Using Appreciative Inquiry to Understand the Role of Teaching Practices in Student Well-being at a Research-Intensive University

Abstract

Appreciative inquiry (a research approach comprising four stages: Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny) was used at a research-intensive university to investigate which teaching practices positively influence student well-being (i.e., their health and quality of life). In a survey, undergraduate students were asked to select the teaching practices they believed best supported their well-being. Focus groups also were conducted, with: (1) students, and (2) instructors identified by students as using teaching practices that supported their well-being. Mixed-methods data-analyses subsequently were used to identify instructional strategies that support student well-being.

Keywords

• teaching practice
• student well-being
• student learning
• appreciative inquiry