Purpose and Background

Early math skills are fundamental to children’s development and are known to have a significant impact on later academic success (Duncan et al., 2007; Litkowski et al., 2021). Despite this, educators have limited opportunities to participate in math-related professional learning opportunities, and, as a result, math skills are often not a priority in early childhood education, or ECE (Cerezci, 2021; Ginsburg et al., 2014; Litkowski et al., 2021; Trawick-Smith et al., 2015; Worthington & van Oers, 2016). In addition, research indicates that educators often report low confidence in their mathematical knowledge and abilities, which contributes to their apprehension about facilitating math-related learning experiences with young children (Litkowski et al., 2021; Sheridan & Wen, 2021; Trawick-Smith et al., 2015; Wu & Goff, 2021).
As of 2007. in response to the Early Childhood Educator’s Act, Early Childhood Educators in Ontario, Canada must be registered members of the College of Early Childhood Educators (CECE), the regulatory professional organization for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs). As of 2016, the CECE mandates that each member regularly maintain a Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) portfolio as a means of increasing professional recognition and public respect for the field (College of Early Childhood Educators, 2022). Although the CPL program holds positive intentions for reflecting on and improving one’s practice, there has been a lack of guidance to indicate what activities are appropriate, which has left many RECEs unsure of how to best plan goals that uphold the ethical standards of the field (Halfon & Dixon, 2015; AECEO, 2014). Subsequently, ECEs report geographical, financial, and scheduling challenges when seeking professional learning opportunities (Sheridan & Wen, 2021). Further, the opportunities that are accessible often offer generic, “one-size-fits-all” content delivery, is not conducive to networking and do not provide long-term support (Sheridan & Wen, 2021; Trawick-Smith et al., 2015). Previous literature indicates that this limited access to quality professional learning contributes to the inconsistencies in mathematical learning opportunities offered in early years settings (Sheridan & Wen, 2021).
High-quality professional learning has a significant effect on the confidence and abilities of educators, which, in turn, increases the quality of their interactions with children (Whittaker et al., 2020). According to the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario (AECEO) (2014), amongst other criteria, meaningful professional learning opportunities should prioritize accessibility, affordability, active learner participation, and collaborative interactions. Prior research indicates that collaborative professional learning can support positive changes in educators’ practices (Cohrssen et al., 2015; Knaus, 2017; Trawick-Smith et al., 2015). Further, transitioning to online learning formats can mitigate barriers and provide increased access to meaningful and relevant professional knowledge (Sheridan & Wen, 2021). The use of collaborative action research allows regular opportunities for educators to interact with colleagues in a community of inquiry (Garrison et al., 2000), where professionals can share insights and feedback with a broader network of early childhood educators (beyond their own co-workers). In this way, collaborative action research involves and encourages educators to interact with and even contribute to the growing body of research in the field (Sagor, 1992). The purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of a fully online learning community (FOLC) environment for facilitating math-focused professional learning opportunities that are collaborative and reflective, and that can support positive changes in educators’ awareness of early mathematical practices. The study will host a series of four fully online sessions structured around online collaborative action research. The study will integrate collaborative action research as a mechanism for facilitating authentic discourse and perspective sharing between early childhood educator participants to elicit feedback on issues that are meaningful to improving their practices (vanOostveen, 2017).

Methodology

Phase 1
Phase 1 Surveys:
GREx Dashboard (See attachment – Appendix B – SOP#000) The study will use the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx) dashboard (See attachment – Appendix B – SOP#000) to present participants with the survey consent form and four surveys. Participants indicate their consent by clicking the START button to commence the surveys.
Basic Demographic Survey (BDS) (See attachment – Appendix C – SOP#001) The first survey is the Basic Demographic Survey (BDS) (See attachment – Appendix C – SOP#001) which collects participants’ basic demographic data and is used to make comparisons against the other surveys. This survey will take 3 to 4 minutes to complete; upon completion, the other surveys will be made available.
An addendum to BDS (See attachment – Appendix C1 – Addendum to BDS) adds an option to select early childhood educators as their current occupation.
Digital Competency Profiler (DCP) (See attachment – Appendix H – SOP#003) The second survey is the Digital Competency Profiler (DCP) (See attachment – Appendix H – SOP#003), which creates a profile for participants that identifies strengths and weaknesses in their digital competencies. This survey will require 15-20 minutes to complete.
Fully Online Learning Community Survey (FOLCS) (See attachment – Appendix I – SOP#002) The third survey is the Fully Online Learning Community Survey (FOLCS) (See attachment – Appendix I – SOP#002). This survey encourages participants to critically examine their readiness to work or learn within Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) environments. This survey will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
Optional Survey 4 – The fourth survey is optional and should only be completed by individuals willing to participate in Phase II of the project, the online discussion/focus group and interview sessions. This survey will ask for the participant’s email address to initiate contact for scheduling purposes (See attachment – Appendix S).
Phase 2
Online Meeting Sessions are conducted in Google Meet and recorded via OBS Studio. (See attachment – Version_2_Appendix D – Focus Group Consent) Phase 2 of the project will involve participation in a series of four online, synchronous sessions structured around collaborative action research. The first synchronous session will begin with brief introductions of participants to gain familiarity with each other, an initial explanation of the collaborative action research process, and taking participants through the first two steps of collaborative action research, based on experiences pertaining to mathematical learning in the early years (See attachment – Appendix N). Participants will be asked to take their newly formed action plan to implement in their classroom in the following week. In the second session, participants will be guided through the third and fourth steps of the collaborative action research process and adjust their goals for their next classroom session (See attachment – Appendix O). In the third session, participants will discuss and analyze the implementation of the second iteration of their action plan (See attachment – Appendix P). Finally, the fourth session will focus on the final analysis of the implementation and the evaluation and reporting of overall findings to the group. Within these sessions, participants will be asked to share an early math experience from their classroom practice, and each participant will elicit feedback on their experience. In the week after each session, participants will be invited to return to their classroom to implement the feedback they have received and report their results in the next online session.
Individual Reflective Interview After the four online sessions, the researcher will conduct one-on-one online interviews with each participant regarding their thoughts on engaging in the collaborative action research process and how it has or could potentially affect their thinking. These interviews will be semi-structured and will use a few pre-determined questions to guide the discussion, but additional probing questions may be used to enrich the discussion further and explore participant responses at an individual level. (See attachment – Appendix R). This structure was chosen because it is expected that early childhood educator participants have a wealth of unique experiences due to differences in environment, personal values, and even the children with whom they have worked. Interviews with each participant will be recorded to provide a detailed account of their experience in the project.