21st Century Skills Series
Master Certificate in
Action Research
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
What is Action Research
Action Research is known by many names, including participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextual action research, but put simply, Action Research is “learning by doing”—a group of people identifying a problem, and doing something to resolve it, evaluating their efforts, and if not satisfied, trying again. Action Research is examining one’s own practices through collaborative inquiry, reflection, and dialogue. If you think of research as a process of steps used to collect and analyze information in order to increase our understanding of a topic or issue, then you would think of Action (change) + Research (investigation) as investigating a problem or situation in order to make change happen. When something goes wrong with your lessons, what do you do? If you think about what you are doing and make a change, you are doing Action Research!
Course Format
– 8 weeks live online classes to meet on SATURDAYS (recordings will be available)
– Lectures and class discussions
– Weekly individual and group assignments
– Students groups will work on sample Action Research projects
Course Objectives: Participants will…
- Understand the ongoing cycle of action research to address and solve long term problems in any community.
- Understand the concepts and component steps of action research
- Understand how to design and implement an action research project
- Identify action researchable issues and concerns in their own context
- Plan and conduct small-scale action research
- Present the results of action research projects to their colleagues and other stakeholders, demonstrating a clear understanding of Objectives 1 and 2 above
Training Structure: Training will include…
– Ten two-hour online modules, one per week
o Module 1: Basic Concepts and Purposes for Action Research
o Module 2: Action Research Tools & Processes
o Module 3: Developing an Action Research Topic
o Module 4: Implementing Practical Action Research
o Module 5: Collecting & Using Actionable Data
o Module 6-7: Conducting Action Research – Developing a Topic & Process
o Module 8: Sharing Results & Gaining Feedback
Offline Study & Project Implementation
o One hour of offline study per week for Modules 1-5
o Two hours of offline implementation per week for Modules 6-8
Course Materials
All materials will be provided in electronic format, including ebooks and PowerPoints. Class recording will be available within 24 hours of each course session. A private Facebook group will be created for registered participants. A link to join the group will be sent with registration confirmation. This group will serve to connect with classmates and trainers for discussion and questions.