How a group of K-12 teachers took professional development in their own hands.

1. Action Research Leads to
Teacher-Initiated Changes
Nathalie Lemelin & Rachel Gendron
Lower Canada College

2. Overview
Who we are
Objectives of the study
Theoretical framework
Our research questions
Results

3. Who we are
A group of highly motivated teachers & administrators
sharing a common vision
9 teachers (+1 on leave)
Junior, Middle and Senior School
French, English, Geography, Biology, Media Studies
3 to 25 years teaching experience
25 and 50 years of age
Year three of a three-year initiative

4. Objectives of the Study
Reflect, analyse and assess our use and
integration of ICT across the curriculum.
Achieve something new in terms of ICT
integration.
Take PD in our own hands

5. Theoretical Framework
Adopt and Adapt (Prensky, 2007)
Dabbling
Doing old things in old ways
Doing old things in new ways
Doing new things in new ways
Incremental vs. fundamental change (Einhorn,
2009)
Sustain
Supplement
Subvert and transform

6. Why action research?
Research by teachers which represents a
distinctive way of knowing about teaching and
learning.
Professional, Personal, Political (Noffke, 2009)
Practical and collaborative process
Engaged practitioners in examining their
knowledge = PAR

7. Action research spiral

8. Research Questions
What constitutes technology
integration in our school?
How can action research be used
as a tool for professional
development in our school?
How do our technological
initiatives help us achieve
differentiated learning in our
classrooms?
To which end do we integrate
technology into our curriculum?
How do we teach new literacy
skills?

9. Data Sources
Journals
Film
Peer observation
Meeting every 6 to 8 weeks
Reflective questionnaires
NING

10. Results
Shift in ICT integration
• letting go of control
• skills
A sense of community
• COP vs. PLC
• Peer coaching and mentoring
• Web 2.O and NING
• Staying current
* Other Digital Literacy Skills
positive gains • Information literacy
• Media literacy
• ICT literacy

11. Digital Literacy Skills
Information Literacy: 1) Access information
efficiently and effectively; 2) evaluate
information critically; and 3) use information
accurately
Media Literacy: Teaching students how to
best apply media resources available for
learning and to create effective
communication products

12. Digital Literacy Skills
ICT Literacy: 1) Use technology as a tool to
research, organize, evaluate and communicate
information; and 2) Apply a fundamental
understanding of the ethical issues
surrounding the access and use of
information technologies.

13. ICT Professional
Learning Community
Transform Subvert
Sustain Trying out new things To change the way we
Using technology in a letting go of control do things.
safe comfortable and transforming one’s To question what we do
manner and maintaining practice through and how we do it via
successful initiative membership in the AR AR
learning community

14. References
Eihorn, S. “Are We Moving Too Slowly in Using Technology in Our Schools?”, CAIS Best
Practice Conference, 2009
Hord, S.M., Sommer, W.A.. (2008) Leading Professional Learning Communities; Voices from research
and practice. Thousand Oaks, Corwin Press
Noffke, S. and Somekh, B. (2009) The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research. London,
Sage
Prensky, M. (2006) Adopt and Adapt; 21st-Century Schools need 21st Century Technology, Edutopia,
Dec/Jan: 42-45
Trilling, B., Fadel,C. (2009) 21st Century Skills; Learning For Life In Our Times, San Francisco,
Jossey-Bass
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice; Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press

15. Nathalie Lemelin -
nlemelin@lcc.ca
Rachel Gendron -
rgendron@lcc.ca