collaborative action research in online classroom: a case study

Action research is a self-reflective, systematic, and intentional inquiry which can orient toward means, ends, theory, institutions, and teachers. the present study was an attempt to throw more light on the collaborative aspect of action research in online classes at farhangian teacher education university of arak. the course, named action research, comprised 18 junior student-teachers who simultaneously ran online english classes at public high schools. researchers divided the whole class into five groups and each group shouldered the responsibility of presenting the content of the instructional material. by the end of each session, the instructors encouraged the participants to reflect on the session, and provided further guidance on the use of action research in their educational context. they also made an attempt to direct the groups towards relating each step of ar, i.e. plan, action, observation, and reflection model (kemmis & mctagger, 1988) to their own classes. upon completion of each stage, participants reported their results of each step to the whole class, and received further support and feedback by their peers and the researcher. the final outcome was five distinctive online posters each delineating into an area of online classroom issues plus practical measures for obviating the problem. students’ individual reflections on the course and their online portfolios provided the basis for the qualitative analysis of the study. participants reported higher levels of self-confidence in conducting action research in online classes through group work and collaboration. they further found action research as an essential tool for teachers to reflect on the immediate issues arising in their classes and how to deal with them. the findings highlight important implications of using collaborative action research in different learning environments.