Appreciative Inquiry Utilizing Online Platforms

Abstract

This experiential exercise teaches students what constitutes Appreciative Inquiry and how it is different from other feedback models, along with giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge. Students practice giving Appreciative Inquiry to their peers’ presentations through the use of an online platform that allows for written words along with memes, GIFs, and photos to express their feedback. The activity is suitable for face-to-face undergraduate and graduate-level organizational behavior and management classes who have at least one, ideally two teams-based presentations, and are looking to provide strengths-based, positive feedback to produce high-performing teams. Information is presented about how to set up, run, and debrief this activity to meet learning objectives.

This in-class exercise has students provide feedback to their peers using Appreciative Inquiry. Students are introduced to the concept in class and then provided with an online platform to collect and share their feedback. See Appendix A for the options on different online platforms you can use for this activity to allow students to submit their written feedback along with adding videos and memes.

This activity is appropriate for any undergraduate or graduate level organizational behavior or management courses that want to provide peer feedback to student presentations. I use this activity twice in my upper-division, undergraduate Leadership Teams Development course. Running the activity twice in one course allows students an additional opportunity to strengthen their ability to give Appreciative Inquiry feedback.

Theoretical Background

Appreciative Inquiry is a strengths-based method and perspective that is holistic and seeks to identify strengths, possibilities, and successes that can lead to positive change (Stavros et al., 2015). Appreciative Inquiry originates from Case Western Reserve University faculty, Dr. David Cooperrider and Dr. Ronald Fry to transform organizations and teams (Weatherhead School of Management, 2022). It has since evolved to a broader focus that allows for intentional inquiry that helps organizations better understand their potential, strengths, and shared goals (Barrett & Fry, 2005; Cooperrider, 2013; Cooperrider & Fry, 2020). Instead of focusing on shoring up weaknesses, the focus of Appreciative Inquiry is on what is working well and how to get those best practices to occur more frequently (Coghlan et al., 2003). The process encourages engagement of members of the organization while increasing their commitment and confidence that they will be successful in the future (Hammond, 1996). This alternative approach to feedback and organizational change, shifts mindsets while also having people collaborate and co-create shared futures (Coghlan et al., 2003). As Appreciative Inquiry seeks to determine what fuels the organization, it asks questions to help people see more positive attributes and the potential of what could be through discovery and dreaming (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2000).

Watkins and Mohr’s (2001) 4-I Model includes the following four stages: Initiate, Inquire, Imagine, and Innovate. Initiate occurs when people are taught the concept of Appreciative Inquiry and asked to determine a focus for their discussion. Inquire involves interviewing and fact finding with group members. Imagine asks the group to share the information they found and determine themes they can use to illustrate their ideal future. Innovate involves exploring the new roles, action, or solutions that were proposed in the last phase and implementing those changes. The 4-I Model is one of many Appreciative Inquiry models, such as Cooperrider and Srivastva (1987) 4-D Model, which was later adapted to a 5-D Model (Cooperrider et al., 2008).

While Appreciative Inquiry is mostly used to address critical issues in organizations, as it discovers underlying assumptions and applies learning-oriented approaches (Coghlan et al., 2003), it is also a useful feedback mechanism in the classroom.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this activity students will be able to:

1. Distinguish the difference between Appreciative Inquiry and other feedback methods

2. Compose Appreciative Inquiry feedback that highlights other teams’ strengths

3. Identify opportunities for their team to be successful and imagine the team’s future

Setting Up and Running the Activity

The preparation for this activity takes about an hour. I use two class sessions to run the activity and debrief the activity. I will break down the timing further by noting what needs to be done before class, during class, and after class.

Before Class

First, the instructor needs to select a technology and create the online board for each team. Any online platform that allows for sharing interactive, written feedback will work. In this paper, I present the following five different online platforms you could use: Kudoboard, Padlet, Miro, Dotstorming, and Trello. Each of these online platforms allows you to create a board where students can add their Appreciative Inquiry feedback to a team that has just given a presentation. See Appendix A for instructions on how to set up each online platform, information about costs, and the various functions of each platform to help you make a decision on which one will work best for your class. It typically takes me about 5 minutes to set up each board. I usually have between 3 and 6 teams in a class, so I plan for about 15 to 30 minutes to set up the boards.

I then add the links to the online boards in the Appreciative Inquiry Instructions (See Appendix B). This word document includes details about Appreciative Inquiry, how it is different from other feedback types, and questions I have students respond to when giving their feedback. I then add the direct links so students can easily click to open the board. Next, I post the word document to the course’s learning management system. This process of modifying and uploading the document takes about 15 minutes.

Beyond setting up the boards and adjusting the instructions, I also email students a couple days in advance to remind them to bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to class as they will need to access the online platform and add their feedback. In this email, I also note other resources on campus where students can borrow technology. Writing this email, sending it out to students, and posting it as an announcement in the learning management system takes about 15 minutes.

Using Watkins and Mohr’s (2001) Appreciative Inquiry 4-I Model, some of the Initiate Phase is present in setting up of this activity. While students are taught the concept of Appreciative Inquiry during class, the instructor determines the focus of the discussion by setting the questions students use to give their Appreciative Inquiry. Some of the questions I use focus on the strengths of the presentation, the team’s future, and team collaboration.

During Class

At the beginning of class, ask students to access the instructions on the devices they brought to class. I spend about 10 minutes teaching my students about Appreciative Inquiry, reviewing the questions on the learning management system, and showing them how to access the online platform. At the end of each student presentation, I provide Appreciative Inquiry verbally to the team to demonstrate the quality of feedback that should be given. For example, if a team had well-designed PowerPoints, I would say something like,

One thing your team can be really proud of is your beautifully designed PowerPoints. By showing us images and limiting the text used, it enhanced the meaning of what you presented while also allowing us to focus on what you were saying.

I typically find two aspects of the presentation that were done well to show students what I expect. I have found that modeling the behavior I want to see from the students mitigates potential negative and unrelated comments being added to the online boards.

Then I remind students to provide their Appreciative Inquiry via the online platform for the team while the next team sets up their presentation. Students simply have to click the link in the instructions and then add their Appreciative Inquiry feedback. When I have used Kudoboard, which allows for photos, GIFs, and videos, the majority of my students choose to add a visual to their words. I find that students tend to need about 5 minutes between presentations to add their Appreciative Inquiry.

As students craft their feedback identifying what is going well and what the future looks like for the team, they are engaging in the Inquire phase of Watkins and Mohr’s (2001) Appreciative Inquiry 4-I Model.

After Class

As I typically use the whole class period for the presentations and Appreciative Inquiry to be added to the boards, I use the next class to work through the remaining Appreciative Inquiry phases. I have students review their online board and my assessment of their presentation (i.e., notes in the rubric and the grade). I give students about 30 minutes to review their sources of feedback and then discuss what they want to start, stop, and continue doing (See Appendix C for the guidance I provide for this follow-up in class discussion).

For Watkins and Mohr’s (2001) Appreciative Inquiry 4-I Model, both the Imagine and Innovate phases occur when students use the words and visuals to make connections to ongoing teamwork during their feedback sessions. As the instructor, after class I look through what they have written and created on the online boards. I also note where students are in their ability to give Appreciative Inquiry. Since I have two presentations in my leadership teams’ course, I adjust and realign expectations as necessary to help students develop their ability to engage in Appreciative Inquiry in their second attempt.

Variations

One variation you may want to consider is how many times you will use this activity. If you only have one presentation, you may need to provide extra support and training to students learning Appreciative Inquiry so that they get the most out of one opportunity. Another variation you may want to consider is making the online boards available after class to students who still need to add their Appreciative Inquiry feedback. Some students might want more than 5 minutes between presentations to process and write thoughtful feedback. Others may not have been able to secure technology to bring to class, and thus will add it later when they have access to a computer.

Another option you might want to consider is based on how your presentations are structured in your course. If you have one group presenting each week over the course of the term, you could also still use this activity. You could still set up all the boards in advance and teach Appreciative Inquiry before the first presentation. With the subsequent presentations, you can provide brief verbal instructions. The time dedicated to re-teaching Appreciative Inquiry before weekly presentations can also be adjusted based on the quality of Appreciative Inquiry feedback being provided in previous weeks.

Meeting Learning Objectives

Students use their peers’ Appreciative Inquiry feedback as one source of feedback when reviewing their presentation performance. The other sources of feedback that are used include my grading notes, and their peer evaluations from fellow group members where they use the CBIN (Context Behavior Impact Next steps) Model, which are not Appreciative Inquiry based. Thus, students complete the first learning objective of being able to distinguish between Appreciative Inquiry and other feedback methods. In addition, through their discussion they are working on the third learning objective of identifying opportunities for their team to be successful and imagine the team’s future.

Furthermore, students learn from each other. When they read the feedback their team was given, it helps improve their own understanding of what is and is not useful Appreciative Inquiry feedback. By writing Appreciative Inquiry to other teams and engaging in the activity twice, students complete the second learning objective of being able to compose Appreciative Inquiry feedback that highlights other teams’ strengths.

Common Reactions

As the online platform is available to those with the URL, students can go back to it any time. From my observations, students like the ability to add memes. They also like the positivity that is generated as a result (they tend to feel good about themselves). The online platforms are easy to use and students have told me they find it fun to create a visual representation of their feedback. In addition, I have found using the online boards is similar to how students normally relate to each other in group texts and social media. Moreover, similarly to what Bushe and Coetzer (1995) found in their study about Appreciative Inquiry in teams, I have also noticed that Appreciative Inquiry helps with developing the group’s image since they are able to identify areas where they collectively excel.

Conclusions

I found that online platforms can also be beneficial in the classroom to reduce paper use and visually represent the data provided through this Appreciative Inquiry activity. In addition, students learn a new positive feedback tool.