Last night I had the privilege of listening to a researcher discuss her work as part of the organization, Facing History and Ourselves. I was impressed with the detailed work she does to analyze the organization's efforts, and I was pleased to learn that yes indeed, Facing History and Ourselve's work matters a lot when it comes to building a more thoughtful, empathetic, and better world.
I was sympathetic to the fact that it's difficult for researchers to publish their work when it pertains to the organization they work for, but I realized the conflict inherent in that problem.
As I listened to the woman speak, I was reminded of a comment a leader made to me a couple years ago disparaging blog posts in favor of researched studies in journals. That criticism has stayed with me and caused me to think. At first, I was frustrated with the comment because blog posts have been my inroad to better work, greater outreach, and learning. Without the income to subscribe to large numbers of journals, or the extensive time to read about the multiple areas I work in as a generalist teacher, blog posts' synthesis of practice, research, and discussions have served to forward my professional work tenfold.
Yet, while listening to the women speak, and thinking about a few recent journal articles I've read, I do know that these significant studies and journal articles are important to read when we get the chance. As a learning community, how can we manage this research in effective ways?
First, it might be helpful to have a person, like the woman I spoke with last night, come in and give a short presentation on research and effect--the information that helps us to understand if our work matters or not. This presentation for interested parties, may point out the best ways to access journals online and off with regard to cost, time, and research. The presentation might also offer a snapshot or shortlist of what we're looking for when it comes to reliability for our own studies and the studies we read about.
Second, organizations might want to adopt research systems. Perhaps as one way to flatten the hierarchy and grow the whole organization, is to assign journals to interested educators who offer to read the journal each month and report out the latest information. I can imagine that a large number of educators would be willing to receive a paid for journal subscription in exchange for reporting out the monthly highlights, and sharing critical articles. That would help to make an entire organization smarter and more influential with the work they do.
Finally, organizations can set up easy systems of share. UClass, a start-up I do some consulting work with, does offer school systems content management systems, and I can imagine this kind of research shared on an easy to navigate, intuitive platform like UClass.
Communication and research is key to the good work we're able to do in schools and other disciplines. How we manage these two areas in inclusive ways is critical to our success when it comes to teaching and serving students well.
