In mid-October, a Rotation Model survey was mailed to a little over 2000 Rotation email newsletter subscribers. 369 surveys came back. That's a pretty good rate of return. The results show some strong patterns that didn't vary much from the first one hundred to the third one hundred received, so it is predictable that another hundred or two hundred surveys would probably show nearly the same trends. The results are shown below with comment. These results are being made available to all, including some CE publishers who have expressed an interest in them. In some cases the totals may be off by one or two percent due to rounding, or missing responses. Some numbers are not percentages, but total number of respondents who marked that item.
After you're done browsing this page, visit the SURVEY COMMENTS PAGE. I've excerpting some of the most interesting, funny, and inspiring comments that some folks included with their surveys.
- - - - - - - - - - There were 369 respondents. Not everyone filled out every question or every part of each question, though most did fill out the first couple of questions.
1. Number of years you've been doing Rotation.
Doing it less than one year: 36%
Doing it 1-2 years: 34%
Doing it 3-5 years: 22%
Doing it 6+ years: 8%*The decreasing percentages here don't reflect, I think, a decreasing number of churches staying with Rotation, rather it reflects the fact that the Rotation movement as a nationally known concept, and this website are less than four years old.
2. Since you started Workshop Rotation...
Recruiting teachers become:
easier -- 58%
harder -- 10 %
stayed the same -- 32%And attendance has:
improved = 66%
lowered= 1%
stayed about the same= 33%
3. In general, what has been the response to your switch to Rotation?
Congregation: Great= 39% Good= 51% Lukewarm= 10% Negative=.05 (.5%) Parents: Great= 57% Good= 41% Lukewarm= 3.5% Negative= Zero Kids: Great= 87% Good= 13% Lukewarm= .01 (.1%) Negative= Zero Pastor: Great= 72% Good= 23% Lukewarm= 4% Negative= 1% 4. Teachers and Kids Favorite Workshop*
Teachers favorite to Teach Art 30% Comput. 7% Drama 10% Video 18% Cooking 15% Other 13% Kids Favorite Art 19% Comput. 27% Drama 12% Video 21% Cooking 13% Other 3% *We asked respondents to select the teacher's favorite and kids TWO favorites. Not every survey followed these instructions.
About 1/3 of the responses to the "kids' favorite" said something to the effect of "they like them all."
Teachers LEAST favorite to Teach Art 6% Comput. 15% Drama 25% Video 6% Cooking 1% Kids LEAST Favorite Art 6% Comput. 6% Drama 20% Video 12% Cooking 4% Science 3%
6. & 7. What is the easiest workshop to plan or recruit for? ...and hardest to plan and recruit for?
The following numbers represent the number of times a workshop was marked. These are not percentages.
Not all surveys completed this section. These are not percentages but total who marked that workshop.
EASIEST to Plan for: Art 42 Comput. 7 Drama 14 Video 89 Cooking 10 Games 5 HARDEST to Plan for: Art 21 Comput. 42 Drama 39 Video 16 Cooking 9 Science 7 Summary:
Two Easiest to Plan for are 1) Video, 2) Art
Two Hardest to Plan for are 1) Computer, 2) Drama
EASIEST to Recruit for: Art 42 Comput. 7 Drama 14 Video 89 Cooking 10 Games 5 HARDEST to Recruit for: Art 14 Comput. 34 Drama 51 Video 8 Cooking 1 Games 2 Summary:
Two Easiest to Recruit for: 1) Video, 2) Art
Two Hardest to Recruit for: 1) Drama 2) Computer((Neil Note: The ones that are hardest to plan for are also the hardest to recruit for. Does this mean that if they were better planned they'd be easier to recruit for? See the next question for some clues. )))
8. Which workshop do you wish you did better at? -and what could help you do it better?
14 said Art.
39 said Computers
44 said Drama
18 said Video
3 said Cooking
10 said Games
5 said ScienceThe numbers for question 8 are not precentages. They are the number of times that category was marked. Some respondents left this section blank. Others marked more than one workshop.
What could help you do it better?
The responses were nearly consistent: The Art people wanted better projects, The Computer people wanted better hardware. The Drama people wanted interactive teachers and scripts, the Video people wanted more videos to choose from, the Games people wanted games that related better to the content. And many people said it was merely a matter of finding the right person.
9. What age range do you have in rotation? (Results in total numbers of responses, not percentages. Some marked more than one age group.)
Preschool: 99 Elementary: 200 Middle School: 46 High School: 7 Adult: 1
10. Where do you get your Rotation curriculum? Mark ALL those which apply.
Results are total number of responses, not percentages. Most respondents marked SEVERAL of the following sources for curriculum.
28-Denominational Traditional Curriculum
25-Denominational Rotation Curriculum
24-Independently Published Curriculum
42-Independently Published Rotation Curriculum
100-Rotation.org
43-Other Rotation Churches
91-Write your own
32-Other: _________Respondents were also asked to mark the category of curriculum source where they get MOST of their curriculum from.
5-Denominational Traditional Curriculum
18-Denominational Rotation Curriculum
5-Independently Published Curriculum
15-Independently Published Rotation Curriculum
67-Rotation.org
6-Other Rotation Churches
52-Write your own
8-Other: _________
11. If you could wave your magic wand to come up with ONE needed Rotation curriculum resource, what would it be? (sorry, must be something other than piles of great teachers)
We received over 3 dozen comments to this question. Those receiving more than one mention were:
"More collections of resources for all workshops (not necessarily lesson plans), including Cooking, Music, and Science workshops."
"Better computer equipment."
"More 'age appropriate' comments/suggestions in the lessons."
12. What do you think of the idea of the Rotation.org website hiring an educator, resource person, lesson writer and editor (the same person) on a part-time basis to improve materials and be available to help your Rotation effort?
Total responses indicated, not percentages:
17 -Great idea, but not sure I need it
105-Great idea, and it would be helpful to me
80-Interesting Idea and it might be helpful to me
5- Don't need it, but hey, if others do, it's ok
0- Dumb idea
9-Not sure
13. If such a person were in place, how would you organize their priorities? Place the word 'top' next to your suggested top priorities,
'low' next to low priority, and 'zero' for "don't go that direction."Total responses indicated, not percentages:
Top Priority Low Priority Zero Priority Edit/Improve existing materials 98 53 19 Help Write Free Online Curriculum 127 46 7 Be available to help you generate and find resources for lessons you're going to teach 138 37 7 Provide or organize a Training Event 40 82 39
14. If a Rotation.org organization asked your church for a voluntary annual donation of $50 aimed at providing such an online resource person, would your church be willing to contribute it? (Please note: Rotation.org will continue to be a free, non-commercialized resource.)
Total responses indicated, not percentages.
Definitely = 71 Most Likely =79 Probably Not = 16 Not Sure = 41
15. Would you be willing to be part of a quarterly online volunteer writing team that worked collaboratively through the website to create lesson plans that followed a Scope and Sequence established by the team?
Definitely = 19 Most Likely = 79 Probably Not = 63 Not Sure = 65
16. How Helpful do you find various Rotation.org resources ?
In total responses, not percentages:
MOST HELPFUL Lessons = 181 Message Board = 71 Articles = 79 Photos = 62 Links = 110 Email news = 94
LEAST HELPFUL Lessons = 9 Message Board = 40 Articles = 23 Photos = 59 Links = 23 Email news = 19 37 respondents wrote something to the effect that they found EVERYTHING helpful. A few wrote that they found the photos helpful at first, or that it depended on where they were in their development phase.
17. How often do you visit the Rotation.org website? (in total responses, not percentages)
23- A few times a year
100- About once a month
53- About once a Week
20- Several Times a Week
7- Every Day*Rotation.org website received 234,741 "hits" in the year 2000.
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Comments from Neil:
After the first 200 surveys came back, I noticed a trend in responses that, frankly, shocked me. I did not expect so many to say that DRAMA was one of the harder workshops to resource or recruit for. I sent a follow up mini-survey to about 30 of those who marked it as one of their least/hardest. 24 responded and their comments were very similar. They lack and understanding of how you teach with drama, how to lesson plan with drama, where to get -or how to create scripts, and they felt it required a special volunteer who was outgoing and very interactive.
I also asked several of the churches who marked Drama as easiest/favorite on their survey. They attributed their success to having a certain teachers who really enjoyed this medium. It seems obvious we have a lot to work on in this area. I'm wondering how "regular teachers" can do well in this medium, and not just the "extroverted ones." Perhaps there's a way of organizing, or a slightly new direction, that might work for those who don't have natural drama teachers. The Rotation Community needs to do some talking and idea spinning on this subject.
I also sent out a mini-follow-up survey to about 20 of those who said that ART or Computers were hard. With ART it came back to needing better art ideas (and not just crafts). With the computers about half said their problem was poor hardware that thwarted their attempts, or a lack of that special someone who would lead the charge in the workshop.
When it came to questions of curriculum sources, frequency of use of the website, and the idea of getting an editor/resource person to help with Rotation.org, I must admit I was a little surprised how strong the support was for Rotation.org. Many wrote personal notes of support and encouragment along with their survey. Of course, these are the people who also took the time to respond to the survey ! ....but it leads me to believe there is a CORE COMMUNITY that appreciates the "experimental nature" of Rotation.org and the direction we are headed.
I was truly surprised by the 36% of responses from churches new to Rotation within the past year. Many of them echoed in writing what their high rate of survey returns seems to indicate -they are excited and find Rotation.org very helpful. By contrast and anecdotally ---some of those respondents who have been at it more than a year specifically mentioned not being as dependent on certain features of Rotation.org, such as lessons or photos. They seemed to especially like the message boards and links to resources. All in all, it is a picture of a true community in one respect: there are many different needs!
When it came to what a dreamed of Rotation.org Educator could do to help the community, "TRAINING" received surprisingly mixed results. However, I think this jives with the other results --people want more ideas, information and resources and they'll take it from there. Several of the respondents wrote personal comments when they ranked "contributing money" to Rotation.org as LOW. Several said they were broke.
Interesting! Thanks to everyone who responded.
If you have a "take" on these results, or suggestions, please email me at sundaysoft@ee.net
<>< Neil MacQueen
The cost of tabulating results from the 369 surveys was paid for by the Rotation.org Fund.
Copyright 2001. Rotation.org. May be quoted provided the website is listed.
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