Academic Research

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Browsing Academic Research by Subject "Action Research"

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    Improving One Teacher’s Instructional Practice Using Clinical Supervision: An Action Research Study for Teaching In 21st Century Classrooms
    (School of Education, UWI, 2023) Medford, Georgette; Lee-Piggott, Rinnelle
    Teachers worldwide are responsible for facilitating student learning. Stakeholders, including 21st century students in today’s classrooms, place high demands on teachers to provide students with skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, leadership, effective communication, and analysis. This action research highlights the use of a clinical supervision intervention to improve a teacher’s pedagogical skills in selected student-centred teaching strategies that were intended to promote teacher effectiveness. It also investigates the influence of these strategies on students’ learning. Findings reveal an over-reliance on traditional teacher-centred strategies by the teacher prior to the intervention. However, post-intervention findings show the teacher’s shift towards student-centred teaching, development as a reflective practitioner, students’ increased interest and participation in learning, and students’ improved perception of the subject taught. While there were challenges in implementing the intervention, one can conclude that the time and effort invested in this intervention made it a success.
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    Student Voice as Inclusive Curricular Practice in a Technology Course
    (School of Education, UWI, 2023) Birbal, Roland; Hewitt-Bradshaw, Iris; James, Freddy
    Institutions of higher learning often recommend learner-centered pedagogies that cater for student diversity. This article demonstrates how including students’ perspectives in curricular review can help achieve this goal. The study was conducted using action research to monitor and incorporate student voice in the design and delivery of a technology course in a master’s program in teacher education. Drawing on intersecting theories from the field, including equity, inclusion, action research, and student voice research, we used McKernan’s spiral model to reflect on and redesign the course outline across two cohorts. Two phases of interrelated investigations of students’ perceptions and responses to course content, strategies, and assessment methods employed face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews and the student evaluation of teaching (SEOT) survey to provide data for analysis. Students’ perspectives were included in modifications of the course to improve learning outcomes and increase student engagement. The process of eliciting and responding to students’ perceptive and constructive insights allowed an additional source of feedback apart from faculty review. There was increased student satisfaction with the redesigned course across cohorts, with more positive experiences reported. We believe that these results validate the use of action research in higher education to stimulate teacher reflection and engage students in curricular review and change to enhance learning.