Dusty, I have not taught this course at GCU, (I haven't seen this course description), but I have taught what I think is a similar one while teaching at another university. I recommend buying the book Action Research 6th Ed., Mertler. It was pretty good. Although my course focused on Introduction to Research with a focus on Action Research, this resource would be a significant help to you. I used it as a guide from my 1st week until the end of the course. 

Reference:

Mertler, C. A. (2009). Action Research: Teachers as Researchers in the Classroom. Sage.

Dusty, I also worry that school is ending, and are they setting up a research plan that they will do this fall? (Since your course will be an intro). Is this part of a graduate program that requires completing a few courses to write a graduate-level research paper or thesis?

In my feedback for the course I taught, I suggested longer courses for research, such as 10-12 weeks, as opposed to the standard 6-8 weeks. 

My teachers all participated in Action Research in their schools or classrooms; most were classroom teachers, while one was a specialist, and all had to gain permission from both their school and the university's IRB process. 

Some were given an IRB waiver if no human subjects were directly involved. However, all teachers had to obtain permission from their school and adhere to the university's policy. 

In mixed-methods research, I would also steer them away if there are time constraints. Still, if part of the data is already provided (by the school district or school), then the quantitative portion of the research would only involve analyzing existing data. The qualitative portion would be more tedious. It depends on the nature of the study. Overall, MM may be a significantly more time-consuming process. 

Do these students need to update their CITI? My students were required to do it in the course before the one I taught. 

I hope this helps. 

Hopefully, someone who has taught this course or a similar one will contact you soon. 

Mirta

Mirta Ramirez-Espinola thank you! I have already cautioned my students about the time and rigor involved with mixed methods. I do not know where this class falls in their program but my students seem to have no prior knowledge of research. I would love to know what comes before and after this course as well as the final outcome requirements for this course. From my understanding, this is just a rough draft proposal of the first 2 stages of research. They will plan for data collection and analysis in another course. I'm assuming this is an iterative process and students will evolve their proposal as they learn more about research and their topic, but I do not want to misguide my students from the start.

My students seem to be in different programs so this course appears to span across programs. I hope someone who has taught this course can provide me some direction. I have searched all over CIRT and in the syllabus, but haven't found much.

Thank you for the book suggestion and guidance. I appreciate you!

Dusty Sanchez, the book is progressive, building upon research, examples, and other relevant material. I was impressed with it. It helped me so much. Like you, I have done a couple of research papers and my dissertation, but teaching the course was a challenge. There was a lot to grade, and I had about 20 students, which made it very overwhelming. Unless I have 10 students or fewer, I would not teach it again. However, I would teach it if there were a co-faculty and we both worked side by side. That is important, much like a D committee. 

Were there any links attached to assignments or in the course that offered examples of format for students to follow? I didn't have that either, so I used the OWL Purdue website for my research paper and thesis. Review the assignments to see if there are any links the course requires students to use; perhaps there's something faculty can review. 

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/graduate_writing/thesis_and_dissertation/University_Thesis_and_Dissertation_Templates.html

Mirta