EDLD 5301 Final Reflections During this course, I have learned many things about action research.  The approach is a little different from the traditional research that I have conducted in past programs.  This approach makes the research a little more personal in my opinion.  Coming up with a topic in the beginning, was a little difficult, because it was all so new, but once I targeted the topic, it made it less difficult.  I think it was less difficult because I made a personal connection to the action research.  It was something that I was concerned with.  There were many aspects of this course that were beneficial.  The lectures were helpful because the professors actually explained what the topics were for the week and gave more insight to the lessons to be learned for the week.  It helped to put things into perspective.  The readings were also helpful.  It was beneficial to have the text to refer back to on specific topics.  The texts were fairly easy to follow also.  The language used was user friendly and easy to understand.  Using the discussion boards and the blogs were probably the most beneficial parts of this course for me.  It allowed me, and I’m sure others, to view other classmates’ ideas.  This gave me a chance to see if what I was doing or thinking was in line with other people’s thoughts and ideas.  I appreciated this because there were a few occasions where I was stuck or unsure about some of my ideas.  When I viewed other people’s ideas on the discussion board and their action plans on the blogs, it allowed me to see that I was on track with everyone else.  The feedback from the peers was so helpful.  Overall, I felt that the assignments were on target.  I felt that the assignments were not difficult at all.  I appreciated the fact that I was not spending all night trying to complete them.  Maybe I feel this way because the assignments were geared towards working on my action research, and since it was a topic that I chose, I didn’t mind working on it too much.  Nevertheless, I didn’t feel overwhelmed like I have in the past with other classes.  One last thing that stood out to me was watching the videos from week 2 with the school leaders.  Hearing their insight helped to make action research real to me.  They helped to show how what we are researching is being used in our educational systems.  Dr. Kirk Lewis, the Superintendent of Pasadena ISD really said it best for me when he said that when doing research, researchers need to consider “what is practical for you.”  He helped me to put things into perspective.  If I am researching something that is meaningful to me, then I am going to be more interested in the outcome of the research and my students will definitely benefit more.