop/

Contact Teri Marcos

Contact Clotilde Lomeli Agruel

Some of our Students' AR Studies

As faculty within the STAR-ARC we guide many aspiring Participatory and Action Researchers to complete fascinating, helpful topics, alongside others within their organizations. A sampling of our current studies include:

A Master of Science in Educational Administration candidate is completing her study on the Effects of Natural Phenomena in Context on Science Instruction. Although natural phenomena, or observable events that occur in the universe, are central to the practice of science, observing genuine phenomena has been mostly absent from traditional science education (www.nextgenerationscience.org,2018). More recent developments in science education are based on the idea that conceptual understanding of science comes through observation and exploration by the learner of natural phenomena in real world contexts, such as the ecosystems used for science field studies. According to resources provided for Next Generation Science Standards, phenomena and student generated questions about that phenomena are what should drive quality science instruction (nextgenerationscience.org, 2018). Observing such phenomena in context allows opportunities for a learner to make mental connections about processes involved for an observed phenomenon. For example, observing an organism such as an insect in its habitat offers opportunities to make connections about the insect and its survival needs. Many connections cannot be made about phenomena outside of the context of a natural setting. Those connections are what can lead to formulating deeper questions and a better understanding of a phenomenon or concept. Furthering the understanding of learning processes in outdoor science field study situations could be important to prioritizing and allocating resources in the most effective ways for science education in schools. This mixed-method study reports teachers' and students' perceptions of learning through natural phenomena using pine cones in the forest, and in the classroom.

Another study addresses disproportionality. Addressing disproportionality is a fundamental duty for any school leader, particularly those that work with at-risk populations; minority students, high poverty students, English Learners, students with disabilities, and immigrant students. These students are suspended and expelled at higher rates than white middle class students, this, in the educational context, is disproportionality. There are systemic societal issues that cause disproportionality and not all of them can be cured in the schoolhouse. This study involves two groups of participants. The primary focus group is a group of students that have received behavioral interventions. The other is a cross section of teachers on campus. In experimental research one would apply traditional research design and gauge outcomes of treatments on specified groups. The focus of this research is on an action that has already happened. As such, it does not fit neatly within defined research designs. But it most closely resembles single measurement treatment. That is, “the impact that the treatment has on the sample.” (Glanz, 2014)

Resources

The Center for Collaborative Action Research (CCAR) affords action researchers 12 tutorials that were developed to support action researchers in their work. Each tutorial includes a video, activities, and supporting resources (https://www.actionresearchtutorials.org). The 12 tutorials address the following topics:

I: Overview of Action Research - Resources for this tutorial has a list of action research networks to join and resources to explore.

2: Understanding Action Research -Links to some concise statements about action research and a chance to compare your own understandings with hundreds of thousands of others in a worldwide poll.

3: Your Research Question - Provides a value search process, or the exploration of critical questions to help focus on an area of action research.

4: The Context - Strategies for contextualizing action research in a local setting; strategies for exploring the relevant research to create a literature review

5: Plan For Action - Planning strategies include a force field analysis, development of a logic model, and formation of an ethical plan

6: Cycle 1 in an Iterative Process - Ideas for framing the cycle research question which form a blueprint for taking action in the first of the many cycles of action research.

7: Collecting Data - Learn how artifacts--photos, observations, drawings, student work -- and more can be data and how to design a data collection plan.

8: Analyzing Data - Explore descriptive, qualitative, and quantitative strategies for analyzing data. Developing research skills evolves over time.

9: Reflecting on Actions and Outcomes - Reflection is at the heart of action research. Sharpening reflective skills is one of the best ways to learn.

10: Cycles of Change - The iterative process of action research--how to think about cycles which are not always sequential.

11: Writing your Action Research Report - Sharing research results through writing or online presentations creates new knowledge and extends the learning to people outside of the setting.

12: Your Identity as an Action Researcher - Doing action research changes your identity and your career.

Books to Explore

Books you will want to know about:

Zuber-Skerritt, O., Wood, L., (2019) Action Learning and Action Research: Genres and Approaches. Emerald Publishing Limited ISBN: 978178769538.

Action Research (AR) is an ideal methodology to enable practical and emancipatory outcomes, as well as to generate relevant and authentic theory. Consequently, it has gained popularity worldwide. However, this emerging paradigm of AR in the Social Sciences has been widely misunderstood and misused by researchers, educators, and practitioners. The integration of Action Learning with Action Research deepens understanding and contributes to new knowledge about the theory, practice, and processes of both Action Learning (AL) and Action Research (AR). It clarifies what constitutes AL/AR in its many forms and what it is not. AL and AR enable participants to effectively approach increasingly complex global challenges confronting humankind in this twenty-first century, collectively achieve practical, emancipatory and sustainable outcomes and generate relevant, authentic theory. This book, written by internationally renowned experts, is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the main genres and approaches of AL/AR. They explain the genre of their expertise, reflect on their rich experiences with it, and consider both the common features shared across the AL/AR paradigm and what is distinctive about the particular genre they overview. This book discusses the what, why and how of their particular approach and will prove invaluable for researchers and practitioners alike.

Fine, M., (2018) Just Research in Contentious Times: Widening the Methodological Imagination. Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.

Michelle Fine who gave the keynotes at the last two conferences has a new book - Just Research in Contentious Times: Widening the Methodological Imagination. Drawing from both personal and professional experiences, Michelle Fine focusses on how methodological imagination has served her well in crafting research with underserved communities. Fine shares her struggles over the course of 30 years to translate research into policy and practice that can enhance the human condition and create a more just world. The book examines a wide array of critical participatory action research (PAR) projects involving school pushouts, Muslim American youth, queer youth of color, women in prison, and children navigating under-resourced schools. Throughout her writing, Fine encourages the readers to consider the sensitive decisions about epistemology, ethics, politics, and methods; critical approaches to analysis and interpretation; and participatory strategies for policy development and organizing. This book is an invaluable guide for creating successful participatory action research projects in times of inequity and uncertainty.

Feldman, A., Herbert, A., Posch, P., Somekh, B. (2018). Teachers Investigate Their Work. an Introduction to Action Research across the Professions. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

Now in its third edition, Teachers Investigate Their Work introduces both the theoretical concepts and the practical methods necessary for readers wishing to develop their action research. Drawing from studies carried out by teachers and other professionals, as well as from the authors’ own international practical experience, the book provides detail on multiple educational contexts from primary education to university training and beyond. It contains practical methods and strategies to understand and conduct action research. It is a concise yet thorough introduction to action research and is an essential, practical, and easily accessible handbook for teachers, senior staff, and researchers who want to engage in innovation and improve their practice.

Rowell, L., Bruce, C., Shosh, J.M., Riel, M. (Eds.) (2017). The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN:9781138225756

The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research offers a vivid portrait of both theoretical perspectives and practical action research activity and related benefits around the globe while attending to the cultural, political, social, historical and ecological contexts that localize, shape and characterize action research. Consisting of teachers, youth workers, counselors, nurses, community developers, artists, ecologists, farmers, settlement-dwellers, students, professors and intellectual-activists on every continent and at every edge of the globe, the movement sustained and inspired by this community was born of the efforts of intellectual-activists in the mid-twentieth century specifically: Orlando Fals Borda, Paulo Freire, Myles Horton, Kurt Lewin. Cross-national issues of networking, as well as the challenges, tensions, and issues associated with the transformative power of action research, are explored from multiple perspectives providing unique contributions to our understanding of what it means to do action research and to be an action researcher. This handbook sets a global action research agenda and map for readers to consider as they embark on new projects.

Upcoming Conferences

The Action Research Network of the Americas will hold their 7th Conference in Montreal, "Repoliticizing P/AR: From Action Research to Activism" Canada on June 26-28. There is a great Jazz Concert following the conference. Website: http://arnawebsite.org/conferences/

The CARN-ALARA 2019 Conference "Imagine Tomorrow: Practitioner Learning for the Future" will be held in Hotel President, Split (Croatia) from 17 to 19 October 2019. Website: https://carn-alara2019.org/

Within our second phase of development, over 2019 the STAR-ARC invites the larger ARNA community to join us in expanding the site and discussing ideas, activities, projects and resources. Members have made the site available in Spanish, developing a blog to encourage feedback and working on an idea to offer STAR Conversations on issues related to teaching action research.

Thanks to all that joined us at the ARNA conference in San Diego. We are looking forward to meeting you online and at the June, 2019 conference in Montreal. If you have ideas or professional needs as a teacher of action research, please come and share your ideas. We will evolve with all of you.