Action Research Plan

Outcomes:

· Provide an objective evaluation of tech related skills of faculty members who teach online.

· Provide data required to develop an effective professional development plan.

· Develop an improved and more focused professional development schedule

Activities:

· 75% of online faculty will be surveyed.

· Compile survey results.

· Workshop attendees will be evaluated.

Resources:

· Online Faculty email distribution list.

· Well-developed survey.

Timeline:

· Faculty members will be surveyed and evaluate during the Fall 2010 semester.

· Changes in professional development will be implemented in Spring 2011.

· Faculty members will continue to be evaluated each fall semester.

Persons Responsible:

· Surveys will be distributed, gathered, and evaluated by Adam Haynes.

· In-workshop evaluations will be done by Adam Haynes, Johnny Jarrell, Kyle Boudreaux, and/or Craig Pember.

Goal Monitoring:

· Keeping count of surveys returned will monitor achievement of research goals.

· The development and implementation of an improved workshop schedule will be used as an indicator of successful research.

Research Evaluation:

• The effectiveness of the research will be evaluated by examining changes in faculty skill level evaluations.

The importance of purpose (WEEK 2)

Action research must be done with a purpose behind it. Blindly "researching" and hoping to change anything is a waste of time. You must go into action research with a reasonable and well-defined purpose.  That research must be centered around attaining factual information. Real change can not be built on hearsay.

Blogging for Education Leaders

Blogging is a must for educational leaders. It provides an almost unparalled level of constant communication with interested parties. Blogs allow for rapid deployment of communication. Information can be distributed instantly. Leaders will find that a blog can extremely valuable in receiving feedback from the community. Educational leaders must make use of the blog continuously once they implement the idea. A inactive blog is worse than one that doesn’t exist. Failing to use a blog that has been built tells your community you either don’t care or are to busy for them. Not every issue discussed on a blog has to be important. Sometimes blog posts can be minor updates whose real purpose is to maintain open communication. Blog can provide a venue for an administrator to explain issues that the school faces. As you utlize the blog you may find that those reading it become more supportive due to the increased communication.