The Heart of Appreciative Andragogy: An Innovative Online Teaching Strategy

Online or distance learning has experienced continued growth and has attracted millions of students as traditional and online colleges and universities expand their reach by offering virtual courses and degrees. It has made education accessible to students who would not otherwise have access to any other option. Educators have had to adapt to this environment and learn to communicate effectively through the written word. The challenge is being able to help students feel connected to their class and their instructor. Traditional methods of instruction must be adapted simply because instructors are not around and cannot take advantage of visual cues and physical interactions. Some instructors are effective at developing a virtual presence and others find the online platform too difficult to navigate or feel too distant from their students.

As an educator with extensive experience in online teaching and teacher development, I am fully aware of the challenge instructors face when trying to bridge the virtual gap. One of the inherent problems is that instructors develop a perception of students based on what they see or read. If students post an introduction at the beginning of the class that provides initial background information. But over time, instructors see what is posted on discussion boards and submitted in written assignments, and those words represent students, creating a lens through which they perceive them.

For example, if an instructor sees persistent typos in a student’s posts or papers, they may view this student in a negative light. This can lead to a deficit-based approach when interacting with the student. The main focus of her interactions and feedback will be on correcting those mistakes and tends to overshadow the positive accomplishments. A student who experiences what she perceives as ongoing negative interactions may disengage from class. While the instructor’s intention is to guide and teach the student, this approach has the potential to alienate the student and create resistance on the part of the student. Because I have seen the effects of these problems firsthand, I decided that a new instructional strategy was necessary.

What I found in my research was an organizational development technique known as appreciative inquiry, and I was immediately struck by its ability to help managers get the most out of their employees. It is a strengths-based approach that seeks to affirm and build on what the employee does best. There have been limited adaptations of Appreciative Inquiry for educational purposes, so I decided to find a way to implement it as an online instructional strategy. My doctoral studies focused on adult learning, which is based on a term called andragogy that distinguishes the teaching of adults from that of children. The phrase appreciative andragogy was born then as a means to connect the two concepts.

To test the potential of appreciative andragogy in online classes, a research study was conducted. I listed the online instructors as study participants and they tested this strategy in their online classes. This brought appreciative inquiry from an organizational setting to the online classroom. The results of this study have now been published so that other educators can adapt and use it in their online classes. Of course, the implementation of appreciative andragogy is not without its challenges. From an educator’s perspective, they should take the time to interact with the students and make an attempt to follow the process. It can also be difficult to show appreciation for a student who is not open to interactive communication or self-appreciative.

But what appreciative andragogy does is help educators see their students from a broader perspective and learn more about their strengths so they can build on them. This is not to say that developmental issues should not be addressed, but it can be done from a positive perspective and will help create a cooperative spirit as instructors and students work together to improve their performance. The study also found that appreciative andragogy had a positive impact on students’ motivation and engagement in class. The study concluded that appreciative andragogy had the ability to take the distance outside of distance learning. Any educator who teaches any subject will find this strategy useful.