Evaluation responses
Here (below) are the subscriber responses to an end-of-program evaluation of a recent areol program. The questions asked of participants were as follows. To see the responses for a question click on the question number.
The comments are unedited apart from a very small number of changes to preserve the anonymity of people, and apart from being arranged in order of frequency (for Q1) and in alphabetical order (for the remaining questions). Where a comment may not be clear I've occasionally added an explanation in square brackets "[]".
Q1: When you think about areol 9, what three adjectives (at least one favourable, at least one unfavourable) come to mind?
Q2: What one or two things did you like most about areol 9, for whatever reason?
Q3: What one or two things did you like least about areol 9, for whatever reason?
Q4: What one or two changes or additions to areol 9 would most have helped your learning and/or satisfaction?
Q5: What advice at the beginning of areol 9 would have helped you to gain more learning and enjoyment from the program. (Your suggestions will be conveyed to the participants in areol 10.)
Q6: What else would you like to say?
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Q1: When you think about areol 9, what three adjectives (at least one favourable, at least one unfavourable) come to mind?
[ The number in front of each adjective is the number of people mentioning that adjective ]
6 informative
5 practical
4 challenging (one added "is that favourable or unfavourable? - hard")
4 useful
4 valuable
3 accessible
3 clear
3 interesting
3 overwhelming (one added "especially early with all the participation", an another added "number of e mails")
2 applicable
2 thought provoking
2 time-consuming (one added "if done properly")
2 user friendly
2 vast
[ To skip the single responses and go to Question 2 click here ] [ top ]
1 about practical action (good)
1 arduous
1 broad (breadth rather than depth)
1 change
1 cluttered (too much email, hard to sort through)
1 comprehensible
1 comprehensive
1 deep and comprehensive content
1 democratic
1 digestible
1 easy to read and understand
1 enlightening
1 exemplary- the non judgemental approach Bob took to everything models great process skills
1 exposing - oddly, contributing to the forum made me feel uncomfortably exposed in ways which I don't feel in class, and not contributing tends to privatise the learning experience too much.
1 friendly
1 growing
1 guilt (me behind schedule)
1 hostile
1 inspiring
1 insufficient
1 intriguing
1 negative: Only one I have is that I didn't have TIME to participate in group list, which probably would have enriched learning considerably. I'm planning to retake the course when next offered.
1 nourishing - in terms of practice the course provided wholesome,digestible and useful and wide ranging input
1 original
1 overwhelming
1 pragmatic
1 relativistic and indeterminate (not so good)
1 relevant
1 relied almost exclusively on your own experience (negative)
1 requires many hours of study and reflection and field practice (I don't think this is "unfavorable"; it's the only way of learning and assimilating the content; but in this way it limits the full participation of
1 sketchy
1 sometimes unkind (although I think that is because of the lack of nonverbal cues)
1 stimulating
1 straightforward
1 those with limited time to invest at the moment
1 too much for a so short term
1 unfavourable [because] in english
1 vague and abstract (not so good)
1 varied
1 vast
1 when I want to get more information, clearer concepts and/or formula
1 wonderful
1 "wordy"
1 learning-process-oriented (!)
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Q2: What one or two things did you like most about areol 9, for whatever reason?
Bob's instant reply to the messages concerned.
Coverage of material
Despite not actually participating in any of the discussions, I really enjoyed and learned a ton watching the discussions happen and reading the nice and short (mostly) email messages and questions from participants.
During this course, I completed a manuscript on PAR and suicide intervention and I began a remote area assets assessment, putting into practice each class. I most enjoyed the challenges of getting groups (governors to front-line workers and consumers of mental health services) to participate.
Ease of access to course resources - to fulfill my own learning objectives and to read/access in the future
Gave me an overview of action research.
Good intentions, to come to grips with human affairs.
I also liked the challenge of applying action research concepts to the 'difficulties' of each others practice.
I also liked the use of practical examples.
I found that the course validated my own work. I am experienced in PAR and am a friend of Ernie Stringer. I find that reflection and like minded people are needed in doing this type of work.
I liked the opportunity to hear about others experiences and work.
I liked the simple use of language and the way that you decribed the concepts.
I looked forward to the forum and found some of it helpful, and I particularly followed the final debates about the course itself.
I was required to do my own reading and thinking in order to benefit from the lessons.
I work as a community development consultant and this course reinforced for me that I am on the 'right track' in terms of my practise of action research.
Instructor's professionalism in working with very diverse participant interests & opinions (some off-the-wall!) - while facilitating/cultivating a constructive learning environment for all.
Instructor's professionalism in working with very diverse participant interests & opinions (some off-the-wall!) - while facilitating/cultivating a constructive learning environment for all.
It was accessible and I learned from the sessions.
Loved the links to concrete "how to" tools, such as organizing a discussion group, etc.
Observing/participating in exchanges that involved agreements as well as disagreements; how different viewpoints were handled
Range of reactions
Session lecture notes and trigger questions as these two structures provide me to learn the core content with deeper thinking.
That I could do it in my own time
That it came regularly and inserted itself into my working life. I'm not good at single fixed structures or disciplined study regimes. It was also often very timely, in that serendipitous way that learning has on good days. It suited my learning style!
That there was no compulsion to respond.
The "triggers" sometimes helped me to focus on the content.
The action research paradigm is a useful one for the work I am coordinating on community activism (NIMBY) and offender reintegration.
The bibliography
The care taken to present AR in such a way that I could understand and identify with it as I tried to think about it in my context.
The content
The course material. You and any assistants that you had did a very nice job of making the material easy to read and follow. The thought questions were stimulating and I used my faculty mentor to help me work through some of them when I was unsure if I was on the right track.
The dialogue (I felt like I was way out of my league and that was the main reason I did not participate), I learned more than I can possibly say as a novice about action research and about participating in a course such as this. In a traditional classroom people seem more tolerant to someone's thinking out loud than in an online course where they have to read the thoughts, I think that is interesting since I have observed the same thing in other courses.
The discussion, for people's engagement of the discussion. It helps people learn and clarify things.
The examples
The facilitator's (Bob's) interventions and explanations
The fact that I could continue to get the information, even though I could not keep up with my promised responsibilities.
The information about action research was presented in a very concise way that was easy to read and understand
The presentation of the essence of AR (I think I was expecting more 'This is how you do it, 1,2,3.') - Your approach made it much more transferable.
The second best thing about the course was the references that would not be available for me through my literature search.
The thing I liked best about Areol 9 was the opportunity to learn new techniques to encourage participation and this was why I subscribed to the course. An added gain turned out to be learning ways in which to involve participants in interpretation and I plan to use this as much as I can. I think both approaches increase a sense of participant involvement and I think this is important not only for increasing participant buy-in, and empowerment, but I suspect you also get much better results.
The think methology: plan ---> (act) observe ---> evaluate
The triggers [ I asked a trigger question on the discussion list each week ]
The way the lessons are organized: clearly written, neat concepts, clear methodologies, with questions and tasks for the students. It really applies Action-research principles.
There are so many things
I liked about AREOL. My thinking has changed to incorporate
an action research approach.
I especially liked the idea of convergent interviewing and the
importance of looking for dis-confirming information. This
really got me thinking about my approach to research and so life
in general. I often look for evidence FOR to confirm my own
personal theories but rarely for evidence AGAINST. My
thinking in this regard is changing largely as a result of
AREOL.
Trigger questions and activities at end of each session gave a push to practical application
What I liked most was the provision of very practical research skills presented with examples of their use. I found this helped me build a repertoire of research tools. I followed up several of the readings and found them very helpful.
Working at my own pace, in my own time.
Your commentary and responses to guide the discussion. Your input was neither overdone nor lacking making for a nice balance in stimulating my thinking and learning
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Q3: What one or two things did you like least about areol 9, for whatever reason?
[A certain person's] contributions [ One participant commented early in the program on material that some other participants did not regard as relevant ]
Academic, philosophical, political put-down games of some participants. This caused me not to want to inter-act much.
Although I enjoyed some of the comments made by my "classmates", most often I wanted to scream. It may be a matter of leveling out of experience. I have been working in this area for a long time and enjoy working with those who are grappling with real world issues. As an academic, I appreciate critical reflection as well. But I wonder if there needs to be separate discourse, at least at times.
E-mail discussion; though the format gave the class a forum to bring out issues and invite divergent perspectives and experiences, I found them overwhelming by the sheer volume of messages. Others have expressed similar concerns. But I recognize the importance of this format and concluded that this is the price to pay in this type of learning, cyber class.
Having the "airwaves" agenda often dominated by "off-task" comments (a la [a certain participant])
I had some problems with some of your assumptions about validity - probably because of the depth to which I have been considering this for my phd.
I am completing a phd in Education and my research which is qualitative is bordering on action research in lots of ways. For this reason I would have liked more references to other people who have written about action research (particularly in the body of hte sessions which relied very heavily on your personal experience) and more in depth discussion of theoretical things. (I know that I could have initiated this through the discussion list, but some of the things that happened at the start of the course put me off contributing in that way.)
I looked forward to the forum and found some of it helpful, and I particularly followed the final debates about the course itself. I also had some difficulty getting into the forum. I started off quite keen, but couldnt sustain a conversation or achieve any depth. I havent satisfactorily understood why this is, but found Stewart's comments about the ways in which we are conditioned to learn helpful.
I was not prepared for the time and intellectual commitment to AREOL and subsequently did not benefit as much as I could have.
I was uncomfortable with the beginning dialogue and that is where I developed my sense of inadequacy. I do not do like unkind words (and keep in mind that was how I perceived some of the early dialogues, I'm sure they were not meant to be that way) in person or virtually so I did not want to contribute to the dialogue that seem to be unwanted. Actually I was interested in most of the threads and agreed with your suggestions that they could have been channeled to avoid overburdening those who were not interested.
Inability to control the ratbags, however a realistic introduction to the [? -- the sentence ended there]
Less participation in discussion groups as I had hoped probably like myself b/c of workload, etc.; topics remained abstract - we rarely offered good examples from the field to work through
My own inability to keep up, and (inevitable, I suppose) there don't seem to be many people out there working on prosocial vs antisocial activism. The paradigm seems to accept community organizing as a good thing, but sometimes the goals of such organizing benefit the few over the many, IMHO.
Nothing unfavourable, other than perhaps the length of each message. Perhaps spread the course out over a couple more weeks and perhaps also discuss some of the main points of related readings and other references you provided along the way.
Overflow of e-mails at the beginning and sometimes , as I perceived, out of focus. I got lost and at first did not understand what was happening with such different ideas , interventions (and intentions) popping up. (But this too was a good learning of patience and the importance of acceptance and respect for diversity, and understanding and valuing other perspectives and even intentions)
Overwhelming number of e mail responses especially when I was away for a few days and had 40 responses to wade through. Some were helpful, but many were just words
Some participants' comments were inappropriate and out of context
Sometimes lacked depth in some areas I was interested in. But plenty of references and web sites to go to for more information
That the message sent out received no response from the list members
That when sending a comment it's going out into a totally unknown pool of people and may not even be acknowledged as received.
The abstract theory.
The abstract treatment of the theory. I need more examples.
The discussion emphasis on AR theory/method in academic research and very little on applied practice for development practitioners, planners, health care providers, civil servants etc. I believe this emphasis left some non-academic participants unsure where to fit in their comments/questions
The discussions on line were not organized well
The examples were pretty "bare bones" and I have little time to explore other literature. It would have been helpful if the applications were described in more detail.
The initial onslaught of participants email which was a little overwhelming both in terms of volume and content.
The lack of a grip on human affairs. Much less importantly I did not enjoy being abjured for my efforts in that direction.
The level of knowledge and experience regarding the use and application of action research varied tremendously.
The low volume of email correspondence in special interest groups as well as the discussion list
The mode of communication (email) for discussion. It is a lot harder to get a meeting of minds through email and much more difficult to clarify meaning and understanding (than face to face). However, the advantages (especially the convenience) of the program far outweighs this disadvantage.
The only thing I didn't like was to have no enough time to study the lessons (just one week).
The rude comments made by some course participants in response to postings/questions raised by other participants. It knocks out not only the motivation/ enthusiasm of the author, but makes others scared to post anything for fear of the same reaction
The seeming lack of practical applications. I realize the literature is full of these, but some brief examples might have been handy.
This dislike is more me than the course but I haven't figured out how to integrate an online course easily into my work/school life, I think it may be my learning style. I was frustrated when I couldn't get to the material on a weekly basis and had to catch up.
To receive so many messages -not necessarily interesting for me - because I had the impression of the discussion list was too wide, I mean not well theme-defined.
When I wasn't prepared or had not enough time, it added to my guilt-load - exactly contradicting my response to Q2. But this just made me notice how learning is my responsibility .. I think a few of us showed discomfort with taking responsibility for our own learning and perhaps this 'distance setting' runs the risk of simply confirming fixed opinions.
Which brings me on to the other thing I liked least ... was it Sartre who said something about hell and other people? Sometimes I was jumping up and down in response to one particular participant (no names?) But latterly my Polyanna nature re-imposed itself and I became grateful for the learning triggered by these strong emotional responses. What is it in my nature that I am denying / projecting? and all that pseudo-Jungian psycho-babble. And the advantage of doing this in an email environment is that I can really BE furious, without fear of being seen (usually).
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Q4: What one or two changes or additions to areol 9 would most have helped your learning and/or satisfaction?
A bit more (even
though you have quite a bit) on justifying and publishing action
research would be helpful.
(This is a bit personal: this year I won a scholarly activity
merit award from one committee, only to be turned down by an
academic designation committee for my "weak scholarship".
Thus I am quite determined to leave the second committee aka " the
turkeys" ;) in my publishing dust (the only other alternative
would be the honored North American solution of "going
postal.")
A clear definition that acknowledges the essentiality of it in all human endeavor, and does not seem to think it is a very peculiar academic idea.
Again, the session lecture notes and other related readings you posted.
An understanding that everything is up for analysis, or more accurately, contributes to learning if you reflect on it, would have also helped me a little. others seemed to have difficulty transfering action research theory to what they were actually saying and how they were saying it (me included).
From the discussion that has taken place (or not taken place) on-line, we obviously have different expectations of this course and varying amounts of time to dedicate to fulfilling those expectations. These differences should be acknowledged and incorporated into the structure and function of the virtual learning environment.
Have a lot of resources to go thru. However, just because you have not read ALL the AREOL material does not mean that you cannot take a few moments to post a question, a comment, or share an experience. The richness and diversity of our skills and experiences can really contribute to AREOL as a learning forum. We are not all academics - and even academics are often interested in applied practice.
Having time to study and discuss the materials.
I don't know what the answer is re the bulletin boards and discussion groups. I was taken off the main one as I was snowed under with responses and the education one didn't go anywhere. I gave up responding after I made a couple of entries on to it.
I have difficulty with simple technology problems eg getting into my interest groups
I was never clear on the discussion groups - it appeared that there were no discussions in the interested group I had of philosophy. I got confused when I received postings for groups that I had not indicated an interest in - I think that is what happened anyway. Just sending people postings for their 'own' interest groups would be good, if you can set it up.
I wish you could have put together a final message summarizing all the key learnings and points, somewhat like you did at the end of each message. Basically, something to put on our walls, or something to quickly refer to in the future (one-pager).
I would also have liked to see more actual initiatives discussed, or perhaps case studies presented...i.e. "here's where this process, in a broader strategic setting, worked very well"
Ideally, it would be better if I had someone to discuss the texts in a face-to-face environment with two or three colleagues that also would be taking the course, and then participated in an open discussion via e-mail, having the benefit of receiving the comments of the facilitator and other participants. Of course, these actions could only be taken by me if I had enough time.(When I entered the Course I thought I would have the time, but other non expected projects and commitments overran my initial plans)
If the groups had worked better (and that again I must share responsibility for). The guidelines were there. The two groups I was in were very large and, if I'd known then what I know now, I'd have suggested that we get ourselves into smaller virtual huddles. In the education group I think we tried and failed for whatever reasons.
In retrospect, I think a commitment from people (or at least an agreement from the beginning) for each participant to take responsbility for their own learning would have helped my learning and limited a lot of the frustration I felt.
Maybe a 'play' space would help in group forming? Metaphor certainly took me to new places and had me feeling that I was really communicating, at one point. Even better when someone took the metaphor I'd already expanded on and took it to new heights. Seriousness is a bit daunting and play encourages creativity and experiment - learning!
More examples.
More graphics like this: plan ---> (act) observe ---> evaluate
More real life examples - like the Darts story- to illustrate concepts that sometimes seemed at first very unfamiliar.
Not allow participants with destructive agendas to distract from program.
Not sure yet
Perhaps a set of 'guidelines' or an "on-line etiquette" such as respecting everyone's opinions, acknowledging contributions even if you don't have a lengthy comment - make it more conversational.
Perhaps an optional face-to-face seminar/discussion (eg. 1/2 day on a Saturday). You could charge a small amount $20-$30. I would certainly have been part of this. It would be great to actually meet some of the others involved and to get over the short-comings of email for a morning or afternoon.
Perhaps you can give a question each week that becomes the topic for the online discussion rather than leaving it free for all. The trigger questions were helpful and they could serve as the question for the discussions. This gives the discussions a little more structure.
Possibly, (and I'm not
sure that it IS logistically possible) some grouping of
participants around the kind of work they might be doing with
action research.
I'd like to be able to talk with people facing similar practical
problems of coordinating a project that involves interdisciplinary
university/government agency/voluntary agency cooperation, and
requires such skills as being able to cost-out a day long
workshop/focus group, and a community information meeting.
On the other hand, I did find some support for the work, mainly in
the body of your sessions.
Probably fewer subscribers with greater commitment to dialogue and/or fewer topics covered more in-depth
Resources and how to access them internationally. There is much going on internationally and written material (in English)! Also, small groups, like 3-6 people, maybe having that evolve by a certain point in the course. However, logistics might be a nightmare.
See accompanying letter, "where now?" More of a sense of orientation of action research within the overall context of human affairs.
Several participants expressed an interest in understanding more about virtual learning environments like AREOL and others have expressed a desire for more hands-on' experience with action research. The two interests could be brought together. For the next AREOL session - assuming that there will be one - one of the learning groups' could be structured to keep an eye on the AREOL process ( we are all supposed to do this in our own groups but I don't think we really did it!) and to make suggestions to enhance the learning experience. Some clear role definition is needed for this learning group (especially between the group and instructor) but I still think it is doable. I do believe that all participants should still keep an eye on the process - but this group can focus the effort and highlight the importance of keeping an eye on the process as part of the action research method.
Some negotiated ground rules about communication and listening?
The AREOL course notice I received via CED-NET gave a brief summary of the course and how to subscribe. Perhaps future promotions could contain two specific sections : a) AREOL as a course and b) WEB resources (articles/lists) offered by the Southern Cross University - publicly available. Those who want to 'read-up' on the subject can do so when they have time and those who want a more structured/interactive course can register for AREOL.
The learning groups are a good idea, but for me they did not work. I did not develop a sense of who was in my learning group or what their issues are. In the beginning I was very excited at how many people in varied places and positions were in the community development learning group, but it fell a bit flat. I think it would be better if the learning groups had a task so they got to know each other a bit. This would make it more of an active process. e.g. a discussion began in the community development group on logic models, but it fizzled. It might have been possible to co-operatively put together some examples and a reading list for future AREOLs. This would need to be structured in perhaps by being a requirement of enrolment.
The main obstacle to my learning was not reading the session early enough in the week. If I was busy on the day it arrived, I would put it of for a day or two and by then would have missed the discussion (and only quickly browse it). - I'm not sue if there is a way around this. If you ask people to read the session on day one or day two and discuss on days 3-7, I think the discussion would be stilted and less spontaneous (Unless your server could somehow "hold" the discussion comments until a mutually agreed reading period was over?)
There seem to be some very distinct kinds of subscribers: those with little previous experience or knowledge; those with academic knowledge; those with applied knowledge, experience and/or interest. I suspect that most of us working in applied research didn't join the special discussion groups because we were warned (correctly) that they would be time consuming. I wonder if there could be three (or however many is appropriate) general discussion lists so that the comment shared would be relevant to all of that group's subscribers. Something like Areol-9a; Areol-9b; Areol-9c. I would really have liked to have heard other's applied experiences, and shared and received feedback on my own. Off list, I sometimes received mail from others which suggested they also considered some of the discussion irrelevant.
This is AREOL 9 - so there is a great amount of experience that previous participants have gained in completing the programme. Perhaps some of our suggestions for enhancing the AREOL learning experience could be shared with future AREOL participants. Eg. Before I took this course I wish I had ... To really benefit from this course you need to ... To promote an open learning environment you need to ...
To ask the students write some brief reports to the discussion list about how ther´re applying the course on their own projects.
To be honest I can't think of any. I'm not sure how in such a large group you could make a distinction between very novice action researchers and the experts, I didn't think the material you provided was over my head but some of the discussions were way beyond me and that lead to my lack of participation (which I think is necessary in this type of course) or were in areas that I didn't know very much about and was reluctant to ask since everyone was concerned about the time they were spending responding (however, several of the participants were quite helpful when I emailed them personally and explained what they were doing)
To invite everybody avoiding one single person concentrate the whole attention on the discussion space.
To send the lessons every two weeks
We all lack the time to do everything we want and AREOL does
We are all familiar with subscribing to listservs or mail-lists, where we read and post notices at OUR LEISURE - primarily for the purpose of information exchange. AREOL uses these lists as tools to facilitate learning. They exist for a specific period of time, for a specific purpose, and the participation or lack of participation by subscribers is monitored and interpreted by not only the instructor, but by other subscribers. This is a small but significant difference. An on-line course is not merely a mail-list. Perhaps future AREOL orientation material could include more information on subscriber responsibility to contribute to the learning environment and the pitfalls and implications of 'lurking'. Also a few more 'staged discussion opportunities' like case studies based upon individual experiences (research and/or practice) would be helpful. It is difficult to sustain active involvement for 3 months, but I know I could participate in at least 3-4 focused discussions/assignments within that period of time.
We are all learning how to use the ever changing and expanding on-line technology for a variety of purposes. Including some "Net Etiquette" do's and don'ts' for on-line learning in the orientation material would be helpful. A source: Net Etiquette & Ethics - Part of the Information Quality WWW Virtual Library maintained by Dr. T. Matthew Ciolek: http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/QltyPages/QltyEtiq.html Also, I think it is important to acknowledge the diversity of interests, experiences, and needs of course participants and to respect those differences. We all signed up for this course for different reasons. Just because someone has a different opinion than you have does not mean that they are wrong or hypocrites.
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Q5: What advice at the beginning of areol 9 would have helped you to gain more learning and enjoyment from the program. (Your suggestions will be conveyed to the participants in areol 10.)
At that beginning stage, you could try and find two or three people you particularly like the 'look' of and have an offline chat about more general things in your lives - a little coffee break. You could even decide to get together once a week and gossip about the rest of the group!
At the time of Areol-12, someone asked me, "Didn't you know the historic origins of action research?" She said it is a child of the age of feminism, etc. I didn't respond because I had already said I never heard of it before.
At the very beginning, there could have been one or two preparatory "sessions", in which Bob described the possible pleasures as well as difficulties
Be really clear about your own agenda - what you want from the course, how much time you can realistically give to it and what sorts of things might draw you in deeper.
Be very clear about what you would like to get out of the program and convey that to the instructor to ensure that you don't have expectations that are not realistic
Can't think of much that might have been done differently other than to have been very clear that this is a course predicated primarily on your own applied experience and, as such, is less academic or philosophical in substance than some may be seeking. (but this may be my own bias, and I think you said words to this effect anyway).
Develop your OWN learning objectives and take the time UP FRONT to review the course outline and note what chapters most interest you and what you want out of each section (develop your own mini-learning plan)
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Don't be afraid to comment.
Don't get put-out if someone disagrees with you - take them on (professionally!) debating is a good way to learn and to build understanding
Don't hesitate to ask questions - you'd hate to miss something important just because you were too socially inhibited to ask
Don't listen to advice!
Easier to do with a friend. A student and I worked through it on our own and met once a week to discuss it in relation to our own areas of interest
Form a small discussion group (face-to-face) with two or three colleagues to be able to reflect and dialogue on lessons received, and put them into practice together.
I can't read these
I think all the necessary advices are already in the material before the lessons.
I think concomitant with that is an appreciation that to get the most out of the program, you will need to devote time and effort to getting through the course material + engaging in learning group discussion.
I think making it clearer that it is a 'non-academic' practitioners course would have been helpful for me.
I think maybe you need to emphasise the self-directedness of the learning, and perhaps think about ways to get people to understand that term and mode of operation.
I thought the early advice was helpful and adequate.
I wouldn't bother too
much about asking for feedback on the process right at the
beginning. I felt that I needed to see what it was about,
before making comments on what it should be about.
On the other hand, you might get more feedback if you asked people
for information about how they see action research as fitting into
their plans, whether existing or in the future.
In the LEARNING GROUP orientation pkg - examples of how others have used the forum would be helpful - as would the pitfalls of seeing the forum as a mail-list and lurking vs using it as an interactive learning environment
It would be helpful "warning" participants that the e-mail discussion may at times overwhelming, yet an important medium to simulate interactive discussions among participants and suggest them to devise ways to address the flood of messages.
Make a commitment to read the session when it arrives (or block out a time - on the same day of each week - soon after you know it will arrive and read it then).
"Make sure you have the time to read and study these materials." Actually, that advice was given but circumstances changed for me.
Make sure you will have time all the mail
My issue is really only with the amount of input from the group (too much and too much irrelevant to my needs). If you do it the same way, people may want to be aware of the amount of email they will sort through as in the community development group. I too felt like dropping my name off the total list and just doing the course. But there were 2-3 people I made contact with, interestingly, all in British Columbia.
Of limited (but not nil) not able to run an ar project at some time during the program
PARTICIPATE in the on-line forums!
Participating in this type of course can be very time consuming not just from interacting in the course but also in outside reading/thinking to keep up with the dialogue. If you are interacting outside your knowledge (and even sometimes within another area of concentration in your knowledge area) area it is going to require some time to familiarize yourself (at least minimally) with that area. For me this activity was where some of my best learning occurred.
Plan strategically (based upon your learning objectives) where you want to spend the time you have available
PLAY NICE ! - Even if you disagree with someone's posting debate the concepts - don't question their motivations, character, personality (you don't even know them!)
Post up front that this a program for learners interested and respectful enough toward Action-Research to be open to allowing people to judge for them selves (via the sessions) if Action-Research is of value.
Read the lesson once, then scan it a second time and prepare comments or questions for the group immediately when you receive it - otherwise you'll never get to it.
Realize that the course participants come from different countries, different cultures, different professions, and have various strengths and weaknesses - build on the range of expertise and be understanding of differences of opinion/perception
Remember netiquette, as corny as it sounds without the nonverbals it is really easy to read something the wrong way.
Review your progress to your learning plan - bi-weekly and modify it where necessary
Set a period of time (weekly) that is your AREOL time to review material AND to participate in the on-line forums
Stress the importance of choosing a research project or activity early on to apply the practical tasks . I jumped around. If I had chosen one at the beginning it would have been more helpful to see the progressive results
Take it easy & have fun
Take the AR tools and practice them in real-life - strike up a discussion following a meeting, at a bus stop, waiting in line at the bank - sharpen your AR skills by DOING not just reading (read, practice , reflect/review, try again...) then share your experiences on-line
The contents (titles of the 14 sessions and very, very brief introduction to them(perhaps one or two sentences))could have been given.
There are lots of ways to respond to the materials. One is to read and think which might have lots of value for you, but, in this frame, that is invisible to everyone else - and it could be self-confirming rather than learning. Do you dare challenge yourself to 'think aloud' a bit and share half-baked ideas with others on-line?
There was also some difficulty for people in posting between the discussion list and the learning group list. I know that in the outline it suggested (or I think it did) the learning group apply the materials to cases brought up by group members, or the case that each learning group member has chosen to analyse over the course (this is likely to be the basis for the joining of a particular learning group), whereas the discussion list could be for more general and theoretical posts.
You could try finding a real person in your workplace who is interested in doing the course with you. That would give you a chance to be more speculative, to 'wonder' about the ideas (which I found quite risky on-line) and also to check in whether or not you're on track with your own purposes.
You need to know what you want out of this course to get what you want.
You will gain as much from the course as you put into it, though I guess this is obvious.
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Q6: What else would you like to say?
An excellent program. I learnt a lot.
Based on my own experience, I think that maybe people might prepare themselves for the course for a period of time by actually pre-reading the course material from the website, and then sign up to the discussion lists (where they are sent the material again to refer too). I am not sure how this would work, but I know that now that I have seen the program, know what the materials are, have a feel for how I might get the most benefit from the program, I will be much more able to learn from the experience.
Because I have a commitment to community development - and enabling members of communities to learn and do things themselves, I think that this course will be a very useful resource for me to use with community groups who are thinking about undertaking their own research. I can see that the way it is structured that it will be accessible to people with limited, or no research background or experience.
Continued absences away from e-mail caused me and [...] difficulties, and I recall the same for other people early on. I am not sure how true this is of people who sign up to AREOL (i.e. they travel and move around a lot for work). I am trying to think how the course might be managed to allow this sort of absence, but still allow benefit.
Good luck. I think your intentions are good, and you are bound to find a path to effectively carry them out, as you continue, as planned.
I deeply appreciate you and your university providing such a valuable learning resources so generously world-wide. In an increasingly commodified knowledge production, your vision and endeavor has shown us technology can be used for global interconnection, empowerment and democracy. I also commend your dedication to teaching by action research principles that are clearly reflected in content of the lectures, discussion formats and evaluations. My experience is nothing but very very positive. thanks a lot. I have given your e-mail to so many people and students around me.
I enjoyed your style of facilitation and probably learned the most from this
I probably should sign up again, now that I have read the material!
I really enjoyed this course, despite time constraints on this end. It did do what I wanted; provide an introduction and whet my appetite for this approach. I do plan to integrate it into my studies when I begin master's work in the fall at Dalhousie (Canada).
I think AEROL was an excellent way for me to get a beginning grasp of action research. In fact, I had the opportunity to recommend it to a service learning group that I was a guest of about midway into the course. The materials were easy to read and follow and supported my learning process very nicely. The dialogues were interesting and reflected some of the same issues that I had encountered in the online course that I am a teaching assistant for. That insight will be included in a presentation that I am doing in the fall for the ALN conference where I am presenting findings from our discussion forums in our course. Overall I was quite pleased with the course.
I want to thank you for making this course available at no cost. In Chch (NZ) we have really limited access to courses like this one, so using this medium you have made it very accessible.
I will have to come back a second time to get the full benefit from the program - next semester is planned. so keep me informed of subscription time.
If I'd been really smart, I probably would have set aside a certain time each week to do the course. But that's not my working habit. As I said earlier, I've got a lot from it and, checking on my objectives, I think the experience has been very useful. When someone asks me 'what is action research' I find there is a suitable fuzzy answer or two at the tip of my tongue. And, equally, I'm a lot clearer about what it isn't good for.
I'm afraid that I never
'got into' areol 9, despite the best intentions and genuine
interest, because I was overwhelmed initially with the high
volume. I didn't get in at the start, and then never managed
to catch up, even though the volume of responses settled down as
time went on.
I recognise that this is my fault. I should have realised
that my time for these 'extras' was really just a sliver in my
day, so once the volume went past this sliver my ability to catch
up was going to be minimal.
I think my learning from this is that I have to say 'No' to
involvement even when it looks very interesting and very
relevant. There are shades of interest and relevance and I
have to learn to better prioritise. I did read your
recommendations for how long each session would take but I think I
just figured I could fit it and everything else in.
It has been really difficult to motivate participants to voice their responses. Maybe they have been too busy; Maybe they don't know what to say even if they want to have a try? I don't know...
It is not possible to learn Action Research only by reading and solo reflecting. Besides reading, studying and reflecting, one should engage in dialogues with peers and practice with others, and receive feedback of the actions undertaken. Besides that it is a must to have the chance to observe a Master Facilitator practicing and applying Action Research Methodology, and to interact with him. And this was a great lesson I had with Master Facilitator Bob Dick. Many Thanks, Bob.
It seems to me that the course tried to build a learning rather than teaching culture and I really like this, and feel I didnt contribute as much as I initially hoped to. I think a mid semester evaluation could be useful in helping structure some reflection before it is too late to act differently.
I've learned about global email communication - some of the pros and cons.
Maybe the pre-reading might allow people more to pick up on discussions wherever they come in (i.e. after a week absent). I know that I felt that since I hadn't read the stuff, or kept up with discussion for a period, I couldn't contribute. I don't think it has to be that way.
On the whole, I thought that the program was very informative. I was able to gain an overview of action research and understand its function well. The program was presented in a very practical way that was easy to read and understand. Thank you very much
Thank you again, Bob. I shall miss interacting with your prompts and the excellent materials. Do you get to take a break now? Probably I should have said more often how interactive the process was for me, even when I was quiet.
Thank you Bob for an exceptional learning opportunity!
Thank you Bob, I have found this very interesting and have learned a lot. I am looking forward to going back over the material as I put together my own Action Research project.
Thank you for your work. I truly appreciated all you did to pull this together and your patience with us (and not getting on our cases if we did not contribute on a regular basis). Actually, I did want to make comment a number of times, but I was never sure if someone else had already made a point as I had 50 emails to sort through. Yes! I'd enjoy a small group. But that's me. Just a side note, I am sitting in my study at home and watching mountain goats and bald eagles along the Skeena River in northwest BC. Kitselas Mountain is still getting smow but lower down waterfalls are abundant as the unusually deep snow pack is starting to melt. Take care. I hope we meet some day.
Thank you very much, bob. You have done a great job. I´d like to receive invitations for your further courses or workshops on line
Thank you. I will continue to recommend it to others
Thanks
Thanks for making this so accessible. I'm grateful for the experience. Also, Bob Dick, was a fine host and educator and I found his views refreshing and I very much appreciated his openness.
Thanks very much Bob. I think coordinating something like this is a major effort - Even though it isn't much help to you as coordinator of a discussion - Like many other participants, in addition to reading the sessions, I've printed each session for future reference.
Thanks very much for all your time and commitment, and a big thanks to your government for supporting something as progressive, cutting edge, and accessible as this. It was a pleasure.
Thanks, a lot of thanks. This program change my live. It is possible to convert the areol in Spanish. I think that I need to follow another course of English. It is possible to make another questions? It is more quick for me. Continue with this great work.
Thanks. After this experience I am now ready to sign up for a distance learning program for credit
Thankyou, Bob, I am left thinking through these issues of how people participate in on line learning forums, it is important to my own work too, and having this experience of being a participant has raised more questions than it has answered in that regard. The course is very valuable, well constructed and relevant and I am pleased to have had the opportunity to do it.
Turns out I have been much too busy to look at it seriously. I downloaded each session, browsed it quickly and superficially, and saved just the introductory summaries. It seems to have stuff I could benefit from, but I don't know whether I'll ever get around to it. Thanks
Your emphasis on the participatory nature of AR (& participatory processes) has challenged me to reconsider my approach to research and try to 'push the envelope' a little further here. This emphasis was conveyed not just by your content but your whole approach to the exercise. Thanks