MAC Week 3 - Think Out Loud Part 1: Publish or Present.

by Flickr user JKim1

When it comes to deciding if I want to present or publish, I've gone back and forth. I'm comfortable in my writing skills because I teach the practice of writing in my content.  I'm also equally comfortable presenting because I've done that before on a small scale within our education service district, which comprises 11 schools in over two counties. Since I'm secure in either situation, I have to look at my research and results to see which route would be best for conveying my findings.

Looking at the data in comparison to my intended outcomes, my research shows that my cycles were not successful at increasing the level of engagement in my classes. However, this does not mean that I didn't gain new insights into the nature of student motivation and engagement in regards to the situations that occurred during my cycles. 

Taking all this into consideration, I'm leaning towards publishing, and here's why: 

• I'm worried that since my original purpose was not achieved, explaining what I learned as a result of the technology and weather related issues in a presentation would come off as making excuses to an audience.
• Technology issues were part of what lead to a lack of engagement, and I pretty sure that tech conferences might not be interested in my work (I may be wrong there because it's important for teachers to know that technology is great to use to increase engagement, but if it doesn't work properly, students get frustrated and disheartened more than they might have been before you tried to increase their engagement.)
• I'm not really sure that my research is geared toward an audience interested solely in technology, but would be of greater interest to English/Language Arts (E/LA) teachers who are looking for ways to incorporate technology and group collaboration into their curriculum. I think I can reach this audience in an E/LA journal.
• This isn't the best reason, but when it comes down to the limited time that I've this month to create the project, I think that I'm better equipped to write a better paper in a short amount of time than I am to create a presentation. In the end, I have to go where my strengths lie, and I'll get the best result by writing for publication.  
• One of my goals is to one day have something I've written be published, and this would be the first step.

Even though I've chosen to publish, I would love to present at a national conference someday.  It seems like it would be a great experience.