Scholars,Teachers,Practitioners,and Students: Learning by Fishing,Storytelling,and Appreciative Inquiry

Abstract

Learning within the public affairs community can be improved by focusing on the medium and frame, as well as on the message. Stories, plays, videos, and other art forms offer media through which complex information can be shared among scholars, teachers, practitioners, and students. Appreciative inquiry provides a frame that builds on organizational and individual strengths rather than looking for and seeking to correct problems. In addition to generating useful information for research purposes, appreciative inquiry assumptions contribute to a learning culture by empowering the practitioner or student. Sharing information in a participative environment facilitates the adoption of new frames to conceptualize reality for all who are involved.