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Trying to re-post this, as I did post the first time using my phone, and now I cannot find that post anymore. I have not been directly involved in AR thus far. To me, it seems similar to reflective teaching and to the formative assessment cycle. It also seems very practical and tailored to each classroom's needs, so if I have 6 classes that I teach, I could conduct 6 different AR activities, which is useful, albeit time consuming. I am now curious to seeing what the AR I will be conducting for this course will reveal.

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Officially I have never conducted action research. But I have always tried to implement reflection on issues that are of great importance in the learning and teaching processes. I am interested in implementing action research as I believe it will help me find answers to some questions I have in my teaching.

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I haven't got much experience with action research. I have taken part in some researches, but I am not sure they were special action researches. This schhol year our school is involved in a special research about digital learning (we have 3 digital weeks), but I do not think all the characteristics are well-planned.

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I have never officially engaged with action research.  We have implemented more reflective practice in our teaching and also using data (either assessments or questionaires) and have used these to inform our teaching.  We also engage in team teaching a lot and then we discuss/reflect on what worked didn't work etc and try to adjust plans based on our observations.  I am interested in finding out more how to engage in a more formal way with action research and how I can share this information with colleagues and we are interested in how this will improve the teaching and learning in our school.

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I tried to implement action research in class, or at least what I believed would drive action research. I noticed that I needed more information and practice. I needed to be more organized, have a more defined purpose, and be clearer during the process. My experience was very small, so I wish I could actually make improvements and implement a well-organized, well-designed action research and see the results good or not so good, but determine how to improve.

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I took part in Action Research for different purposes. One of them was about the introduction of English as a Second Language in Primary School in Italy. (1992 and following years) aimed at experimenting, monitoring, adapting the use of active methodologies to teach a second Language to young pupils. We made the Action Research as a Group of teachers coordinated by experts. It was a helpful way to collaborate and share processes, observations about the effectiveness of activities, strategies, methodologies that lead to the creation of a shared framework at local level, then compared with other national Action Researches. My last Action Research was about CLIL approach in the frame of an eTwinning project, making use of Europeana materials and Debate, with the aim of improving collaboration among the class members. I collected data in pair work with a colleague, following the process with the use of a diary, making observations, interviews to pupils, recordings, data collection, SWOT analysis This Action Research was the subject of my Project work for a yearly Course at IUL online University, focused on CLIL. It was an effective way to improve or change some planned steps, taking into account the students' attitudes, their increased motivation to work in groups and their performances. I'm really interested in learning more about Action Research to experiment new effective ways of teaching or coordinating groups of teachers.

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I have conducted action research in the past as part of my first MA degree, on the topic of English for Academic Purposes on Graduate overseas students in the UK, living, studying and working there at the time. Later on, for the purposes of my second MA degree, I worked on a school self-assessment model via EFQM in secondary education. Now, my field of interest is acquiring foreign language skills with the use of mobile applications, through collaborative learning activities in secondary school education. I hope you help me reflect on this topic!

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I'm not sure if I can say that I use Action Research in my teaching and if I'm doing it well. I have tried to solve some problems with observations and try to change some methods in my teaching. So actually it is a completely new experience for me and I hope this course will help me.

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I teach English as a foreign language to 8th grade students at a Vocational High School for acquiring professions such as industrial designer, administrative assistant, hairdresser and beautician. At the school there are students from 8th to 12th grade. It is especially important for them, in addition to general competence in English, to learn professional vocabulary in preparation for the professions in which they are trained. To support the progress in learning English as a foreign language at the high school, we founded the ''English Club''. In it, together with my fellow English teachers, we are working on a program for the active involvement of students in the choice of topics for discussion. In the work of the club, I apply the Action Research Approach. It enables me to learn from my experience as a teacher and from my students by observing their reactions while completing various tasks. For me, this is an opportunity to experiment in the course of the teaching process. The main thing in this approach is to provoke the activity of the students and give them the freedom to choose the topics to discuss at the club, to elaborate on topics that interest them. They offer situations from their life and experience through which to practice certain skills and / or rules in mastering the English language. As a teacher, I strive to present some new vocabulary and phrases, to provide them with different means of expression - e.g. through music (songs), photos, a combination of texts, and images. During the discussions in the club, the idea for a Christmas bazaar was born. The students, supported by the teachers, discussed what they would need, made a plan of what to make to offer it to their classmates. The discussion of the preparation for the bazaar was in English, and the club gathered students from different classes (ages). The older students helped the younger and less experienced ones to express themselves more accurately. The English teachers were in the role of facilitators and experts - we were consulted if necessary - from new words, phrases, dictionary articles… Then the students wrote a message in English and Bulgarian to their classmates to invite them to join in making cards and Christmas souvenirs. Through the method of role-play (educational drama) in the club, we practiced a situation of offering and buying Christmas souvenirs. In this experience, I have noticed that when students are left to talk about a topic that is of interest to them, even though they make mistakes in expressing a foreign language, they are more motivated to learn. When the topic of the discussion is suggested by them and they do not go through the obligatory exercises in the textbook they work on in the usual school lessons, they overcome the language barrier more easily. After completing the work on a specific topic with the other English teachers, we discussed how to proceed, each giving feedback to the others on what they have noticed about the achievements and shortcomings of the English language students. In this discussion between colleagues, we came to the idea of ​​developing common learning resources to use in our EFL classes. Thus, we created a tool for assessing student progress - a system of criteria and symbols for reporting progress. (This idea can also be developed in terms of mastering specialized vocabulary in connection with the professions studied at school)

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I have always liked action research. Just a long time ago I participated to an action research course together with French teachers. We worked on interaction. After this experience I have done only informal action research without documenting the results.
Since pandemic has begun and I have been obliged to use for a long period only digital learning I have always looked for new strategies to motivate my students. So I began to experiment new approaches and suggest new tools. I noticed what didn't work and what worked better in order to motivate them. I  found out what other teachers were doing and we shared our ideas and our best practices. So I felt the need of an experience like this. I'm happy to have this good opportunity to work and reflect with you.

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I have conducted action research twice and the experience has always been very rewarding. The teacher knows their learners and this gives him / her the advantage of solving any issues that might arise during the whole process. If an external researcher is the one that conducts the research, he / she may lack crucial data about the students.
When conducting action research, you learn a lot more about the challenges the students are facing when learning and this can help us to apply new methodologies in the classroom.
I have always implemented research in the Primary classroom but now I am a secondary teacher so I think it is a great opportunity for me to perform research with teenagers.

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My experience with action research comes from the last few years, when my teaching and learning activity became more intense.

In the Romanian educational system, for K-12 teachers there is a Grade I level, expanded over a 4 years period of time. There isn't anything higher than that. For this level, each teacher must have at least 10 years of teaching experience(I have 20 years of teaching experience now :) )

During this 4 years activity, 2 years are for a research paper the teacher must write.

I have just finished this stage. :)

My research paper's title is "Formative values ​​of fairy tales in educating children's communication". The study was conducted for 2 years, having 2 groups of pupils, the experimental group and the study group. Pupils' age was 4-5 and 5-6 years old, in the 2nd year.
I am starting another study paper for I am graduating Master Degree this summer and my paper's title is "Moodle Platform - the management of the instructional system".

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While I have not experienced action research yet, it seems, at first glance, similar to the principles of reflective teaching or to the formative assessment cycle. I love that it seems very practical and can be tailored to meet each classroom needs, as no classroom is ever alike, just like students are never alike.

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I investigated the effect of eTwinning activity on primary school 3rd grade students' reading attitudes. I observe that students' motivation to read books is low and they fail to understand what they read. This research was an initiative, implemented on my own, without any academic background. Now I'd like to start a new case with a support of my colleagues here. As a result of the action plan I tried to implement, I used gamification technique, collaborative learning, and project-based learning based on the character of Pippi Longstocking. In the end, it is observed that students' interest in reading increased and their participation in the lesson improved in a positive way, as well.

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The first time I did Action Research was when I was doing my MA in TEFL. The Action Research focused on the Implementation of Portfolio Assessment with Primary School Pupils. This year I am doing Action Research at school for the participation of our school in European projects. I am an enthusiast of life long earning and Action Research is the only way to develop knowledge, experience and expertise

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Investigating Portfolio Assessment with Learners of the 3rd Grade in a Greek State Primary School
[Διερεύνηση του Φακέλου Αξιολόγησης με Μαθητές Τρίτης Δημοτικού σε ένα Ελληνικό Δημόσιο Σχολείο]
Sophia KOUZOULI Abstract

Assessment is a field increasingly explored in relation to the parameters it involves. The special characteristics of the learners and the interactive relationship between instruction and assessment lead to the use not only of traditional assessment techniques but also of alternative methods such as the portfolio. This study intends to investigate the implementation of a process portfolio in a Greek state primary school with a class of third graders aged between 8-9, concentrating on integration of skills. The findings show that this technique is appropriate for young learners and that it meets specific pedagogical and assessment criteria. It also exerts positive impact on metacognitive awareness, learner autonomy and positive attitude towards learning. Finally, the findings give insight to emerging problems and issues requiring further research.
Περίληψη
Η αξιολόγηση των μαθητών αποτελεί ένα τομέα που όλο και περισσότερο ερευνάται σε σχέση με τις εμπλεκόμενες παραμέτρους. Τα ειδικά χαρακτηριστικά των μαθητών και η διαδραστική σχέση διδασκαλίας και αξιολόγησης συντελούν στην εφαρμογή εναλλακτικών τρόπων - σε σχέση με τις παραδοσιακές μεθόδους- αξιολόγησης, όπως του φακέλου αξιολόγησης. Αυτή η έρευνα στοχεύει στη διερεύνηση μιας μορφής φακέλου αξιολόγησης, του Φακέλου Διαδικασίας, σε ένα Ελληνικό δημόσιο σχολείο, σε μια τάξη με παιδιά τρίτης δημοτικού, 8-9 ετών, εστιάζοντας στη διαπλοκή δεξιοτήτων. Από τα ευρήματα καταδεικνύεται ότι είναι κατάλληλη μέθοδος για τη συγκεκριμένη ηλικία των μαθητών, ότι ανταποκρίνεται σε συγκεκριμένα κριτήρια και ότι έχει θετικό αντίκτυπο στη μεταγνωστική τους δεξιότητα, στη μαθησιακή τους αυτονομία και στη διαμόρφωση θετικής προδιάθεσης προς τη μάθηση. Τα συμπεράσματα καταλήγουν στη διαπίστωση προβλημάτων και θέτουν προοπτικές για τη συνέχιση της έρευνας.

Key words: young learners' characteristics, language acquisition, alternative assessment, metacognitive awareness, portfolio assessment
Click here to access the full paper

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Portfolio assessment with learners of the 3rd grade in a Greek state primary school (pp. 146-164), Sophia KOUZOULI

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Investigating Portfolio Assessment with Learners of the 3rd Grade in a Greek State Primary School[Διερεύνηση του Φακέλου Αξιολόγησης με Μαθητές Τρίτης Δημοτικού σε ένα Ελληνικό Δημόσιο Σχολείο]Sophia KOUZOULI Abstract Assessment is a field increasingly explored in relation to the parameters it involves.

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I have undertaken informal active research but I have not documented the results before, or completed the full process. I am more familiar with academic research so am really looking forward to this!

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As a school teacher I participated many times in action research. Such an instance would be creating a questionnaire within the school that focuses in self-evaluation.  According to the research parameters the focus was centered around school needs and based on the results, a plan was crafted on how to approach school improvement: we created for example thematic classrooms.
Another example of action research was the peer-assessment that it was implemented at my school. Participating in it, I contributed to the questionnaire creation with the specific parameters. In our team of teachers, we had to teach according to a learning scenario and then to watch other teachers teaching and to assess them according to the parameters. This gave me the chance to reflect on my own teaching and at the same time to listen useful comments from peers.

Last but not least I would like to mention the action research that was implemented for the school unit evaluation. I was in charge of researching the school participation in European projects, the way that this participation contributed to the teachers professional development and what the school unit should do at that field. The results helped us make a future plan and to start implement it.

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Action research can be an ongoing process in our teaching. From finding the best strategies to improve new methods of teaching, to identifying the problems my colleagues and I face in our working environment these are issues I have investigated. Coming up with feasible action plans is challenging . Time frames that are realistic need to be considered. Identifying problems is only the first step, coming up with a plan of action and them implementing it is the challenging part.

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I carried out a research action as a social assistant about parents' perception of disabilities...what I can say that it is necessary for me to study and make effort to try to experience new ways of teaching...
What I can say is that I found stimulating it and every time I start walking along a new path, I feel to put my way of being and teaching into discussion.
I can say that
students catch this aspect with interest: they sympathize with this life long learning approach and attitude.

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Action research has been part of my practice for some time now. Every time that I want to implement a new resource in class, I plan activities with other teachers and think about the outcomes that we believe pupils will give us. Sometimes, we are surprised.

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I implemented action research three years ago. I had a foreign student in my classroom, he didn't speak the language at all and the stress he was experiencing being in another country and not being able to communicate properly affected the student's behavior and the relationship with the other students. Action research helped me improve the situation in the classroom, encouraged all students to reflect on diversity and things we can do to improve our relationship with each other and embrace the foreign student making him feel part of the group.

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I think, that I have already implemented action research by experimenting in my classroom, finding good strategies, methodologies and activities to promote the success of my students, but I am not sure if I am doing it completely well. This is also one of the reasons why I want to learn and apply in this pilot course. I would like to learn with you and from you so that I can work on issues related to reducing student motivation to learn.

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Well, yes. I have conducted some action resarch. One was about STEM and English integrated activities to measure the students' perceptions towards STEM applications in Eng lessons; the other one is about P4C and the last one is about integrated- linked- skills actvivities. They were all very informative that I wanted to do more :)

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I have implemented action research during my basic studies, but only to become familiar with the process of carefully observing children and keep a diary.  I was not a teacher then, so I could not implement any techniques, to improve any teaching method, but I remember it as an interesting process.. Now, as a teacher I always observe children very carefully, and try to find ways to improve their learning methods.  But always in an amateurish way.. Looking forward to become familiar with action research, and find ways to implement it correctly! For me it is an inspiring process, during which I could find ways to solve problems from the inside, and not with the help of any (probably irrelevant) external factors.

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I have never officially done action research but I have tried to informally solve difficult problems with observations and try different solutions and check which worked

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I think I use Action Research in my teaching, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it completely well. This is also one of the reasons why I still want to learn and apply. Practice to perfection.

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Well, I think that at some time everybody has already implemented action research in their classes. Aren’t we used to experimenting in our classes, finding the best strategies, methodologies and activities to promote our students’ success? Don’t we come up with plans A, B, C… to try and improve our educational practice? So, in this sense, I think I have been conducting action research for a long time in my classes. However, this has always been empirically-driven. A more scientific approach to action research was conducted while I was coordinating the “School-Based Case Studies” pilot project for SEG/TA, between 2019-2020, when I had to do some research into my colleagues’ CPD preferences and then create an action plan aiming at improving their attendance of MOOCs, while creating School-Based Learning Communities, that would work together and collaborate in order to attend MOOCs and implement the contents at classroom level. Because I loved this experience I applied for this new pilot, because I want to find how I can still implement PBL in my lessons and still respect the national syllabus.

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I must confess that this is a new experience for me and I could only benefit, me and my students, too, from this course.

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As mentioned in the introductions, I don't have much experience with action research. Many years ago, I was part of a pilot for Goethe-Institute( piloting online PD for teachers, like 10 years ago) and as part of this pilot we had to do a kind of action research and I remember mine was on the topic of how to optimise group work in the classroom. I remember I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and about my students as well and I know that my approach to group work changed completely after that research.

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A few years ago I was trying to improve the relationships between my students. Action research helped me to identify the real reasons for the problems I and my students were facing. Also, I was able to find and implement a few solutions that improved the relationships between the students.

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I have been involved in several initiatives supported by INDIRE (the Italian National Institute for Documentation, Innovation, and Educational Research) aimed to pilot new teaching strategies in the classroom through an action research approach: just to cite two, the most recent ones, I experimented with Minecraft to examine benefits of game-based learning implementation and I participated in the MIUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research) Pilot Project CEFR Companion Volume to test the new descriptors.

I facilitated the Ocse-Pisa on behalf of Naples University. I have been awarded Erasmus KA1 grants for job shadowing activities in Finnish public schools where I have carried out action research on innovative teaching methods such as phenomenon-based learning.
I experiment with the action research approach every day in the classroom setting as a powerful tool to improve my didactic methodology and to implement the quality of my teaching.

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I have tried implementing action research as part of a postgraduate class. It was more of an experimentation in order to become familiar with the process. I find that action research is invaluable for all teachers. It provides an approach for teachers to try to solve problems in their classes in a way that is systematic and principled but totally feasible to conduct in any school situation. Moreover, it is important to cooperate with colleagues and make use of them as 'critical others' in order to find solutions to problems we face with our students. Action research gives teachers the method and the tools to act without waiting for external solutions that are usually out of context. It seems to me a totally empowering process.

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To tell you the truth, I have very little experience conducting Action Research in my classroom. A couple of years ago, I joined my collegues and together we worked on the ways to improve learning of gifted students at our school. As a result of this, we developed some common practices that helped create better opportunities for our gifted students to foster their skills. After that I felt the need to start some Action Research myself and that’s why I am in this course. I would like to learn with you and from you to be able to work on issues related to decreasing students’ motivation to learn due to online access to information and abundance of technology in our everyday lives.