Action Research Plan (1 per group)

Quality Teaching: Advancing Practice through Research and Reflection

All Hallows School & Hillbrook Anglican College - 2015
Please use this template to provide details of your Action Research Plan and email the
completed Action Plan as an attachment to:
Dr Janelle Young - jyeduconsult@gmail.com
By: Friday 15th May in readiness for our Twilight session on Wednesday 20th May.

Name/s of Team members: Anne Weaver

School: All Hallows School
Name of your Action Research Inquiry (see Activity10 from day 1):
Immersive and Augmented Reality Experiences to improve Student Writing
Goals for the Inquiry (see Activity 4 from Day 1): investigate whether the use of immersive
activities, which include augmented reality, mobile and other technology applications and
collaborative team processes, improve student creative writing.
List some relevant key features of the context surrounding your Action Research Inquiry
(see Activity 2 from Day 1).
Augmented reality apps, AR triggers including books, and online resources and
smartphones and other internet enabled devices to access these
Roma Street Gardens or other venue
Shared online presence for collaborating: using pbworks wiki
Surveys when different schools: survey monkey
Staff need additional to support activities
Why is this particular Action Research Inquiry of interest to the team (see Activity 3 from
Day 1)?
Increase student engagement
Improve creative writing
Investigate how new technologies can improve learning
List the Guiding Question for the Action Research Inquiry (see Activity 5 from Day 1):
1. Do immersive activities, like augmented reality, mobile and other technology applications
and collaborative team processes, improve student creative writing?
2. List the Contributing questions relating to the Action Research Inquiry.
Which immersive techniques are most effective?
Are immersive techniques more effective than traditional methods?
How do immersive techniques improve creative writing?
What are the applications for immersive activities for classroom learning?
Complete the table below (from Activities 5; 8; 9 from Day 1) showing:

Contributing Questions

Data Collection Strategy

Proposed Dates for Data

Collection
1. Complete

a. Which immersive techniques

are most effective?

1. Observation, select
interviews and video

b. Are immersive techniques

more effective than traditional
methods?

2. Surveys - survey monkey

Writing process and
final

2. Complete

c. How do immersive techniques

improve creative writing?

3. Writing work on wiki

3. Collected
to
be
analysed before June 4

d. What are the applications for

immersive activities for
classroom learning?

Reflection by staff throughout

and after

4. To be done by June 4

Comparison with past 2

5. To be done by June 4
workshop inquiries
Research Inquiry Proposed Actions and Proposed Dates (see Activity 11 from Day 1)
Proposed Actions
Proposed dates
Workshop complete
May 14
Meetings for reflection with other staffMust be done by June 4 for Edutech presentation. Tasks have
been divided
Edutech presentation (30mins total):
5 mins talk each and ppt slides:
Rationale and research- Anne
What happened, journals, badges, scarves etc.
Sue
Surveys and graphs and conclusions- Melinda
From here on -Cathy
10 mins of video from BGS (2 of 3 complete)
LEARNING FROM SCHOLARLY LITERATURE
List the Specific Questions from the KWL strategy. These questions relate to new knowledge being
sought about the selected Area of Interest.
Specific Questions (from KWL Activity 6 from Day 1)
Provide at least four sources of information (e.g. reports, academic papers, journal articles, text
books) that provide background relating to your specific questions concerning the area of interest for
the Action Research Inquiry.
Please provide the following for each of the 4 sources:
1. The Source: The author/s names, title, publication details i.e. title of the journal; title of the
book or report; publication year; specific pages where relevant.
2. Summary: a concise summary paragraph concerning each of your sources of information;
3. Specific Questions: list the specific question being addressed by the source.
4. Impact on your Action Research Inquiry: include details explaining how this source of
information impacts on your particular Action Research Inquiry.

Source 1:
Summary:
Adventures in the Classroom Creating Role-Playing Games Based on Traditional
Stories for the High School Curriculum by Csenge V. Zalka, August 2012, Digital
Commons @ East Tennessee State University
http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2662&context=etd
The goal of this research was to turn traditional stories into role-playing games for the high
school curriculum. 3 games were developed based on Greek mythology, Arthurian legends, and
folktale type. The sample games were tested with groups of high school and college students.
This research explored the connection between tabletop role-playing and traditional storytelling
and possibilities for implementing this into the curriculum. While, the research did not make
many conclusions, apart from a need for further research, they felt that combining the
educational values of games and storytelling, role-playing provides a classroom activity creates
community, motivates further learning, and allows students to learn through active participation.
Specific Question/s being addressed:
What is the benefit of using game theory in education?
Impact on your Action Research Inquiry:
Reinforces view there are great benefits in using game theory in education.
Source 2:
Summary:
Xu, Y., Park, H., & Baek, Y. (2011). A New Approach Toward Digital Storytelling: An
Activity Focused on Writing Selfefficacy in a Virtual Learning Environment.
Educational Technology & Society, 14 (4), 181191.
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1116077.files/DunleavyDedeARfinal.pdf
This study examined the effects of writing for digital storytelling on writing self-efficacy and on
flow in a virtual learning environment such as Second Life. Using statistical analysis, they
concluded that digital storytelling in Second Life is more effective than digital storytelling off-line.
Writing can be improved through actively engaging in writing for digital storytelling in a virtualreality learning environment similar to Second Life.
Digital storytelling in the virtual world can stimulate student imaginations and encourage more
creative writing. Students they can visualize the stories they imagine, by creating objects and
realistically enacting their stories. They can view the structure of the whole story more clearly,
construct a logical structure and rearrange their thinking more logically. Virtual worlds can
provide students with opportunities for open-ended learning and to overcome limitations of
distance, time, or safety factors. Students will be better able to master, retain, and share new
knowledge by actively engaging in constructing knowledge in virtual learning worlds.
Specific Question/s being addressed:
What is the benefit of using game theory in creative writing?
Impact on your Action Research Inquiry:
Reinforces view there are great benefits in using game theory for improving writing in education.
Source 3:
Summary:
Gaming, World Building, and Narrative: Using Role-Playing Games to Teach Fiction
Writing. Proceedings for the Games, Learning and Society 7.0 Conference.
Pittsburgh: ETC Press, 2011. 111-16.
http://www.academia.edu/8113031/Gaming_World_Building_and_Narrative_Using_Roleplaying_Games_to_Teach_Fiction_Writing

This paper reported on a creative writing course entitled Gaming, World Building, and Narrative
that incorporated digital and tabletop role-playing game principles to teach fiction writing.
Students studied narrative (Bogost 2006) present in short fiction, films, and the videogame
before collaboratively creating an immersive fictional world. They populated a wiki with items,
locations, and characters. Students explored their newly created world through tabletop roleplaying games and composed short stories from their characters perspectives. Students strongly
preferred this using the RPG approach to the traditional workshop method common in creative
writing classes, because they experienced stronger understanding of character and motivations,
as well as significant gains from collaborative writing. Role-playing was valued as fostering a
strong and supportive community for student writers. The instructor felt this method far
exceeded expectations in improving writing. The instructor and students became collaborators as
they constructed fictional worlds, and found it immensely enjoyable. The teacher felt that
students learned more about the craft of fiction through role-playing games and also about
learning by subverting traditional educational institutional hierarchies. It also created positive
social connections.
Specific Question/s being addressed:
How did the wiki influence the writing?
Impact on your Action Research Inquiry:
Compare the impact of augmented reality and immersive experiences on what students wrote on the
wiki.
Source 4:
Narrative Potential of Tabletop Role-Playing Games. (2014) Proceedings for the
Games+Learning+Society 9.0 Conference. Pittsburgh: ETC Press. Forthcoming.
http://www.academia.edu/8113056/The_Narrative_Potential_of_Tabletop_RolePlaying_Games
Teachers of creative writing have much to gain by structuring action writing courses around an
RPG. Students can build fictional worlds complete with people, places and thing through a
process of incremental storytelling. Students can be placed in immediate contact with each
others writing throughout the entire creative process which opens space for critical discussions
about the fictional characters and the shared world they create. This undercuts students impulse
to have plot and meaning dictate their writing. A player of an RPG cannot decide on plot arc and
make it happen. While, a player may choose a goal for a character, the author in an RPG does
not control this. Stories derived from role-playing campaigns thus deal more with a characters
frustrations, sense of loss, and changing expectations. This differs from workshop stories where
beginning writers often do not grasp these notions. RPGs are played through the eyes of a
detailed character who makes decisions, with victories and setbacks. This becomes more of a
process of discovery about the character and their world with the plot unfolding unexpectedly
through the game. This process of discovery is seen by some fiction writers, such as Gardner and
OConnor, as the core of good fiction writing.
Specific Question/s being addressed:
What different benefits can be obtained by using game theory in creative writing, in comparison to
traditional methods?
Impact on your Action Research Inquiry:
Examine this when analysing student writing. Is there better understanding of character challenges
shown in the writing than in past years?
Other Articles

Adam, Fred, Mauricio OBrien, Arianna Mazzeo, Veronica Perales. How to make
classrooms creative and open spaces Aris games, digital artifacts and storytelling
(Elisava Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat de Murcia) 2013
https://www.upc.edu/rima/grups/gilda/recursos-gilda/jida13-obrian-mazzeo

Mobile devices seen as distraction as used for social purposes out of school

Use of location afforded by mobile devices, means information is experienced not just
learnt

American professor Pugh just as experience is a means for enriching and expanding
learning , so learning is a means for enriching and expanding experience (p8)

Environment stimulates sensory experience

Strengthens link between living and learning

Dunleavy, Matt, Chris Dede and Rebecca Mitchell, Affordances and Limitations of
Immersive Participatory Augmented Reality Simulations for Teaching and Learning,
Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 18, No. 1 (FEBRUARY 2009), pp. 722, Published by: Springer. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-008-9119-1
Paraphrased: The purpose of this study was to document how teachers and students describe
and comprehend the ways in which participating in an augmented reality (AR) simulation aids or
hinders teaching and learning. AR is a good medium for immersive collaborative simulation,
but has different strengths and limitations than MUVEs. Within a design-based research project,
the researchers conducted multiple qualitative case studies across two middle schools (6th and
7th grade) and one high school (10th grade) in the northeastern United States to document the
affordances and limitations of AR simulations from the student and teacher perspective.
Teachers and students reported that the technology-mediated narrative and the interactive,
situated, collaborative problem solving affordances of the AR simulation were highly engaging,
especially among students who had previously presented behavioural and academic challenges
for the teachers. However, while the AR simulation provided potentially transformative added
value, it simultaneously presented unique technological, managerial, and cognitive challenges to
teaching and learning.
Issues identified as of concern included: lack of technology, limitations for learning,
management, cost, scalability and debugging.
Dunleavy, M., & Dede, C. (in press). 2013 Augmented reality teaching and learning. In
J.M. Spector, M.D Merrill, J. Elen, & M.J. Bishop (Eds.), The Handbook of Research for
Educational Communications and Technology (4th ed.). New York: Springer.
There has been an explosion in recent years in AR-capable phone technologies. As this becomes
more prevalent, educators will continue leveraging these devices to deliver instruction. AR is an
instructional approach looking for the context where it will be most effective amongst the
collection of strategies available to educators. AR is mostly used for collaborative problem
solving within a real physical environment.
Poonsri Vate U-Lan 2015 Teaching English with Augmented Reality Technology
http://www.slideshare.net/drpoonsri/poonsri-e-case2015article Research used pop-up book with
Augmented Reality to teach ESL students in Grade 3 who were 9 years old. This was found to be
good for engagement and motivation, but there is a need to investigate further how to use it this

to increase comprehension. There is a needs to have better sequencing of activities to maximise

learning.
Whittona* Nicola and Paul Hollins Collaborative virtual gaming worlds in higher
education (2008) http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2015/Dubai/EDUTE/EDUTE-02.pdf
Paraphrased: Immersive virtual environments can provide allow learners to explore and navigate
worlds using a range of media types, with authentic and purposeful contexts for practising
learning that can be transferred to the real world, and they can present a context for problemsolving and interaction with others...Working collaboratively enables students to work to their
strengths, develop critical thinking skills and creativity, validate their ideas, and appreciate a
range of individual learning styles, skills, preferences and perspectives (McConnell 2000; Palloff
and Pratt 2003). (p2)
The constructivist perspective says that students learn better by experiencing for themselves
and discovering their own meanings from their experiences. Gee (2003) argues that computer
games reflect the experiential learning cycle (Kolb 1984) in that students must examine the
virtual environment, reflect on the situation to form a hypothesis, further investigate the virtual
world and see what effect their action has. While it is true that this cycle maps onto learning
within the game world, it does not necessarily provide students with scope for meta-cognitive
processes and reflection outside of the virtual world. Prensky (2001) argues that if games were
used for learning, then learning would happen almost without the learners realizing it, in pursuit
of beating the game (26). (P3)
Using virtual games:
Need clear educational, not just because they are motivational
Need to matching the in-world outcomes with the intended learning outcomes from use
amount of time available both to develop or modify the
gaming world and to use in teaching, space, whether a course is online or face-to-face,
and
resources available
Using

the iPad in a cooperative learning context:

Mobile technology is motivational for students
Empowers shared learning
Research shows using mobile devices individually is less effective than in teams
Competing for device encourages competition in skills increases competence
Images increase creativity and imagination
Choice of topic improves outcome,
Like their ideas being taken into account
Collaboration promotes complete thinking processes
Mobile device promotes interdependence and group cohesion
Diversity becomes a strength