Independent Researcher

Entrepreneur and Consulting Professor

Ed.D. Teachers College, Columbia University

Thesis Title: Participatory Action Research as Professional Development

About

E. Alana James, MNM, Ed.D has worked in education for two decades, often using community based resources to aid educational activities and develop programs for high risk youth.  Her duties as an independent academic for a number of universities include mentoring doctoral candidates and teaching action research, organizational development or leadership.  Her specialty areas are high risk, high complexity, low satisfaction and the use of participatory action research as a life and world changing process.

She currently facilitates an online doctoral participatory group at www.doctoralent.com and an international participatory action research projects.

Alana also designed and has been the primary facilitator for the Web Based Professional Development Project, sponsored by the National Center for School Engagement that ran from 2003-2009.  Participants in this project were school administrators, teachers and community member using participatory action research as professional development to study and develop programs for students experiencing homelessness and high mobility.  She completed her doctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University in educational leadership.

She just finished her second book: Action research for business, non-profits and public administration: A tool for complex times.  Her first book: Participatory Action Research: Data driven decision making for school leadership  was published by Sage Publications in 2008.  She was also fortunate that her dissertation was published by VDM and is available as Participatory action research for professional development. 

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