It’s been an incredibly useful exercise to think about my action research project as a spiral of continuous activity, rather than a project with a distinct start and finish. This has helped me position my work with the wider context of my work, considering how I came to investigate digital storytelling and how I might want to develop this further.
Looking at O’Leary’s cycles of action research specifically, and mapping different parts of my action research to this spiral, unearthed a range of additional elements or steps that are already part of my research and that are worth documentation. For example, noticing that digital storytelling might have an impact on students’ learning through activities of play and their link to connectedness can be grouped within the initial ‘observe’ stage of O’Leary’s cycle. Coupled with my research within this area, my personal reflections on the subject then form the following ‘reflect’ stage of the cycle.
The exercise also allowed me to reflect on additional ‘observe’, ‘reflect’, and ‘plan’ stages, which could include coming up with possible solutions, making recommendations, and planning next steps. In a way, there is a possibility for this spiral to continue, with new experiences, observations and research feeding into further stages as I develop my work in digital storytelling.