Cycle #1 - research & reflection (part I)

DATA: TEACHER SURVEY RESULTS
For my first cycle of action research, I knew I needed to find out how (or whether) the teachers that I work with were already collaborating around student work. To do this, I collected two important pieces of data: 1) a survey of teachers' current practices and 2) photographs of student work that was currently being 'shared' (I will post these as soon as I can make sure all student identities are private).

I created a 10-question survey (see the results in my "Collaboration Survey" presentation embedded at the bottom of the blog) and posted it online. Throughout my research, I wanted to not only teach educators about the ways to use technology to collaborate, I also wanted to model some of these ways. So, that was one reason that I created an online survey rather than a written one. In addition, having the survey online would calculate results instantly (great for me), would allow respondents to see the cumulative results (interesting for teachers) and would allow teachers to take the survey whenever it was convenient for them. This last issue was important because it is one of the main reasons why I feel passionate about technology as an administrative and collaborative tool - it creates time and space in organizations where both are critically lacking (Johnston, Knight & Miller, 2007).

Because the results of my survey told me that most of the sharing of student work was happening through hallway and wall displays, I needed to find out exactly what this looked like. I toured my schools to see what kinds of student work was displayed. I found that these displays mostly consisted of eye-catching or aesthetically-pleasing types of work: tri-boards, colorful posters made by groups and art work. There was very little student writing posted on the walls of the classroom or hallways. It occurred to me again how technology can create spaces for sharing when physical spaces are already occupied.

Why not use the internet as a space for teachers to share student work? Teachers could quickly view each other's students' writing; parents could see in-progress work in a matter of minutes from their cubicle at work; students could read their peers shared writing and give feedback. After all, I thought, students and teachers are already using the internet for writing (instant messaging, social networking, emailing) - why not show them a way that they can also use it for the work they do at school?

Another thing that my survey told me was that teachers currently had very little time dedicated to collaboration. I am brainstorming ways that technology could create some flexible time for collaboration, discussion and reflection.