Critical Friends Forum – Action Research Introduction Draft [WLO: 1, 4][CLO: 3, 5]

This week we will begin our Critical Friends discussion forums. Each week you will have the opportunity to share ideas, create community, and collaborate with your Critical Friends (classmates) in this course. The term “critical friends” refers to colleagues and peers who challenge their own practices to continuously improve through feedback and collaboration. This work is “critical” because it is important, challenging, worthwhile work, but should be neither threatening nor negative. It involves “friends” who share the same mission, values, and goals and who want to nurture collaboration and community within a group. In our Critical Friend Forums we all have the same mission and goal to successfully design a quality action research proposal and we contribute and collaborate as professionals and friends to support growth and improvement. Therefore, feedback to each other should be specific, meaningful, and supported by best practices in action research. You will all benefit greatly by both giving and receiving this type of meaningful, supportive feedback to each other. As a result, you can continuously improve your action research proposal each week and connect and collaborate with each other as professionals and leaders. Read more about Critical Friends in the Costa and Kallick (1993) article Through the Lens of a Critical Friend (Links to an external site.).

In Week One, the focus of your assignment was your Action Research Area of Focus and by now you have received feedback from your instructor that you will use to make revisions and refinements to contribute to your Week Three Action Research Proposal – Introduction and Literature Review assignment. At this point, take a moment to carefully review the Week Three assignment to understand your expectations for this week. To prepare you for this assignment, this discussion forum will provide an outlet for sharing the draft of your Action Research Introduction and obtaining further formative feedback from your classmates and instructor.

Once you have reviewed your instructor’s feedback from the Week One assignment and have completed the weekly readings, make suggested revisions to your Action Research Introduction and post in the discussion to share with your peers and instructor. If you have any particular area(s) that you are struggling with or need more feedback, please request for your Critical Friends to focus their feedback, perspectives, insights, and questions in that specified area. The sections of the Action Research Introduction you should include are as follows:

• Context for the Proposed Study
• Purpose and Educational Significance
• Explanation of Problem
• Population:
• One Research Question
• Locus of Control

One of the qualities of great leaders and professionals is to be open to and objective about feedback – this is something you will likely need to do in your own professional role, so getting used to seeking and considering feedback objectively is a critical skill for all professionals in any field. Remember that when giving and receiving feedback, it is important to be objective and not take feedback personally. All feedback should be geared toward helping each other construct a quality action research proposal, support success, and encourage critical thinking about action research. Once you have thought critically about feedback you have received, if you disagree with it, that is okay. You can continue to respectfully engage in discussion and build understanding by asking questions and sharing insights and perspectives.