Action Research Plan

Goals: To determine what, if anything, will motivate the students of Forney ISD in grades 5-12 to bring their laptops to school on a regular basis.
Action Step(s):
1. Observe students at the beginning of the year to see how many are bringing their laptops to class.
2. Interview teachers to see what types of issues they are having with students and their laptops.
3. Determine what motivates students to want to use their laptops other than just for playing games.
4. Find out how the laptops are being utilized in the classrooms and determine the hook that is or will get students to bring their laptops to class.
5. Conduct a survey of students and teachers 3 times throughout the year to see how things are progressing and what the current issues are.
Needed Resources:
1. Time to observe and interview students and teachers
2. Survey/data collection
3. Students and teachers to observe and interview
4. Various motivation tactics
Timeline: Sept 2010 – May 2010
Person(s) Responsible: Myself, Renee Setser, Technology Coordinator; other Technology Facilitators, teachers and students involved
Monitoring goals: I plan to monitor the success of this research by being able to see that the laptops are being integrated daily in the classrooms and students are being successful and actually bringing them to class. I would like to identify at least one specific motivator each month that is proving to be successful.
Evaluation: In order to evaluate this research I will need to conduct a before and after survey that shows an increase in use and student motivation. I will also make weekly observations of the classes in hopes to see more student use with the laptops. I will need to communicate my results with the Technology Coordinator as well as the teachers and the administrators.