The evolution of a research project...
What did you do at School Today? Sharing Student Learning in Physical Education
The First Write - Whats the topic?
As a student, parent and teacher I have trouble with the whole reporting process, parent-teacher interviews, student led conferences and especially report cards. Growing up and reading a report card never provided me any useful information about what I learned or what I was able to do. Now, as a teacher at a school of 350, Primary - Grade 5 students, in a predominantly middle class community, with activity involved and engaged parents, I feel that many of the families would greatly appreciate having more than a glimpse of what is happening in the gym.
With my current situation, I find that there is not a very effective form of communicating what is going on in the academic life of a student. Between the limited time and space available to report on student learning or the arbitrary grades… very little substantial communication is taking place. This is especially true in a subject like physical education.
How is it possible to encapsulate the learning of a term or year into 600 characters and a letter grade, and really what does it mean? There has to be a better way to effectively communicate a student’s ability to perform a variety of fundamental movement skills; or how they are developing their physical literacy; or whether or not they are meeting any number of the outcomes established for their grade level.
My passion for teaching physical education to young children and watching them develop their skills over the years in elementary school as well as my frustration with the reporting system that greatly limits how I can communicate to the parents and students, has led to my wonderings. I want to do a project that will focus on effectively sharing and communicating what the students are doing in class as simply and as often as possible. That leads me to ask “In what ways would I be able to share daily physical education in the gymnasium so that the parents and students will be able to see what’s going on and over time see progress in skill development?”, “How can I provide students the opportunity to review and comment on their learning and skill development?”, “How can I track student learning over longer periods of time?” and “What would be a way to get students engaged in sharing their out of school physical activity and development?”.
In reflecting on my wonderings I believe that the key aspect of my frustration is the lack of effective and substantial communication of student learning throughout the school year which provide parents and students with an ongoing feedback on what is being accomplished with regard to the student’s FMS development, physical literacy and success in meeting the NS PE outcomes.
With my current situation, I find that there is not a very effective form of communicating what is going on in the academic life of a student. Between the limited time and space available to report on student learning or the arbitrary grades… very little substantial communication is taking place. This is especially true in a subject like physical education.
How is it possible to encapsulate the learning of a term or year into 600 characters and a letter grade, and really what does it mean? There has to be a better way to effectively communicate a student’s ability to perform a variety of fundamental movement skills; or how they are developing their physical literacy; or whether or not they are meeting any number of the outcomes established for their grade level.
My passion for teaching physical education to young children and watching them develop their skills over the years in elementary school as well as my frustration with the reporting system that greatly limits how I can communicate to the parents and students, has led to my wonderings. I want to do a project that will focus on effectively sharing and communicating what the students are doing in class as simply and as often as possible. That leads me to ask “In what ways would I be able to share daily physical education in the gymnasium so that the parents and students will be able to see what’s going on and over time see progress in skill development?”, “How can I provide students the opportunity to review and comment on their learning and skill development?”, “How can I track student learning over longer periods of time?” and “What would be a way to get students engaged in sharing their out of school physical activity and development?”.
In reflecting on my wonderings I believe that the key aspect of my frustration is the lack of effective and substantial communication of student learning throughout the school year which provide parents and students with an ongoing feedback on what is being accomplished with regard to the student’s FMS development, physical literacy and success in meeting the NS PE outcomes.
Second Write - Review the Literature
Topic: Sharing PE Learning
Article #1: Mitchell & Bolt (2012)
Article #2: Hager & Beighle (2006)
Article #3: Faerber (2006)
Key Idea #1
What not to do:
boring and illiterate presentations focused on blaming parents or on insinuating that the gymnasium is a “no learning zone” should be avoided.
Physical educators are beginning to become aware of the importance of promoting physical activity beyond physical education.
Ways to keep parents informed about the PE program, your philosophy and the planned activities in the course.
Key Idea #2
Why PE is important:
Make parents aware that PE programs are standards based and students should be held accountable
Draw attention to problems in society such as obesity, inactivity, bullying… and how quality PE can help address the problems.
Strategies and ideas for engaging parents in the student learning
- Calendars and logs
- Events, fun days and programs
- Newsletters
- PE nights
Key Idea #3
Effective Presentation of Info:
Brevity, clarity and enthusiasm - give the parents an impression of what the students see daily.
With some creativity and hard work, physical educators can make parental involvement an integral part of a quality physical education program.
Building relationships with the families.
Mitchell, M., & Bott, T. (2012). Program Advocacy: Parent Night with a Purpose. JOPERD: The
Journal Of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(5), 42-46.
DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2012.10598779
Hager, L., & Beighle, A. (2006). Promoting Physical Activity Through Physical Education: Increasing
Parental Involvement. Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 17(1), 28-31.
Faerber, J. (2006). P.E. Is More Than "Duck, Duck, Goose". Teaching Elementary Physical Education,
17(1), 40.
The three articles I selected were all similar in their approach. All three focused on the importance of advocating for physical education and the important place that it should take in the education of children. Mitchell and Bott (2012) discuss some do’s and don’ts when promoting your PE program, and also provide insights into what makes a good presentation. They also talk about the benefit of engaging parents in the PE curriculum through fun PE activity nights. Meanwhile, Faerber (2006) focused on providing concrete examples that were simple and conventional in their approach. Hager & Beighle (2006) also focused on strategies to share the student learning with parents discussing such “old school” approaches as bulletin boards, phone calls home, good work notes and even visits to the family home that celebrate student learning.
These articles all connect well to my purpose; providing strategies for effective and ongoing ways for student learning to be more visible and accessible to students and their families, by giving simple and conventional ways to share information with families. Unfortunately, all three articles are a little dated (2006, 2006 and 2012) when it comes to the inclusion of technology. While a class website is one of the suggestions, today’s technology has moved beyond simple websites to the social media platforms and smartphone apps that are plentiful and easy to use for accessing information. As Mitchell and Bott conclude in their article;
“The only limitation to the possibilities for communicating effectively is the imagination of the teachers involved. If teachers who have found exciting and fun ways to communicate with their parents would share their ideas at conferences, in journal articles, or via social media (e.g., blogs, Facebook, twitter), all would benefit. Sharing strategies for effective parent-night performances can help individual programs and, in turn, help programs everywhere to remain a critically significant part of the school curriculum.” (p.46)
Ultimately, I will need to find the imaginative teachers and the information on their novel approaches to sharing student learning in ways that utilize the new technologies we have available to us today.
Articles and Abstract Summaries:
Faerber, J. (2006). P.E. Is More Than "Duck, Duck, Goose". Teaching Elementary Physical Education,
17(1), 40.
The article offers tips on promoting class activities by keeping parents informed. A letter may be issued, which would give teachers an opportunity to be acquainted with the parents and to inform the parents of the goals, methods and their involvement in the class activities of their children. Parents should also be provided with a list of state and national standards for physical education. Monthly newsletters would also be useful in communicating with parents. Developing a web page is also a good medium in keeping parents informed on their children's progress, at the same time it keeps educators updated on developments with regards to the school. One could also promote class activities by building relationships with parents, teachers and local schools, colleges and universities as well as attending conferences.
Hager, L., & Beighle, A. (2006). Promoting Physical Activity Through Physical Education: Increasing
Parental Involvement. Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 17(1), 28-31.
The article provides information on strategies and ideas for physical education teachers to get parents and other significant adults involved in helping to get children physically active as a lifestyle habit. Physical activity calendars may be used, which are easy to create and may provide students with active habits outside physical education. It also serves as a medium for communicating with parents about physical education, physical activity and health. Designing charity events around physical activity is also effective not only in providing an active lifestyle but in raising money for physical education as well. Special events called Fun Days could be established with parent participation to create anticipation at the start of the school year or late in the year to celebrate the end of the great school year that passed.
Loughrey, T. J., & Cox, C. (2012). Advocating for Your School's Health and Physical Education
Program. Missouri Journal Of Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 2250-59.
The article offers information for health and physical education teachers to educate children about the health benefits of school's physical education programs. It offers links to several articles printed in health journals and issued by the U.S. government and organizations including National Association for Sport and Physical Education. It is advised to develop strategy for advocacy including organizing parent-teacher meetings, communicating with parents and scheduling special events.
Love, F. E. (1996). Communicating with parents: What beginning teachers can do. College Student
Journal, 30(4), 440.
Provides a variety of techniques designed to assist beginning and experienced teachers toward positive communication with parents. Includes writing introductory letters; Provision of newsletters; Good news calls; Parents' bulletin boards.
McKay, A., Bowes, M. & Thompson, K., (2015, April). Flipping Research: A model for Future Focused
Research making learning visible in Health and Physical Education. Pill, S. & Drummond, M.
(Ed.), Values Into Action - A Brighter Future: Edited Proceedings of the 29th Australian
Council for Health,Physical Education and Recreation International Conference (ACHPER
2015) (pp.58-67).
The paper describes concerns raised by teachers that students found it difficult to identify their learning in Health and Physical Education (HPE) and consequently the students could not recognise next steps for future learning. This concern became the focus of the inquiry approach in two large metropolitan city schools; a traditional subject specific HPE delivery school and a school with a future-focused integrated subject curriculum. The study used a collaborative action model where both students and their whānau were asked what students actually learn in HPE, how they learn and how they know they are learning? As co-researchers with teachers, the authors believe that if students and their whānau are able to recognise what they are learning and how they are learning it becomes a more realistic goal for them to jointly consider, where are the next steps in their learning are. This puts students more on the path to being self-regulating and lifelong learners.
Mitchell, M., & Bott, T. (2012). Program Advocacy: Parent Night with a Purpose. JOPERD: The
Journal Of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(5), 42-46.
DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2012.10598779
The article offers advice to physical education teachers for planning parent night at their schools, including how to communicate key points such as how children are at risk for obesity, describing the national standards for fitness, and describing the curriculum. The article suggests that teachers advocate for physical education, get parents invested in their children's fitness, and collaborate with each other on effective methods of communicating to parents.
Van Mullem, P., & Cole, M. (2015). Effective Strategies for Communicating WITH PARENTS in Sport.
Strategies (08924562), 28(1), 13-17.
The article discusses strategies for coaches to effectively communicate with parents in sport. Topics discussed include the types of parents that coaches usually interact with in sports including performance-focused, emotionally-driven, and seasoned veteran parents, key characteristics to assist coaches in identifying types of parents, and strategies to deal with specific parent types in order to create positive relationships among coaches, athletes and parents.
Third write - How to Collect Data
The purpose of my inquiry is to provide effective and ongoing means of demonstrating student learning in more accessible and meaningful ways during physical education classes.
When selecting data collection strategies, I believe that it is important to consider which strategies best answer the research question and which strategies fit as seamlessly as possible into my daily practice while being also being intentional and systematic. Nevertheless, when selecting my strategies, a couple questions I had to keep in mind were:
With these questions in mind I will use the following Data Collection methods in my inquiry.
Critical Friend Group
I’ll begin by first meeting with my Critical Friend Group (CFG), a group of like minded PE teachers from the surrounding schools who often meet to discuss our programs. With them I will brainstorm communicating student learning and share ideas for ways that it can happen easily, effectively and in an ongoing manner.
I will also take time to pilot my survey with my CFG for feedback on the survey questions, as all of them are also parents with kids at various stages of schooling.
Given that we traditionally meet before the start of school every year I feel that this will be an effective use of time and will not be difficult to work into my year preparations. More importantly it will give me valuable data immediately, that I will be able to follow up on to develop my program. The only limitation I foresee to this method is attendance of other PE teachers at our meeting, as attendance is hit and miss with other teachers sometimes.
Parent Surveys
Early in term 1 (or late in August), I will survey parents on how/what they would like to see as methods of communicating student learning beyond the traditional parent-teacher meetings and report cards. Within the survey I would also provide parents an option to opt out of any extra communication program developed.
I will then be able to take the information from the CFG and this information and use both to guide my program development to share the learning that is taking place in the gymnasium.
At the end of term 1 I’ll do another very short survey or parents to see how many have accessed the program and what are their thoughts thus far compared to previous years experiences.
Finally at the end of year, a final survey on the effectiveness of the communication program and if the parents feel it was a benefit to their understanding of what is happening in the gym, how their child is doing, how they can help the child’s learning at home and if their child benefited in any way from the program.
I feel that the survey method, while possibly time consuming, will provide essential information to my program. To be efficient I will use an online survey tool that will gather responses, allow real time access to the data, provide design flexibility, be low cost or no cost, be convenient to the respondents and provide basic analysis of the responses. The limitations to an online survey include the possibility of the survey getting “lost” amid the plethora of emails parents receive on a daily basis. Another limitation is that there is no interviewer to clarify questions and probe for more information.
Research Log
My research log will be a record of communications to share with families, it will allow me to have a quick reference guide to who I have shared with and what it was…. The format of the log will likely take the form of iPhone or iPad notes or possibly some sort of electronic form or notebook. Simple notations will record whether I shared a video, picture, or message and what student it was.
Weekly I will review the log and reflect on how the program is going, and any issues I am having. I will also review the students that have and have not received “posts” over the last week to ensure that all students included in the program are getting feedback from their PE classes.
The time commitment to logging, will at times be a challenge and it being a new habit will be tough at first. However, the immediate availability of data will benefit the overall success of the program. The largest limitation to logging details of the program and reflecting will be ensuring that the information is not too superficial that it is invaluable and ends up wasting time versus providing reliable information.
Student Blogging
The student blog will be a grade 5 blog that will be available to any grade 5 students. They will be able to post to the blog during PE classes by using one of the PE tablets. All posts will be moderated and reviewed by me at the end of each day prior sharing them online.
My goal is that the blog posts will inform me on the students perceptions of their learning that is taking place in the gymnasium and in their PE program.
Reviewing and approving posts will possibly be time consuming, however, it will force me to review all students’ posts and allow me to reflect on that day’s lesson in a timely manner.
Ethics in my Inquiry
Ethical considerations in teacher-led research should rely upon the evidence-informed professional judgement of the teachers involved. As an active teacher, I already have a duty of care towards my students and thus my professional judgement should direct my ethical behaviour in regard to my inquiry project.
In order to be rigorous in my research it is critical that I contemplate the following ethical considerations:
When selecting data collection strategies, I believe that it is important to consider which strategies best answer the research question and which strategies fit as seamlessly as possible into my daily practice while being also being intentional and systematic. Nevertheless, when selecting my strategies, a couple questions I had to keep in mind were:
- Can I afford the time to gather, record and reflect using this technique?
- How soon can the technique give me information?
- What are the limitations of this technique?
With these questions in mind I will use the following Data Collection methods in my inquiry.
Critical Friend Group
I’ll begin by first meeting with my Critical Friend Group (CFG), a group of like minded PE teachers from the surrounding schools who often meet to discuss our programs. With them I will brainstorm communicating student learning and share ideas for ways that it can happen easily, effectively and in an ongoing manner.
I will also take time to pilot my survey with my CFG for feedback on the survey questions, as all of them are also parents with kids at various stages of schooling.
Given that we traditionally meet before the start of school every year I feel that this will be an effective use of time and will not be difficult to work into my year preparations. More importantly it will give me valuable data immediately, that I will be able to follow up on to develop my program. The only limitation I foresee to this method is attendance of other PE teachers at our meeting, as attendance is hit and miss with other teachers sometimes.
Parent Surveys
Early in term 1 (or late in August), I will survey parents on how/what they would like to see as methods of communicating student learning beyond the traditional parent-teacher meetings and report cards. Within the survey I would also provide parents an option to opt out of any extra communication program developed.
I will then be able to take the information from the CFG and this information and use both to guide my program development to share the learning that is taking place in the gymnasium.
At the end of term 1 I’ll do another very short survey or parents to see how many have accessed the program and what are their thoughts thus far compared to previous years experiences.
Finally at the end of year, a final survey on the effectiveness of the communication program and if the parents feel it was a benefit to their understanding of what is happening in the gym, how their child is doing, how they can help the child’s learning at home and if their child benefited in any way from the program.
I feel that the survey method, while possibly time consuming, will provide essential information to my program. To be efficient I will use an online survey tool that will gather responses, allow real time access to the data, provide design flexibility, be low cost or no cost, be convenient to the respondents and provide basic analysis of the responses. The limitations to an online survey include the possibility of the survey getting “lost” amid the plethora of emails parents receive on a daily basis. Another limitation is that there is no interviewer to clarify questions and probe for more information.
Research Log
My research log will be a record of communications to share with families, it will allow me to have a quick reference guide to who I have shared with and what it was…. The format of the log will likely take the form of iPhone or iPad notes or possibly some sort of electronic form or notebook. Simple notations will record whether I shared a video, picture, or message and what student it was.
Weekly I will review the log and reflect on how the program is going, and any issues I am having. I will also review the students that have and have not received “posts” over the last week to ensure that all students included in the program are getting feedback from their PE classes.
The time commitment to logging, will at times be a challenge and it being a new habit will be tough at first. However, the immediate availability of data will benefit the overall success of the program. The largest limitation to logging details of the program and reflecting will be ensuring that the information is not too superficial that it is invaluable and ends up wasting time versus providing reliable information.
Student Blogging
The student blog will be a grade 5 blog that will be available to any grade 5 students. They will be able to post to the blog during PE classes by using one of the PE tablets. All posts will be moderated and reviewed by me at the end of each day prior sharing them online.
My goal is that the blog posts will inform me on the students perceptions of their learning that is taking place in the gymnasium and in their PE program.
Reviewing and approving posts will possibly be time consuming, however, it will force me to review all students’ posts and allow me to reflect on that day’s lesson in a timely manner.
Ethics in my Inquiry
Ethical considerations in teacher-led research should rely upon the evidence-informed professional judgement of the teachers involved. As an active teacher, I already have a duty of care towards my students and thus my professional judgement should direct my ethical behaviour in regard to my inquiry project.
In order to be rigorous in my research it is critical that I contemplate the following ethical considerations:
- Consider beneficence and nonmaleficence - the action is intended to benefit the individuals by providing them additional feedback on their learning in PE as well as to communicate the learning with the families. I have carefully considered any broader negative consequences of participation and the most obvious concern is privacy and to be sure that all shared data/videos/pictures… remain private to the student, parent and teacher alone.
- Being conscious of multiple roles - Teacher-researcher role, and is there a power relationship involved - there exists a teacher to student relationship in the inquiry.
- Informed consent and voluntary participation - The purpose of the research, and the expected duration and procedures along with the participant's' rights to decline to participate and to withdraw from the research once it has started, as well as the anticipated consequences of doing so will be outlined in the consent form to be signed by parents and agreed to by students. Reasonably foreseeable factors that may influence their willingness to participate, such as potential risks, discomfort or adverse effects and any prospective research benefits will be outlined. For example, knowledge that the student will be videotaped and have pictures taken will be clear to the participants along with the privacy safeguards in place.
- Confidentiality and privacy - I will give participants information about how their data will be used, what will be done with surveys, photos and audio and video recordings, and their consent forms. Pseudonyms, fictional locations or vague descriptions of locations, removing identifying information will be used in any published papers on the inquiry. Online security of the survey results will be protected by the security protocols in place with the online survey provider - surveymonkey, typeform, google forms...
Fourth Write - More Data...
Data Collection Plan
What is a Survey?
A survey is a research method for collecting information from a selected group of people, the survey can take a variety of forms. To be considered a survey, rather than a simple questionnaire, other elements need to be considered; the population for inclusion, pre-testing the instrument to ensure validity and analyzing the results.
For my inquiry I plan to use an online questionnaire that will be provided to the parents through email access and an online link from the Physical Education Program page of the school website.
Questioning
In developing the questions for the online questionnaire it is necessary to consider the type of questions - open-ended or closed questions. Open ended questions allow participants to use their own words and they elicit feelings and give depth to an issue, while closed questions define the possible answers and are either categorical or scaled.
The questioning for my online survey will be closed and include both categorical and scaled questions. This will allow me to easily analyze the results and develop the plan to move forward in the inquiry.
The Process of Delivery
The process for the delivery of the online questionnaire needs to be a step by step method that engages my target population. First an introductory cover letter or email will explain the process that
is going to begin and include the purpose of the survey, the timelines involved and the contacts involved with the survey, confidentiality and privacy protections and who to contact if there are any questions. Following this, the questionnaire link is to be provided, then a follow up contact occurs about a week later to thank people for completing the questionnaire or to ask people who have not yet done it to complete the questionnaire.If desired a final contact can be made in person to encourage a final push for completion of the questionnaire.
The process that I will use to disseminate the questionnaire will be through a short introductory letter that goes home early in the school year. I will then follow this up with an email to all parents that includes the link to the online questionnaire. Follow up will also be by email through the online survey program that tracks the completion of the questionnaire and identifies those who have accessed it or not.
Sample Introductory Letter:
Dear Parents/Guardians,
This year as a way of improving communication of your student’s learning in the physical education program, I am asking you to take a few minutes and complete a quick questionnaire to assist me in the development and implementation of a communication program.
My goal is to create or use an engaging program that will allow you, me and your student to interact, share information on learning and activities, provide feedback and simply engage in the learning process together.
Individual responses to the questionnaire will not be shared or discussed with others, however, everyone will receive a summary of the results and the direction the communication program will take this year.
My goal is to have the program in place by Thanksgiving, so I ask that you take a few minutes as soon as possible after receiving the questionnaire to complete it. Should you have any questions please contact me at [email protected] or pop into the gymnasium to chat.
Yours in education,
Todd Van Ritchie, BEd MPE
Physical Education Specialist
Millwood Elementary School
Pretesting for clarity and validity
It is beneficial to have a small group of people (5-10) go through the questionnaire prior to releasing it. This will allow you to be sure the questions are clear and effective. Items to cover with the pre-testing the questionnaire include:
The researcher can sit with the participants as they complete the pre-test, can personally interview each participant after she or he completes the pretest, or can hold focus groups with the participants after they complete the pre-test. This type of feedback can improve the quality of the questionnaire.
Pretesting the questionnaire will assist in developing a clear and consist set of questions to aid in my inquiry. My plan will be to ask 5-6 teachers on staff who have students at the upper elementary age. I will then have them complete the short questionnaire and as a group discuss any thoughts or comments that they have regarding the clarity, questioning, wording, flow or order of questions and any other comments they may have.
This information will enable me to modify and improve the questions in any way necessary.
Data Collection Tool
Parent Online Questionnaire
Using Survey Monkey, an online survey design and collection program, I will collect data from the parents. Below is a link to a sample version of the questionnaire.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H8HCP52
Data Analysis Plan
Descriptive Statistics
Simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentage distributions provide the basic information needed to answer the questions for which the survey process was instigated.
Once the frequency tables and percentage distributions are available, team members can begin to analyze the data. One way to do this is to look for patterns within the data. Some specific areas include:
Comparison within survey can show response patterns for certain questions may stand out from the others and may indicate an area for improvement. While comparison across subgroups may show patterns that distinguish one group from another within the survey population. Comparisons across time are typically made in order to determine whether implemented process improvements are having the desired effect, and also to identify areas with declining performance or satisfaction for process improvement. The questions and sampling population need to be the same across both surveys to ensure that the apparent change is an actual change and not the result of differences in measurement.
I will use simple frequency counts and/or percentage distributions to identify the most popular choices for parent/teacher/student communication regarding the four survey questions:
Within the Survey - Patterns should develop to show the preferences of parents regarding communication with them on their student’s learning. From these patterns a program of communication can be developed and implemented.
Across Time - Follow up survey through the year to determine the effectiveness of the communication program.
Data will be represented in graph and table form in order to allow for comparison and analysis to be easily done.
What is a Survey?
A survey is a research method for collecting information from a selected group of people, the survey can take a variety of forms. To be considered a survey, rather than a simple questionnaire, other elements need to be considered; the population for inclusion, pre-testing the instrument to ensure validity and analyzing the results.
For my inquiry I plan to use an online questionnaire that will be provided to the parents through email access and an online link from the Physical Education Program page of the school website.
Questioning
In developing the questions for the online questionnaire it is necessary to consider the type of questions - open-ended or closed questions. Open ended questions allow participants to use their own words and they elicit feelings and give depth to an issue, while closed questions define the possible answers and are either categorical or scaled.
The questioning for my online survey will be closed and include both categorical and scaled questions. This will allow me to easily analyze the results and develop the plan to move forward in the inquiry.
The Process of Delivery
The process for the delivery of the online questionnaire needs to be a step by step method that engages my target population. First an introductory cover letter or email will explain the process that
is going to begin and include the purpose of the survey, the timelines involved and the contacts involved with the survey, confidentiality and privacy protections and who to contact if there are any questions. Following this, the questionnaire link is to be provided, then a follow up contact occurs about a week later to thank people for completing the questionnaire or to ask people who have not yet done it to complete the questionnaire.If desired a final contact can be made in person to encourage a final push for completion of the questionnaire.
The process that I will use to disseminate the questionnaire will be through a short introductory letter that goes home early in the school year. I will then follow this up with an email to all parents that includes the link to the online questionnaire. Follow up will also be by email through the online survey program that tracks the completion of the questionnaire and identifies those who have accessed it or not.
Sample Introductory Letter:
Dear Parents/Guardians,
This year as a way of improving communication of your student’s learning in the physical education program, I am asking you to take a few minutes and complete a quick questionnaire to assist me in the development and implementation of a communication program.
My goal is to create or use an engaging program that will allow you, me and your student to interact, share information on learning and activities, provide feedback and simply engage in the learning process together.
Individual responses to the questionnaire will not be shared or discussed with others, however, everyone will receive a summary of the results and the direction the communication program will take this year.
My goal is to have the program in place by Thanksgiving, so I ask that you take a few minutes as soon as possible after receiving the questionnaire to complete it. Should you have any questions please contact me at [email protected] or pop into the gymnasium to chat.
Yours in education,
Todd Van Ritchie, BEd MPE
Physical Education Specialist
Millwood Elementary School
Pretesting for clarity and validity
It is beneficial to have a small group of people (5-10) go through the questionnaire prior to releasing it. This will allow you to be sure the questions are clear and effective. Items to cover with the pre-testing the questionnaire include:
- any terms or words that were unfamiliar
- the clarity of the questions
- the flow of the questionnaire
- ability to access the form if online
- the actual time required to complete the questionnaire.
The researcher can sit with the participants as they complete the pre-test, can personally interview each participant after she or he completes the pretest, or can hold focus groups with the participants after they complete the pre-test. This type of feedback can improve the quality of the questionnaire.
Pretesting the questionnaire will assist in developing a clear and consist set of questions to aid in my inquiry. My plan will be to ask 5-6 teachers on staff who have students at the upper elementary age. I will then have them complete the short questionnaire and as a group discuss any thoughts or comments that they have regarding the clarity, questioning, wording, flow or order of questions and any other comments they may have.
This information will enable me to modify and improve the questions in any way necessary.
Data Collection Tool
Parent Online Questionnaire
Using Survey Monkey, an online survey design and collection program, I will collect data from the parents. Below is a link to a sample version of the questionnaire.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H8HCP52
Data Analysis Plan
Descriptive Statistics
Simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentage distributions provide the basic information needed to answer the questions for which the survey process was instigated.
Once the frequency tables and percentage distributions are available, team members can begin to analyze the data. One way to do this is to look for patterns within the data. Some specific areas include:
Comparison within survey can show response patterns for certain questions may stand out from the others and may indicate an area for improvement. While comparison across subgroups may show patterns that distinguish one group from another within the survey population. Comparisons across time are typically made in order to determine whether implemented process improvements are having the desired effect, and also to identify areas with declining performance or satisfaction for process improvement. The questions and sampling population need to be the same across both surveys to ensure that the apparent change is an actual change and not the result of differences in measurement.
I will use simple frequency counts and/or percentage distributions to identify the most popular choices for parent/teacher/student communication regarding the four survey questions:
- How often they want feedback/communication
- Type of feedback preferred
- Type of interaction preferred
- Home sharing of physical activity
Within the Survey - Patterns should develop to show the preferences of parents regarding communication with them on their student’s learning. From these patterns a program of communication can be developed and implemented.
Across Time - Follow up survey through the year to determine the effectiveness of the communication program.
Data will be represented in graph and table form in order to allow for comparison and analysis to be easily done.
The final product...
toddvanritchie_final__inquiry.docx | |
File Size: | 27 kb |
File Type: | docx |