Sarah Smith's eportfolio

Contributions to Learning

For this course, I would assess my contribution to my own learning and to the learning community as a 95. I chose this score because I believe I consistently met the expectations of the course, participated actively in discussions and collaborative activities, contributed meaningfully to my base group, and took responsibility for revising and strengthening my work throughout the course. I also recognize that there is always room for continued growth, especially in balancing leadership responsibilities with my own reflection process.

One thing that worked well for me during this course was staying actively engaged in the learning process. I completed the course readings, videos, and supporting resources and used them to guide my assignments, discussion posts, and action research planning. The readings helped me think more deeply about my role as a self-directed learner and researcher. Fink’s quote about students learning to assess the quality of their own work connects directly to this course because I was not just completing assignments; I was learning how to reflect on the purpose, quality, and alignment of my work.

My action research plan developed significantly throughout the course. I focused on the question: How does completing Edpuzzle retake assignments for remediation affect student growth from an initial Algebra I TEKS assessment to a TEKS-based retest? Through the course activities, I was able to narrow my focus, clarify my independent and dependent variables, and decide that a single quantitative approach was the best fit for my study. I also became more aware of the challenge of isolating variables that impact retention. While Edpuzzle completion may influence student growth, other factors such as student motivation, repeated exposure to the TEKS, embedded questions, immediate feedback, and teacher support may also affect outcomes. This helped me better understand the importance of alignment between my research question, data collection, measures, and analysis plan.

I also contributed consistently to my base group and learning community. The members of my base group community with whom I consistently collaborated were Bonnie Thierheimer, Jose Navarrete, Matthew Ramirez, and Ruthny Desrosiers. Within this group, I took on a leadership role by helping organize meeting dates and times, creating shared collaboration documents, and developing rubrics that our group could use to evaluate and provide feedback on each other’s work. This helped our group stay organized and gave us a clearer structure for peer review and revision.

In addition to organizing materials, I participated in discussions and provided feedback to classmates in a timely and thoughtful manner. I tried to make my responses specific, encouraging, and useful by connecting their ideas back to course concepts and my own action research process. I also appreciated the feedback I received from my peers because it helped me refine my thinking and improve the clarity of my assignments. These interactions reminded me that a strong learning community is built through both giving and receiving feedback.

I revised assignments throughout the course and reflected on those revisions as part of my learning process. Rather than viewing feedback as something to simply correct, I tried to use it as an opportunity to strengthen my work. This was especially helpful as I developed my literature review, action research outline, and discussion board responses. Each revision helped me become more intentional about my topic, my research design, and the data I plan to collect.

One area where I can continue to improve is managing my time so that I have even more space for deeper reflection before submitting assignments. While I met course deadlines and participated actively, I know that slowing down during the revision process can help me produce stronger work and make more meaningful connections between course readings, peer feedback, and my own practice.

Overall, I believe I earned a 95 because I was an active participant in my own learning and in the learning of my classmates. I contributed to my base group, met deadlines, completed the required course materials, revised my work, and supported others through collaboration and feedback. This course helped me grow as a self-directed learner, a reflective educator, and an action researcher.

Action Research Development

The assignments included on this page represent the development of my action research plan and how it connects to my broader innovation strategy. My innovation plan focuses on using Edpuzzle reteach assignments as a purposeful remediation tool in Algebra I. Rather than allowing students to retest after simply completing corrections or a worksheet, my goal is to examine whether a structured digital reteach process can help students revisit missed TEKS, receive immediate feedback, and demonstrate measurable growth on a TEKS-based retest.

Action Research Outline

The Action Research Outline was the first step in narrowing my focus. In this assignment, I identified the topic, purpose, research question, research design, and possible data sources for my study. This helped me move from a broad interest in Edpuzzle remediation to a more focused research question: How does completing Edpuzzle retake assignments for remediation affect student growth from an initial Algebra I TEKS assessment to a TEKS-based retest?

Literature Review

The Literature Review helped me build a research-based foundation for my innovation plan. I examined research related to remediation, formative feedback, embedded questioning in instructional videos, retrieval practice, student retention, and technology-supported learning. This process helped me better understand why immediate feedback and interactive reteach opportunities may support student learning. It also helped me recognize that retention can be difficult to isolate because many factors influence student growth.

Action Research Plan

The Action Research Plan explains how I will study the impact of Edpuzzle reteach assignments using a single quantitative approach. This plan outlines the participants, procedures, measures, instruments, data management process, and analysis strategy. The focus will be on comparing students’ initial Algebra I TEKS assessment scores to their TEKS-based retest scores after completing Edpuzzle remediation.

Together, these assignments show the progression of my thinking as I moved from identifying a classroom problem to designing a measurable action research study. They also support my larger innovation strategy by helping me evaluate whether Edpuzzle can be used intentionally to strengthen the reteach/retest process and support student growth in Algebra I.