SASKATCHEWAN ACTION RESEARCH NETWORK

FOUR YEARS OF BUILDING, NOW PARTNERING WITH SIIT

THROUGH 2012-2013

Allan Quigley, Ed.D.aquigley@stfx.ca

How do you raise the professionalism of a hugely

diverse field in a time of scarce resources?

A literacy/Basic Education field that is

• Made up of practitioners with highly diverse training and backgrounds,

• located over the entire province—including some very remote areas,

• in a time of scarce resources?

A field of practice comprised of . . .

volunteer tutors & teachers in CBO’s (including ESL).

Part & full-time instructors in colleges and SIIT--including the North.

Full & part-time instructors and administrators at SIAST and colleges.

Three ways (Susan Lytle)

Top Down (e.g., k-12) ................ “Knowledge For” -Experts: workshops, courses, literature

Bottom Up (e.g., apprentice) ..... “Knowledge with” - On-the-job & local mentoring/colleagues

Building Across (collaborative) .... “Knowledge in” - Shared problems; shared learning - Community of practice & research

Building Top Down: (Expert Knowledge) • Expert guest speaker at workshop • AEEI ideas tested “top-down” (portfolio)• Guest ideas/guest experts on SARN

Website/Blog and on linked Websites

2) Building “Bottom Up”

• Individual instructors/tutors “adapting- adopting” evidence-based practices shared on SARN & linked Websites and/or mentors

• Encouraging hands-on application of new ideas in the workplace.

• Encouraging individual instructors/tutors to use new Website resources (self-directed)

3) “Building Across” (Collaborative)

• Sharing questions in workshops and sharing findings on our SARN & linked Websites

•Engaging mentors with individuals/groups in face- to-face and/or distance learning

•Building dialogue on SARN Blog/within & across institutions and systems

ADDING TO THE ALPHABET SOUP

• SOME TERMS USED . . . .

The wider movement is Research-in-Practice,

Action Research is the research method we mainly use in Canada, the USA, UK and Australia.

What’s the difference between Research-in-Practice (RiP), the Saskatchewan Action Research Network (SARN) and Action

Research ... ?

– The Saskatchewan Action Research Network

is the name of our province’s

literacy/basic education

movement . . . Now

entering our 5th year

sarn

Our story

– One workshop in 2003

It could have died then . .

Thanks to Janet Galbraith & Jennifer Bain at Wascana SIAST . . .

The Funding Years:Practitioners Trained Since in the movement

• Year one: 2008 – 2009: “Getting Started

• 12 participants at Saskatoon Workshop • Including 2 working with Aboriginal learners

(Onion Lake & SIIT)• Training materials developed• Presentations at conferences (SLN & SABEA)

Year Two: 2009-2010:

“Building a base”

-- 9 participants at Saskatoon Workshop

-- including 3 working with Aboriginal learners: (Nekaneet, SALN)

-- Reports added to SLN/SABEA Websites-- Presentations at conferences (SLN, SABEA, Colleges)

Year Three: 2010-2011“Creating an identity”• Named Sask Action Research Network• 11 trained at Saskatoon Workshop • Inc. 4 working with Aboriginal learners (Ft. Q’ area First Nations & Parkland College) • 5 mentors added• Reports added to SLN and SABEA Websites• Presentations at SLN, SABEA, Colleges

conferences

Year Four: 2011-2012: “Picking up Steam:

-- SERC: 27 Participants at Weyburn campus workshop inc. 7 working with Aboriginal learners—Pheasant Rump, Piapot, Ocean Man, Carry-the-Kettle,

Kahkewistahaw

-- Great Plains: 9 (+2 formerly trained) at Rosetown inc. 3 with Aboriginal learners, Nekaneet

-- SIAST Woodland Campus: 20 trained— inc. 4 working with Aboriginal learners (La Ronge & Creighton)

WHERE ARE WE TODAY?• 88 Practitioner-researchers trained. • Including 23 working with Aboriginal Learners• 9 Mentors trained for outreach and support

• Two college campuses (Great Plains + SERC) and two SIAST campuses (Wascana + Woodland)

•SARN Website with active blog in place•Articles in SIAST newsletter & AESA newsletter

Why Saskatchewan Action Research Network?

WE ARE RAISING THE LEVELS OF PRACTITIONER PROFESSIONALISM, AT A COMPARATIVELY

MINIMAL COST AND, BY DOING SO, WE ARE

HELPING RAISE LITERACY & BASIC EDUCATION LEVELS FOR A BETTER SASKATCHEWAN

FOR THE COMING 2012–2013 YEAR?

•

PROPOSED SASKATCHEWAN ACTION RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD ADVISORY BOARD

* Not yet represented • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Meet 3-4 times annually by conference call and/or face-to-face• Regular updates to AEEI and Advisory Board by Director• Final report to AEEI with workshop and formative evaluations • *New organizations; current organizations to have new representatives

AEEI* SABEA SLN SALN SIIT* COLLEGES*

SIIT FINANCIAL ADMIN WEB MANAGER DIRECTOR

MENTORS

THE FUTURE? THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABILITY

• Have campuses co-sponsor workshops as PD days 50%-50% for major PD costs

•Build dialogue & resources on Website and Write Board

•Make this a membership movement?

• Add mentors for more outreach and support

ENGAGING THE PROVINCE

• Create annual RiP Exchange conference

• Bring in annual guest speaker(s)

• Publish in professional/academic journals

• Connect with Webinars & Blog dialogue to other provinces

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

• Jacqueline Bruce – Onion Lake Research Question: “If I improve the social

environment of the classroom, will the number of students who complete the first three weeks increase?”

• Outcomes: “Student attendance increased by 20% in the Winter 2009 semester and by 30% for the Fall 2009 semester. This met and exceeded my hoped for criterion for success. I consider the project to have been a huge success.”

Here’s but two categories on the Websites: “Learner retention” & “Attendance”

• The research question: “Would an increase in personal communication

between myself and my adult students over a period of three months improve daily attendance?”

• The action research interventions tested “included: 1) phone calls, 2) e-mails, 3) inquiries with community members about absentee students, and 4) positive personal conversations when I saw my adult students in the community.”

• The Outcomes: “After a period of three months with the action research

interventions, the overall student attendance improved from 38% to 51%. I had hoped that student attendance would improve by 5% overall, so an improvement of 13% was a wonderful result.”

Kristi Nelson Yarshenko - Nekaneet First Nation

• Research Question: “Would using e-mail to build a sense of community among P-T evening math Basic Ed students improve retention rates by 10%?”

• Outcomes: “For the January 2009-April 2009 class twelve students completed the class for a retention/persistence rate of 85% suggesting an improvement in the retention rate of 50%.

Jennifer Bain – SIAST Wascana

•OTHER MORE SPECIALIZED EXAMPLES . . .•Naome Soleil (Woodland College): “Can students attain a minimum of 70% on essay assignments by using a vocabulary application approach to develop a variety of sentences?”

•Andrew Quackenbush (SIAST Wascana): “Testing and determining the size and extent of the vocabulary list that a level one ABE class can comfortably manage as first time readers. “

•Connie Jones: (SLN) Would providing literacy discussion forums in the form of Literacy Cafes across the province improve collaboration among literacy practitioners by 10%?

HOW DO WE USE ACTION RESEARCH?

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SARN WORKSHOPS?

ACTION RESEARCH IS A THREE STEP PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS

Plan Act Reflect

Two Basic Approaches with Different Emphases in Research-in-Practice:

PROBLEMPOSING

PROBLEM SOLVING

1) Action Inquiry 2) Action Research

“Adapt & Adopt” Data-based reports

Figure 1: The Three-Step Cycle of Action Research

-Problem pose -Design -Measure

2. ACT

1. PLAN

-Evaluate -Go to one more cycle? another cycle?

3. REFLECT

-Implement -Observe

The Three- Stage Cycle Of ActionResearch

Posted reports on the SARN Website , organized as follows:

A. Addressing Issues of Dropout, “Lates,” and Low Attendance

B. Exploring Innovative Teaching StrategiesC. Increasing Learner Community InvolvementD. Focus on Aboriginal Literacy IssuesE. Focus on Adult Learners of English as an Additional Language IssuesF. Practitioner Professional Development

Two Basic Approaches with Different Emphases in Research-in-Practice:

PROBLEMPOSING

PROBLEM SOLVING

1) Action Inquiry 2) Action Research

“Adapt & Adopt” Data-based reports

HOW DO ACTION INQUIRY CIRCLESWORK?

• 3-12 practitioners in a circle—face-to-face or distance (Distribution List? Write Board? Lynk?)

• Specific topic of real concern to everyone• Typically meet 3-5 times • Prior to each meeting each member reads some

relevant research and/or • Brings written notes/data to the discussion• Recorder keeps notes and summarizes outcomes

OBJECTIVES

• READ and then discuss new information • DISCUSS the relevance to your practice • DISCUSS strategies for applying the findings• MAKE PLANS to try out the new strategies• SHARE what happened with the others • HAVE A RECORDER keep notes and write up

a Circle summary (for SARN website )

WHAT KIND OF TOPICS?

• Topics that are bigger and more general than individual action research studies ...

Jackie Bruce at Onion Lake First Nation, commented on the SARN “What Works?” blog:

• “I guess I am a nurturer. Empathy is one of my strongest skills that I bring to the ABE field . . . . but I think I’m held back somewhat by the fact that I’m a non-Aboriginal person teaching on a First Nation.

• I sometimes question if it is my “place” to be an activist when I haven’t personally dealt with the issues that my students are facing.”

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION

• Should an instructor be Aboriginal to teach Aboriginal learners?

• What would you say to Jackie?

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION

Evelyn Battell (Research-in-Practice in BC) says every literacy/BE instructor is either:

A “nurturer” or

A “political advocate”

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION

• Do you agree with Evelyn?

• Are you a nurturer or an advocate?

IN CLOSING

HERE’S MY FAVOURITE QUOTE ON TEACHING

Raymond Wlodkowski (2006) is often asked: “What is teaching, really?”

He replies: “I am not completely sure,” but:

“When it is motivating, when there is a flow of learning and communication between instructor and learner, it more than all have written or said it was.

It is a dimension. Not something one practices and performs, but something one enters and lives” (p. 107).

TO CONCLUDE

• We have a solid beginning to build upon for a stronger field of adult literacy and basic education.

• I look forward to the new partnership with SIIT

You can contact me at aquigley@stfx.ca