Thursday, August 1, 2013

Effectiveness of Promethean Boards



Action Research Plan
Goal:  Increase student learning and engagement through the use of Promethean Boards in the English language arts classroom.
Action Steps(s):
Person(s) Responsible:
Timeline: Start/End
Needed Resources
Evaluation

Obtain permission from site supervisor to conduct research


Rosemary Grimm

July 22, 2013-
July 26, 2013

Site supervisor letter of permission

Letter of permission

Participate in Promethean Activinstruction
training






Rosemary Grimm

August 5, 2013-August 8, 2013

Promethean technology, Promethean manual,
conversations with teaching and learning consultants

Documentation of resources and tools available through Promethean

Research articles and studies related to the effectiveness of Interactive White Boards on student learning


Rosemary Grimm

September 2013

Articles, journals, and studies related to Promethean Boards or Interactive White Boards (IWBs)

Notes on research

Give parents consent letters for participation in research group


Rosemary Grimm

October 2013

Sample parent consent letter

Consent letter

Use parent consent letters to determine participants



Rosemary Grimm

October 2013

Signed consent letters

Compile consent letters and create a list of participants in two classes (Class A and B)



Create a survey to determine students’ experience with Promethean Boards



Rosemary Grimm


October 2013


Website: Survey Monkey


Surveys

Give survey to students

Rosemary Grimm

October 2013

Online survey, computers

Compile and analyze survey results as qualitative data. Results show experience with interactive learning with Promethean Boards


Develop ELA  lessons that are interactive and utilize Promethean technology


Rosemary Grimm

November 2013

Promethean resources, interactive websites, flip charts and tools, Common Core Curriculum


IWB technology lesson plans

Develop ELA lessons using traditional teaching strategies


Rosemary Grimm

November 2013

Workbooks, notes, outlines, worksheets

Traditional instruction lesson plans

Develop assessments

Rosemary Grimm

November 2013

Computer, curriculum assessments and task examples


Quizzes and performance task


Present instruction to participants in classes A and B

Rosemary Grimm

December 2013

Promethean Board, flip charts, interactive lessons, notes, outlines, and  worksheets


documentation of student engagement and instruction reflection

Give Assessments to  classes A and B


Rosemary Grimm

December 2013

Assessments and quizzes

Assessment results for analysis

Data analysis and comparison

Rosemary  Grimm

January 2014

Test results, jpams assessment graphs


Quantitative data:  Data results and comparisons


Write final action research report

Rosemary Grimm

February 2014

Surveys, consent forms, participant list, lesson plans, reflection notes,  assessments, data, graphs and charts


Action research report with conclusion

Share results with teachers, site supervisor, and technology coordinator


Rosemary Grimm

April 2014

Results and final report from action research

Feedback from teachers, site supervisor, and technology coordinator

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

4 comments:

  1. Are you using your classes only? Are you just going to compare one lesson? I would suggest comparing three. I would also suggest doing research on four classes -- two interactive and two regular groups. I don't think your sample will be large enough with just two classes and one lesson.

    You could also try flipping the groups. For example for groups A and B you do 3 interactive lessons. Then you do three regular lessons. Then do the same thing for groups C and D. This helps eliminate skewed data if one of the classes is honors or has more experience with technology.


    What resources are you using for the interactive ELA lessons? What happens if you can't find anything?

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  2. I agree with Sarah. You need to use the board for a longer period of time in some classes and leave the other classes without the board. Also, how are you measuring student engagement? If you are using a survey, maybe you need to do some direct observation also. How are you going to measure student learning? I see you are going to give assessments at the end. Are you giving a pre-project assessment as well? If you don't do a before and after assessment, how can you tell that the growth is based on the use of the board.
    Also, will the lessons have lots of student interaction at the board, or will the teacher mainly be using the technology? I went to an interesting seminar at ISTE and the leader gave an interesting statistic that even with whiteboards in the room, most technology is used 85% of the time by teachers, not students. If the students are not interacting with the board, can you say they are "using" technology? Just some things to think about. Good luck with this. I love my SmartBoard.

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  3. Kathleen, I agree that most of the time IWBs are used by the teacher, which is what I plan to address in my conclusion. I'm using assessments to measure learning. I'm not doing a before and after assessment because I'm comparing class to class. Thanks for the feedback.

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  4. This is a very detailed action plan (makes me think I need to add more specifics to my own ARP!) You have really thought out the process thoroughly. I especially like that you have included professional reading as part of your plan to ensure that you get the best activities for instruction. I noticed that you have some qualitative data - observing student engagement, but you might consider getting some qualitative data specifically from the students as well. Give them a survey to share what they liked or didn't like about using the Smart board. Just a thought, but I bet they would be excited to contribute to their teacher's research project!

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