My View of Research, Before and After

As the course EDLD 5301 ends, I find that I have a brand new view of (and a huge burst of enthusiasm for) educational research.  I really had no idea what to expect our of this class.  However, I found that the lectures, assignments, and discussions, along with the blog posts and reviews, have brought me to a much more refined and expanded view of an educational leader's role with regard to leading research.  The word "action" is key here.  I've been exposed to lots of projects and plans that suggested action would occur...but knowing what I know now, I can see that they weren't adequately designed and developed around reasonable expectations for actual change.  With tools like reflection, data gathering skills, force field analysis, and more, I leave this class much better equipped to design and execute action research plans at my institution.