Action Research Plan - Draft

Get Activ, Get Engaged? Action Research Study on Impact of ActivClassroom Ashley M. Coffman
Goal: To investigate the impact of the ActivClassroom on student engagement and achievement in the classroom. In what ways do student response systems and interactive boards/slates promote student engagement? What effect do these interactive technology tools have on student achievement?
Action Step(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research Approval Secure approval from district administration for study.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	December 2010	n/a	Correspondence from district administration will reflect approval of study.
Procure Equipment Secure 2 classroom sets of ActivExpression student response systems from Promethean or campuses.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	January 2011	n/a	n/a
Training Conduct ActivExpressions training for teachers.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	January 2011	ActivExpressions ActivInspire installed on training lab computers	Sign-in sheets for training sessions will indicate that all participating teachers attended training.
Plan Research Unit Work with teachers to select targeted TAKS objectives, plan units of study, and select class sections for control and experimental groups. Design pretest and posttest.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead Classroom teachers	February 2011	ActivInspire installed on training lab computers	Teachers participating in the study will create lesson plans that document alignment of lesson objectives and TAKS objectives.
Administer Pretest Students will be tested on selected objectives prior to instruction.	Classroom teachers	February-March 2011* *teachers will select 2-week unit of study for research	Data form to record pre-test scores along with demographic information for each student.	Results of pretest will include a data set for each student in both control and experimental groups.
Teach Unit Administer pretest and posttest with a control group and experimental group.	Classroom teachers	February-March 2011	ActivBoard/ActivSlate ActivInspire software Classroom set of ActivExpressions	Lesson plans will reflect completion of units of study.
Observation A single lesson that utilizes the interactive technology will be video recorded in the experimental and control groups.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	February-March 2011	Video camera Tripod Computer	Analyze video to evaluate and compare level of student engagement between control and experimental groups using PDAS Domain I criteria for student engagement.
Administer Posttest Students will be tested on same objectives after the unit is complete.	Classroom teachers	February-March 2011	Data form to record post-test scores along with demographic information for each student.	Compare average gain from pretest to posttest scores between control and experimental groups.
Teacher Survey Teachers will complete a brief online survey regarding their professional background and their use of Promethean technology.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	March 2011 (at completion of research unit)	Zoomerang online survey program	Survey results will indicate 100% participation among teachers.
Student Survey Students in both the experimental and control groups will complete a survey.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	March 2011 (at completion of research unit)	Classroom set of ActivExpressions ActivInspire software	Likert scale will be utilized to assess students’ feedback on unit of study. Survey results will indicate participation rate of over 90% among students.
Interviews Follow-up interviews will be conducted with each teacher.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	April 2011	Interview questions Form to record interview notes	Interview notes will reflect completion of follow-up interviews with each teacher.
Focus Group A focus group composed of 5-7 students from the experimental group will be formed.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	April 2011	Focus group questions Form to record focus group notes	Purpose is to solicit qualitative feedback from students on the effect of interactive technology on their learning.  Notes will reflect completion of focus group interviews.
TAKS Analysis Analyze scores on the TAKS objectives that were covered during the research unit.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	July 2011 (upon release of TAKS scores)	TAKS Report	Compare TAKS objective scores between control and experimental groups.
Presentation Present results of research study at Technology Leadership Team meeting.	Ashley Coffman, Project Lead	August 2011	n/a	n/a