Action Research and How it can be Helpful in the School Setting

Time or lack there of is the biggest problem facing educational administration these days.  Administrators daily receive more responsibilities and never receive more hours in the day to get all of their engagements satisfied.  Action research is bringing about change in the school climate via the administrator usually with social justice issues as the focus.  Administrators can have a huge and lasting impact on the school climate as they address problems or weak areas in their particular school.  The problem is with the heavy load administrators are asked to carry they do not have the time to research these problems and solutions.  Often administrators are in their offices, locked away from the rest of the school, and the rest of the district.  Professional learning communities would greatly combat this problem of isolation among principals.
How wonderful would it be if school districts focused as much time and energy on making PLC's a priority for principals just as they do for classroom teachers.  Principals could bounce ideas off of other principals and they could learn from other campus.  Even if principals had to use emerging technology to satisfy this need for collaboration I think it would be beneficial.  If they cant schedule in weekly trips to leave and meet other administrators they could always use Skype or Facetime applications to have a live web conference with other principals.

Another example of how technology might be used for action research is through the use of updated blogs.  Principals could create blogs and write quick updates about their dealings and experiences with situations on their campuses.  They could talk about what strategies worked and did not work and they could also enlist help from other principals on issues they are still trying to manage.  They could then collaborate with principals all over the district, state, even nation!