#1 Blog Theory of Action

Here is my theory of action model at the top of this blog. The theory of action is very simple - do your action or teach your lesson and then just reflect on how  it went and  collect data and analyze it to see what change can be made.  When the data is used to create a positive change and presented to others  this is educational scholarship.  Jeffery Glanz, the author of Action Research:  An Educational Leader's Guide to School Improvement presents this form of evaluation  in an easy to use  and understand manner and makes evaluation easy for the participants.  

I will use the theory of action as I supervise staff at my job.  I will use an internet survey to collect data about using technology for meetings and then hold a meeting using both technology and non-technology and do a post survey to reflect what the staff think.  They will provide reflection, I will collect the data and make any needed changes.  This can be done at each meeting and will give it closure at the end.  Sharing the data with them will be a great way to begin the next meeting.

Michigan State University Extension, 4-H Youth Development uses a similar action research that is called the Experiential Learning Model.  This is a do, reflect, apply model.  The youth do whatever it is they are learning about and then they analyze how it went and what they learned and this model goes a step farther and the leader discusses how they can apply this to life.  They might talk about it like this....we did this fundraisers so now I know how to hold a fund raiser for my band and I can use this when I am older and have a garage sale for example.

The reflective model has been used with the 4-H Peer Mentoring project.  Youth practiced reflection after every meeting to discuss how their mentoring went for the day.  Questions were written on a beach ball asking things like - how did the day go, what did you like, what did you not like, what do you wish we could do the next time.  It created a lot of feedback to make changes and improvements to the club program.  When kids get involved with this practice of evaluation, the feedback from youth to elp make whatever it is being evaluated more successful.  When the kids can be involved in this process it empowers them and builds their self esteem.  

Bibliography:  Designing Age Appropriate Learning Experiences, 2-6-2011 at  http://web1.msue.msu.edu/4h/downloads/4-HClubDevelopmentGuide-AppendixC.pdf 

Glanz,Jeffery:  Action Research:  An Educational Leader's Guide to School Improvement:  Chapter 1, pages 1 to 34