The Ontario Action Researcher
 

Future Issues

Currently, we are planning future issues of this journal. We invite you to submit reports of action research projects and articles about action research for publication. Information about requirements for articles and how to send them to us may be accessed through the button entitled, "Criteria" at the top of the Home Page.

Two special issue are planned for the near future. The first issue will be guest edited by Peter Rasokas and Cheryl Black and will report on action research in the Grand Erie District School Board. The Grand Erie District School Board serves the geographical area around Brantford, Ontario.

The second special issue will be guest edited by Wendy Auger and Michael Wodlinger and will report on action research in the B.Ed. and M.Ed. programs of the Faculty of Education, Nipissing University. Nipissing University is located in North Bay, Ontario, a city of 56,000 located on Lake Nipissing.

A New Professional Development Kit

In April 1998, The Brant County Board of Education, Nipissing University, and the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation released a new professional development kit on action research entitled, Action research: School improvement through research-based professionalism (Delong & Wideman). Packaged in a heavy-duty plastic container, the kit includes two books and a 22 minute video program:

  • The first book, Action research: School improvement through research-based professionalism (Delong & Wideman), gives voice to a wide variety of Ontario classroom teachers who describe their research. It also contains sections on how to begin Action Research, and how to support it in the school and the school system.
  • The second book, Action research for professional development (McNiff), describes how to begin to conduct Action Research. It is organised around questions about Action Research frequently asked by teachers. This essential primer is a "must read" for beginning Action Researchers.
  • The video program, Improving Schools Through Action Research (Delong & Wideman), includes teachers from Brant County describing their feelings about conducting Action Research in their schools. The program also includes other voices in support of Action Research and puts faces to the names in the two kit books.

The kit is available through the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario Commodities Department for the price of $29.95 (Cdn.). It can be ordered by calling (905) 238-0200 or 1-800-268-7221.

The Story of the Partnership

The story of the Partnership that has produced Action research: School improvement through research based professionalism, and the Ontario Action Researcher has now been published in the International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning (Couture, Delong, & Wideman, 1999).
The article contributes to the literature on partnerships between schools and universities. You will find this article on the partnership among the Grand Erie District School Board, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, and Nipissing University at the link: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~iejll.

Using the OAR List-serve

We welcome you to register on the Ontario Action Researcher List-serve to discuss with other registrants the articles in this journal and the issues related to Action Research that they raise. The List-serve may be accessed through the button at the top of the Home Page.
Any message sent over the List-serve will be received by all registrants on the List-serve.

Action Research and Reflective Practice

Readers of the Ontario Action Researcher may be interested in a website developed by Tom Russell at Queen's University to suggest possible relationships among "Reflective Practice, Action Research, and the Power of How We Teach." The website was developed during Tom's recent sabbatical stay in Australia in response to a number of practical issues. Tom will continue to develop the site and would welcome comments and suggestions. The site can be found at: http://educ.queensu.ca/~russellt/rp-ar