ACTION INQUIRY WHAT IS REFLECTIVE PRACTICE? APPLICATION OF ACTION INQUIRY TO THIS PROJECT READINGS

Action inquiry is relevant to this project in a number of ways.

It is hoped that mentees will use an action inquiry cycle in becoming reflective practitioners in the way in which they learn skills in evaluation. This process will be assisted by the guidance of their mentor.

Mentors will also have the opportunity to apply reflective practice to their performance as a mentor, with the assistance of other mentors associated with the project.

Some of the projects to be evaluated will predominantly concern themselves with the development phase of the four phase evaluation model. That is, they will concern themselves with Formative Monitoring of the Learning Process, and, to a lesser extent, with Formative Monitoring of the Learning Environment. For example, some projects will investigate how students engage with an online learning environment, on a week-by-week basis. In such a case, it is wholly appropriate that the project would follow a reflective practice cycle, seeking improvement in practice over the duration of the course.

On the other hand, for some projects, such as the evaluation of the use of a specific CD-ROM in one week of a unit, an action inquiry process is not appropriate within the timeline of this project. One could argue that such a project corresponds to an action inquiry cycle with only onecycle, but this is drawing a long bow.