Activity 6 - Reflect on your evidence

Activity 6: Create a reflective entry to describe the data you have collected so far and how you are analysing it.

Step 1: Description of my data

Right at the beginning of the Take Action phase of the Spiral of Inquiry, I used Microsoft Forms to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. I chose Forms because it is quick and easy to use and provides automatic data analysis of fixed-choice questions. I could also use open questions to gauge my students' perceived engagement in their learning, which is the crux of my inquiry. Despite my inquiry being focused on engagement, I also gathered student grades, task completion rates and accuracy rates from the previous year, which were all available to me through Education Perfect. Although it will be interesting to compare this baseline data to the end of unit results, not all of my Year 9 students were at our school (in the Intermediate school), or completed the Year 8 French programme, so this data has limited use. 

This week my students completed another survey as we approach the end of our unit. 29 out of my 30 students responded to the survey, so I have been able to confidently draw some conclusions and spot some emerging trends from the data gathered. In addition, I also observed the students during their online learning lessons, but found I had much less time to do this than I had intended. Over all, the data collection methods used suited my time frame and have given me some interesting information for analysis.

The Spiral of Inquiry

Step 2: How I am analysing my data

I have organised my qualitative data, as suggested by Babione (2015) into the following coded categories:

• Behavioural engagement
• Enjoyment of French
• Attitude towards e-learning
• Learning outcomes

These are themes that emerged during the Research phase, and are also present in my inquiry question. 

Microsoft Forms has also generated graphs and charts for the fixed-choice survey questions, providing a helpful snapshot of where my students are at with Hybrid Learning. I was never under any illusion that engagement would be easy to measure, but by comparing a simple question from each survey - before and after the Hybrid unit - we can see an increase in general enjoyment of French.

I found the Likert Scale questions - like the examples below - particularly useful in understanding whole class perspectives and attitudes towards e-learning, and learning outcomes.

Analysing qualitative data is a personal process, allowing subjective interpretation, rather than producing definitive results or "proof" (Efron & Ravid, 2013). Upon examining the emerging patterns in my data, I saw strong indications that Hybrid learning is having a positive impact on:

• Behavioural engagement - observable to me, the teacher
• Students' percieved engagement - their personal investment in the subject and enjoyment of French.

Step 3: Reflecting on my evidence so far

The evidence above is but a snapshot of the valuable information I have gathered throughout this process. Students have written insightful, sincere responses to the open survey questions, giving me much food for thought. As always, while some students fed back that they wanted more time on devices to work through their individualised programme, others wanted more time working as a whole class, being guided through their learning, so finding that balance will be key. As most of my data is qualitative, I feel that the short timeframe has provided me with enough data to hint that my inquiry is heading in the right direction. However, to be confident that Hybrid learning has in fact increased student engagement, I will need to continue following the spiral of inquiry right throughout the year as we move through different units to really understand its impact. It's only just begun!

References:

Babione, C. (2015). Practitioner Teacher Inquiry and Research. USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Efron, S. E., & Ravid, R. (2013). Action research in education: A practical guide. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.