Before embarking on the long yet rewarding journey that was this semester, I didn't know much about educational research. When I signed up for this class, I assumed that we would be doing research about the benefits and drawbacks associated with technology implementation in the classroom. Once I began the pre-test, I began to see that I was very wrong about my expectations, and I had a long way to go.
I saw forms that I had never seen before and was overwhelmed by the amount of research jargon I was going to need to know to navigate the course. As the course started to unwind, I felt overwhelmed by the extensive amount of vocabulary necessary to read and critique research in a scholarly manner. I did not know the difference between qualitative and quantitative research or that the terms existed before this fall. I also didn't understand terms like the scope and limitations of an article. In my undergraduate career, I could infer enough in scholarly articles to have a summary or a few talking points in a class discussion, but now I can read them and have a full understanding of the content.
Since I am able to justify what I am doing in my classroom and what I would like to do in my school district with research, the methodologies become more credible. Research also can help coaches find people who might need to see the numbers before committing to trying out a new strategy.Staying current on research helps the instructional coaches give the best instruction possible, keeps them abreast on what is happening in the research world, and provides them with a strong foundation and rationale for their methodologies.Now that this course is coming to a close, I feel much more comfortable consuming research and sharing the findings with others, and I look forward to continuing this in the future.
I saw forms that I had never seen before and was overwhelmed by the amount of research jargon I was going to need to know to navigate the course. As the course started to unwind, I felt overwhelmed by the extensive amount of vocabulary necessary to read and critique research in a scholarly manner. I did not know the difference between qualitative and quantitative research or that the terms existed before this fall. I also didn't understand terms like the scope and limitations of an article. In my undergraduate career, I could infer enough in scholarly articles to have a summary or a few talking points in a class discussion, but now I can read them and have a full understanding of the content.
Since I am able to justify what I am doing in my classroom and what I would like to do in my school district with research, the methodologies become more credible. Research also can help coaches find people who might need to see the numbers before committing to trying out a new strategy.Staying current on research helps the instructional coaches give the best instruction possible, keeps them abreast on what is happening in the research world, and provides them with a strong foundation and rationale for their methodologies.Now that this course is coming to a close, I feel much more comfortable consuming research and sharing the findings with others, and I look forward to continuing this in the future.