9:00

Gathering
Wear your nametag!
Welcome
Special welcome for "new"  folks
Overview of today
Advising Sheets: distribute, update, take up (for those still using paper ones)
If you're planning to work as a team this semester, this is the day to settle membership!

Introductions and Re-Introductions

Schedule for today: 10:00 breakette; 11:00 - 1 Dr.Clinton/EDIT 6400 w/ lunch; 1-3: EDIT 7340

Breakette around 10:00

EDIT 6900 Orientation

Big ideas for EDIT 6900 research evangelism problem-solving healthy dose of skepticism knowing that you make a difference SLM research, research names, and current trends

The syllabus; goals;  assignment overview
Planner: shift to fewer meetings; much more online/independent work; projects and cycles (with embedded learning activities)
Our class web site
How this class interlocks with EDIT 7340
Food
Your First Assignment: SLMS Interview
Things to sign up for:

• No TAs this year (amidst austerity doom and gloom). I need everyone to take on a volunteer job.
  
• Jobs (voluntary)(important!)
• SLM Research Star Exhibition
  
• We need a Manager.
  
• Stake your claim on a name - they will disappear fast.

Where is everything?  You will have it all if you:

• Do the things listed on the Planner (calendar is there, too). SLM/Grad school dates are listed on the calendar.
  
• Watch the Cohort7 Blog for class-specific news and topics
• Monitor your email for SLM-L (rare), WebCT emails, direct messages from me or classmates. You can also have the blog come to your email.
  
• Watch for WebCT notifications. We will set up private Discussion Boards for each team. You can use this to "talk" to each other, keep track of Q&As, post questions to me about your project. (If you have a question for me, alert me somehow - I won't necessarily watch these carefully or at all.)
  
• Know your way around the 6900 website and WebCT.  I'll use WebCt for private things and Delicious to organize - but will always put pointers to and from.
  

Reminders:

• It's best to use your UGA email for most course-related activities, including listserv addresses. Fewer bounce, junk-mail problems.  If you prefer another account, remember to have your UGA forwarded to it automatically.
  

Groupwork opportunity: We will probably need both hours for orientation, and then it will be Dr. Clinton's turn.  Plan with your group whether or not you want to stay after awhile to start discussing strategy.

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Aug 16 | Sep 13 | Sep 27 | Oct 11 | Nov 1 | Nov 15

• This presentation is extensive - great source of ideas.
• Difficulties with the word "prove" - authors are using it in a more informal sense
• Slide 2: necessary to prove to administrators.  I find though, that it may be equally important to "prove it" to yourself.  Find a goal that matters to you. Set about evaluating the SLMP's contribution toward this goal.  Do this every year (although perhaps not the first year).
• What might be some of the goals that really matter to you?
• Should wrap tightly to the PDEP process.
  
• Good review of troubling and encouraging research and how you can use it (Slide 10)
• Slides 13-22  : great "cookbook" of data collection ideas
• Slide 23: compare this Action Research list of steps to others we have discussed
• Slides 24-32 : good PR primer
• Slides 33-end: examples
• Reference list (Word doc) contains a wealth of readings and tools (note to self: consider these next time I teach this class!)

• Farmer pp 37-38
  
• Midterm feedback suggested the following: "Don't want to know about technique I won't be using." But: you need to know because ...
  

• We could have an entire course on Analysis - such courses do exist.
  
• For most people, analysis is characterized by a sense of "wallowing" and "aimlessness." This is normal and necessary.
• As you work, keep observations and interpretations separate. Observations go with Results.  Interpretations go with Discussion.
  
• Descriptive statistics: totals, means, percentages; break-downs by different groups
1. Throughout: carefully track your procedures and decisions in your Researcher's Notebook.
   
2. initial preparation: tally; organize into spreadsheet (probably)(This is where you learn to love Excel)
3. Review research question. Systematically "mine" the data for answers.
4. Farmer, p31-32: good list of easy descriptive statistics
   
5. Often, one procedure will lead to another.  Sometimes, this is in-depth investigation. Other times, it's chasing bunnies down trails (a waste of time). It's hard to distinguish while you're in the thick of it. If you sense an additional procedure coming on, write a note to yourself about it. Wait before pursuing.
6. Displays are good!  Aim for lots of charts and tables with captions.
7. As you work, you will realize limitations in your data. These are normal. Collect them into a special section in your Discussion.
8. ditto no. 12 below.
   
• Qualitative thematic analysis:
  
1. Throughout: carefully track your procedures and decisions in your Researcher's Notebook.
2. initial preparation: transcription; basic organization
   
3. coding  (modern term would be "tag")
4. make a list of your codes
5. go back through and code again, using standardized code list
6. make a heirarchy of codes: big levels make "themes"
   
7. step back: what is the data telling you?  Can you answer your research question now? Are there patterns?
   
8. if not, go back in and look for answers
9. ditto no. 3 above.
   
10. are there two or more things that should be compared to each other?
11. is there a sequence of events to flowchart?
12. ditto no. 4 above.
    
13. as you work, jot down interpretations, hunches and possible conclusions and recommendations; follow up on these to make sure they hold up.
14. ditto no. 5 above.
    
• Examples from the group
• Things to do with surveys
• Things to do with interviews
• Things to do with student work
• Others...
  
• More advanced statistics
• Concepts we all should know:
• Populations and sampling
• In action research, we often attempt to describe an entire small population. Ex: a single class, defined as the population. You would not try to generalize any results beyond that one class.
• If you can't logistically describe an entire population, sampling is the procedure to use.
• Sampling is an art unto itself and there is a lot more written about that.
  
• Random sampling is a concept you should understand.
• Validity and reliability
• Validity: measurement truly measures what it is meant to measure
• Reliability: if you test multiple times, you will obtain the same result each time
• Dependent, independent variables
• Inferential statistics (there are formulas for all kinds of statistics)
  
• t-tests: comparing two means to see if there is a difference
  
• Bottom line here: if you need to perform any statistical analysis beyond the level of descriptive stats, get some coaching. (Ask me for pointers.) You are not expected to perform complex statistical analyses at any level without expert assistance.