Action Research Course Research Articles

IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES THROUGH PROBLEM BASED LEARNING WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF INFOGRAPHICS ON HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM MATERIALS

Through the use of infographics and a problem-based learning approach, this research hopes to increase student understanding and engagement. This research was attended by eighteen female and sixteen male students in class VIII-B of SMP Negeri 1 Purwoasri for the 2023/2024 academic year. The Classroom Action Research (PTK) used is PTK with two learning cycles. There are four phases in an action research course: preparation, implementation, evaluation. Cognitive outcome tests and student learning response questionnaires were used to collect findings. The results of research using problem-based learning assisted by infographics achieved a percentage of completeness of cognitive learning outcomes from the pre-cycle of 26%, cycle I of 56%, and cycle II of 82%. The findings on the application of learning were also positive, namely 74.8 percent of cycle I students rated it as moderate, and 80.6 percent rated it as high. These findings suggest that combining problem-based learning with infographics for scientific education can improve learning outcomes and student responses.

The Complexity of Co-Generative Learning Between University and Regional Actors

This article reflects on the complexity of co-generative learning processes between a university and regional actors, drawing on the author’s experience facilitating an action research course. The course engages students in collaborating with regional practitioners on real-life territorial development challenges. Through glimpses into the co-generation process from student exam papers, the article highlights the challenges students face in navigating ambiguity and complexity when exposed to real-life territorial issues. Concepts such as regional complexity, Bildung, interiority, and democratic dialogue are used to analyze how structured reflection and facilitation through participation with regional actors can enhance students’ critical capacities for reflection and action. The main theoretical contribution is extending the concept of co-generative learning of Morten Levin and action research for territorial development by integrating students as reflective, facilitative actors in educational and regional development processes. Action research for territorial development provides a framework for accompanying the social transformations needed to address complex challenges. The article shows that by engaging in real-life issues through participatory, reflective processes, students develop crucial skills for facilitating collective territorial development efforts. Despite limitations related to geographic context and the course structure, the insights gained offer valuable implications for applying Levin’s legacy in other contexts.

Teacher scaffolding for knowledge building in the educational research classroom

Knowledge Building is an educational model characterized by its emphasis on the collective responsibility of students to improve collective ideas. Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of Knowledge Building in science education. This study implements this pedagogy in the field of educational research and pursues two objectives: i) to analyze the quality level of student contributions when participating in a collaborative space to enhance ideas, and ii) to analyze the scaffolding employed by teachers during the implementation. A mixed-method design (qualitative and quantitative) was employed to collect data. The participants consisted of 59 undergraduate social education students enrolled in an action-research course. Data on the quality of discourse were collected from the entries or notes created by students on the Knowledge Forum platform, while data on teacher scaffolding as perceived by the students was obtained through interviews. The results of this study demonstrate that most student contributions are of high quality, although participation shows a slightly uneven distribution. Furthermore, this study broadens our understanding of the teaching scaffolds that support students' knowledge construction in educational research and offers teaching scaffolds that can be applied in various constructivist learning contexts aimed at promoting student autonomy to collaborate in knowledge creation.

Optimizing the Implementation of Computer-Based Exams to Paperless in the Department of Chemistry of Musamus University

This research is a descriptive study that aims to optimize the implementation of computer-based exams in minimizing the use of paper in the Department of Chemistry of Musamus University. The subject of this research is the fifth semester students of the Chemistry Education Department in the Classroom Action Research Course. The research data was obtained through a student response questionnaire with the implementation of a computer-based exam filled in via the Google form. From the results of descriptive data analysis it was obtained that the response of students to the implementation of computer-based exams was positive with an average value of student responses of 83.08%. The conclusion that can be obtained from this research is that the computer-based test with the wondershare quiz creator software can minimize the use of paper. In addition, computer-based exams can make students independent in working on problems, as well as accelerated acceptance of student exam results.

Dialogic research mentoring in pre-service teacher education

PurposeThis paper presents the results of my learning using my expertise in teacher-research mentoring to address the needs of pre-service teachers and the requirements of the action research course in English language teaching. It reflects on the different procedures of my mentoring model, enriched by the dialogic research mentoring strategies informed by Freire's dialogic pedagogy.Design/methodology/approachThrough this first-person action research, the author aims to improve her teacher-research mentoring practice. As an inquiry into her own actions, the author examines her experiences, her understanding of them, and the potential meaning for her work as a teacher-research mentor during the two years she tutored the action research course. The author explores the procedures of the mentoring model she developed and the effectiveness of dialogic research mentoring in promoting critical consciousness and taking positive action in pre-service English language teachers.FindingsEffective actualization of the teacher-research mentoring process facilitates mentors' refinement and understanding of their roles during teacher-research mentoring. Perceived barriers can be overcome by adopting nine relevant strategies, which can be grouped into three themes: community-building, nurturing competencies, and fostering growth. Accordingly, the research mentoring model incorporates these strategies.Originality/valueThe insights enriched the existing knowledge of the dynamics of mentoring in general and of teacher-research in particular. Additionally, the study offers strategies developed based on my informed actions as the researcher to attain more effective outcomes during the research mentoring process.

Applied Learning Through Action Research Projects

This article explores the transformation of traditional comprehensive exams in a graduate master's program into real-world action research projects at a Midwest public university. It highlights the limitations of exams in translating theory into practice and introduces action research as a solution, aligning with recent trends in teacher action research. The article details the structure of the action research course and provides preliminary data on its outcomes, showcasing increased teacher confidence, impactful interventions, and successful academic journal publications. Ultimately, this innovative approach bridges the theory-practice gap, fosters professional growth, and positively impacts both graduate students and their classrooms, offering a practical alternative to traditional exams.

IMPLEMENTASI PEMBELAJARAN DARING PADA MAHASISWA PGMI DI FAKULTAS TARBIYAH UIN AR-RANIRY

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed almost everything, changing the way people live, including the world of education. Online learning is applied as a solution to meet the implementation of educational programs. In the PGMI Study Program, almost all courses are applied online and one of them is the Class Action Research course. This study aims to determine student perceptions of online learning in the Class Action Research course. The research method used is descriptive qualitative research method. The subjects in this study were all PGMI students and the sampling technique was snowball sampling. Data collection techniques were carried out by interviewing students. The results showed that online learning was well implemented. There were several obstacles found by students consisting of an unsupportive network, lack of library access, and inadequate learning environment conditions.

Omani EFL Teachers Engagement in Action Research: Challenges & Opportunities

Action research engages practitioners in rigorous cycles of planning, observation, action and reflection, which can lead to change in understandings and practice; so, they become reflective practitioners. Despite the importance of action research in informing classroom practice, the literature has shown that there are many challenges that hinder teachers from performing classroom research. This qualitative research study investigated Omani EFL teachers' experiences of participating in classroom action research and the challenges they face in doing research. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with EFL teachers. 22 participants have been interviewed, out of whom were 18 English teachers and 4 Senior English teachers from 4 public schools in Oman. The findings revealed that some respondents participated in action research activities either as part of their pre-service teacher preparation programmes or through joining in-service action research courses after becoming practitioner teachers. However, they described their action research experience as difficult. The findings highlighted a number of challenges that hinder EFL teachers in Oman from doing action research such as, lack of knowledge, lack of time and lack of interest. The findings suggest that educational policy makers in Oman should create a research culture in schools, and provide incentives for teachers who participate in research activities. Moreover, there is a need to provide EFL teachers with the needed training on research so they become equipped with the knowledge and skills in doing research to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools and create a community of teacher-researchers in Oman.

‘Let’s focus on us’: recounting educators’ facilitation practices in improving collaborative commitments of learner-teachers during an action research course

ABSTRACT This article explores situations for improving the collaborative commitments of a group of learner-teachers undertaking action research projects about their own learning processes in a teacher education setting. The encounters are recounted based on the 16-week experience of educators (the first two authors) while facilitating, guiding, and supporting an action research course offered at a college of education for senior undergraduate learner-teachers in Eritrea in the academic year 2018–2019. We have employed the theory of practice architectures to identify conditions that constituted our facilitation practices. We analysed transcriptions of our practice-based series of discussions and course artefacts, including diary entries, learner-teachers’ action research reports, and interactions on the WhatsApp group page created for the course. Problematizing processes of learning, proactive guidance approaches, and modelling collaborative initiatives were among the facilitation practices that we argue have significantly influenced the collaborative commitments of the learners in their action research projects. We also discuss the implications of our facilitation practices that sought to model the qualitatively loaded terms that constitute the course, i.e. collaboration, action, and research. Some implications for teacher education practices are highlighted.

Assessment of Indonesian Higher Education Students’ Critical Thinking Based on Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction

Studies in Indonesian Higher Education students’critical thinking skills, have shown that they still need reinforcement. Hereby, Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction offers steps of activities to facilitate this. This article reports the results of a case study on the assessment of Indonesian Higher Education students’critical thinking skills in each step of Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction (Problem, Actication, Demonstration, Application, and Integration) during Classroom Action Research Course for students of batch 2017 of English Language Education Department. Through descriptive qualitative analysis of assessment rubric of critical thinking, it was found that the assessments given in each step of Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction could trigger the students’ critical thinking skills assisting them to manage to formulate proposal for conducting Classroom Action Research. This provides insights to craft assessment in line with Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction as to promote students’ critical thinking skills. Therefore, it could be suggested for other researchers to conduct similar research using more careful and detailed criteria of critical thinking rubric when implementing Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction.

Learning to teach self-study in improving data management practices of student-teachers during an action research course

ABSTRACT The article shares collaborating educators (authors’) experiences in supporting a group of student-teachers’ interventions to improve learning practices as part of an action research course in a teacher education setting. The authors engaged in a series of reflective discussions in making sense of and improving the course process. Facilitation and students’ experiences retrieved from course artefacts and written evaluations provided a context for the authors’ self-study practices and identifying critical learning experiences. Qualitative data, including practice-based discussion transcripts and students’ evaluations, were coded and thematically analysed. The two data sets were combined in showing how students’ experiences instigated educators’ learning in developing contextualised conceptions and practices of self-study. The notion of turning points was also employed in analysing data that significantly influenced conceptions of self-study and shaped the course of facilitations. Framing the experiences within community of practice and self-study of teacher education practices literature, we have discussed changing conceptions and practices of self-study while supporting students engage with data for and during interventions. Course experiences on how intervening to improve practices amplify the relevance of action research in teachers’ learning, and the significance of generating evidence from data in action research are discussed.

Exploring Headway Pedagogies in Initial Teacher Education Through Collaborative Action Research into Processes of Learning: Experiences from Eritrea

Engaging prospective teachers in collaborative inquiry into their own processes of learning was the driving intention of the collaborative action research (CAR) course which was part of a teacher education program at a college of education in Eritrea in the academic year of 2018/2019. The course led by the first two authors was collaboratively designed and developed by the authors who were closely and regularly working as passionate learning community of educators who are committed to enact change in their own practices for the past seven years. Embracing the complexity of learning teacher educating we align with the notion of inquiry as a stance in learning to live up to the complexity. Accordingly, we engaged in an intentional collaborative self-study into our own practices of facilitating a course on inquiry. The aim of this paper is to articulate key experiences of committed collaborative learning in facilitating a course of inquiry. Employing a self-study methodology, we were engaged in individual and team reflections documented in our shared diary, regular meetings to discuss and develop the CAR process, and analyzing written feedbacks given by our student teachers (STs). In this article we attempt to explore headway pedagogies while we were collaboratively learning to facilitate and support a senior class of prospective teachers (n-27) carry out their CAR projects into their own processes of learning for four months. We argue that those experiences have critical implications in developing professional identity of prospective teachers, creatively overcome the theory-practice conundrum in teacher education by developing essential experiences that prospective teachers could creatively adapt in their school practices.

Madres emprendedoras, entrepreneurial mothers: Reflections from a community-based participatory action research course with Mexican immigrant madres in the Silicon Valley.

Madres emprendedoras, entrepreneurial mothers: Reflections from a community-based participatory action research course with Mexican immigrant madres in the Silicon Valley.

Good teaching practices in an action research course for promoting pre-service science teachers’ research ability for improving their teaching practices

This two-year qualitative inquiry aimed to explore good teaching practices in an action research course that promoted pre-service science teachers’ research ability for improving their own practices. Forty-four participants of this study were from two cohorts of master degree program under the Project for the Promotion of Science and Mathematics Talented Teacher (PSMT), of a public university in Bangkok. To achieve the research aim, data were collected from multiple data sources, including the research skill evaluation form, exit slips, classroom artifacts, videotape of instructions, and instructor’s journal. By assessing the participants’ skills in doing action research, the data from the evaluation forms were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis was used for eliciting good teaching practices in the course. Results show that most of the pre-service teachers have a high ability level in conducting classroom action research after learning through the research course. Findings reveal that good practice for this course is a creation and maintenance of a) positive classroom atmosphere, b) critical friend communities, and c) hands-on activities that allow the leaners to teach their peers. Findings of this study help to fulfill research gap on how to teach pre-service teachers in a way that promotes their self-development.

Exploring pedagogies to elevate inquiry: teaching action research in the third space

ABSTRACT This study chronicles a semester long inquiry focused on the impacts of pedagogical strategies informed by the tenets of third space theory on my own practices and understanding of students’ learning outcomes in an action research course. As I applied new instructional strategies to promote discourse and critical inquiry, I reflexively explored how these approaches enhanced my impacts on students’ learning and praxis of action research. This paper first provides a brief introduction to third space theory and then describes how I infused this framework into my course approach, the different types of data collected and analyzed to gauge the impacts of new pedagogies, and findings that emerged. These are summarized in relation to the conditions that both undergirded and elevated students’ engagement, and directions for further research to advance the praxis of action research across teacher education contexts.

Gender Discrimination in the Implementation of Minimum Wage in Hattar Industrial Zone Haripur Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan)

With reference to the Action Research Course jointly sponsored by Church world Service Pakistan (CWSP) and Free and Fair election network (FAFEN), it was expected that in HIE, the food factories are involved in gender discrimination while implementing minimum wage act and pay less salaries to women workers as compare to men. The major objective of this research study is to know about the ground realities women are facing regarding to Gender Discrimination, Labor Law, Civil and Social Law’s, and Social, Financial and Occupational Safety. In this regard, Semi Structure Interviews (SSI) of women and men workers of Factories was taken. It is concluded that inequality in achievement of occupations is an astounding wonder between male and females. It is additionally discovered that not a single factory had a Union or Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA). This means that workers have no channel to raise their voices against any discrimination they face. The probability of harassment at the hand of owner or male supervisor is high. Government should make some solid developments for unbiased work opportunities, improving institutions and framework.

EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RESEARCH COURSE IN AN IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM IN VIETNAM

The study investigated the effectiveness of Action Research Course, one of the five component courses of the in-service English teacher training program implemented by National Foreign Language 2020 Project in Vietnam. The primary purpose of the course is to help in-service teachers of English develop the ability to do action research in their teaching context. How effective the course is, what alternative strategies can be used for the implementation of the course, what problems prevent the course from meeting the need of the course’s participants, and what improvements should be made were examined in this study. The evaluation on the implementation of the Action Research applies Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model, which is developed by Stuffflebeam to assess strengths and weaknesses of the course for accountability and improvement. A total of 30 in-service teachers of English were interviewed and course documents were reviewed to generate data. Data analysis reveals that the course is effective to develop in-service teachers’ ability to do action research though improvements should be made to textbook and practice session of the course.Keywords: Action research, CIPP model, evaluation, in-service teacher training, The National Foreign Language 2020 projectCite as: Anh, V.T.K. (2017). Evaluating the implementation of Action Research Course in an in-service teacher training program in Vietnam. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2(2), 88-97.

Development and initial argument-based validation of a scoring rubric used in the assessment of L2 writing electronic portfolios

Abstract Although writing electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) help learners communicate digitally and provide a platform for works to be better collected and presented, challenges are present in their assessment. This paper reports the development and validation of a writing ePortfolio scoring rubric for an action research course for L2 learners. Using Bachman’s (2005) ‘Assessment Use Argument’ as a basis, two main claims to support the validity of the rubric were examined: (1) the rubric is a reliable tool; and, (2) the rubric is relevant to the construct being measured. A mixed-method approach was used in the development and validation of the eight-criteria analytic and holistic evaluation scoring rubric. Thirteen raters evaluated thirty-eight ePortfolios in the study. The analyses of raters’ ratings using a many-facet Rasch measurement approach and raters’ individual standardised open-ended interviews indicated that overall the rubric’s analytic categories functioned appropriately to assess the intended construct. However, the criterion ‘Ease of Navigation’ was found to be misfitting due to differences in raters’ evaluation of the same ePortfolios. Overall, the argument-based validation indicated that the scoring rubric is a reliable and valid instrument for the purpose of assessing L2 writing ePortfolios in the context for which it was developed.

Uncovering Language Policy in Higher Education: Reflections from the Classroom

This paper analyzes salient issues that emerged over the course of a language policy action research course at the Graduate Center City University in New York. The course, embedded in the larger scope of the Futures Initiatives, allowed students to study different language communities across different campuses in New York. This piece describes these findings in light of language policy and higher education in super diverse contexts and argues for further exploration of language practices to inform the work of educators across different settings in higher education.

“WE ARE RESEARCHERS”: STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH THE UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE IN A PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH COURSE

This article describes an undergraduate Participatory Action Research (PAR) course in which students with and without intellectual disabilities collaborated as co-researchers in order to explore various aspects of the university experience. The article describes the university course as well as presents results of the students’ PAR projects. The students’ PAR projects revealed that (a) eating healthy at the university was challenging, expensive, and at times, impossible; (b) although University of Vermont (UVM) is thought by many to be a haven for social justice, misunderstanding of and discrimination against students who identify as transgendered occur on the campus; and (c) students’ home cultures often clash with the mainstream