5.b+Limitations+of+Study

Limitations of the study

Research was hampered in trying to reach K-12 students. By not being able to customize content to a certain grade level, we lost interest or the capability of engaging in the content with many of our users. The concept of having older students communicating with younger students was a good idea in theory, but with our open-communication format, it did not perform very well. Communication on the forum was limited to reactions to the first post of the day or to only the deed itself.

The study was also limited by the cooperating teachers' time available to put into the project. All of the teachers were aware of the month-long time commitment, but some topics that were brought to the forefront during the project took more than the originally intended 5-10 minute time interval because of student engagement and interest. A teacher's success with the Take Action project depended on her personal motivation to integrate the project into her curriculum. This is important to note because the amount of student engagement in the project was closely related to the teacher's inclusion of the project into curriculum. Since teachers were working independently of each other to include Take Action into their classrooms, the project was at the mercy of each individual teacher's discretion.

While access to technology becomes more readily available to the public in general, equal access for all students is not guaranteed. Young students tend to have limited access to the computer, other students have no access to the internet at home and some schools have limited access to computers for their students. Since access was limited for a portion of participating students, an accurate account of students interest, motivation and "acting" can not be made. Not all students have equal access, so not all students had equal opportunity to participate.

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