Appreciative Andragogy: Take the Distance out of Distance Learning

Online (or distance) learning continues to experience exponential growth in both the private and public sectors – attracting millions of learners as organizations and institutions extend their online reach by offering an array of virtual certifications, courses, and degrees. With the increased demand for online learning, instructors have had to quickly adapt their communication methods, teaching style, and instructional materials to this new, virtual environment. The challenge for most instructors is being able to help their students feel ‘connected’ to their class and to the instructor.

In online classrooms, learners are known primarily through their discussion posts and messages, which means an instructor may not learn much about them if they are not actively involved in the class – and that makes understanding their developmental needs and academic issues much more challenging. Maintaining excellence in online teaching therefore becomes a responsibility for instructors, during the best and worst of classroom circumstances.

What Appreciative Andragogy does is help instructors see their students from a broader perspective and learn more about their strengths so they can build from them. This is not to say that developmental issues should not be addressed, but it can be addressed from a positive perspective which will help to create a collaborative spirit as instructors and learners work together to improve their performance, motivation, and engagement in the class.

Appreciative Andragogy is an instructional strategy that combines the study of distance learning and the application of Appreciative Inquiry, a strength-based organizational development tool. This course presents an online teaching method that any instructor can implement in any online class to: increase their instructional effectiveness, build working relationships with students, increase the student retention rate, and improve student performance, motivation, and engagement in the class. One of the important aspects of this course is the application of the topics to practical classroom facilitation. This is a university quality course that has been designed in the same manner as courses taken with online schools.

Workshop Objectives:
After completing thie 12-week online workshop, you will be able to:

• Describe the challenges for distance learning and online teaching;
• Examine the core elements of Appreciative Inquiry;
• Analyze the concept of Appreciative Andragogy;
• Develop techniques to utilize the concept of Appreciative Andragogy in your online classroom;
• Implement the concept of Appreciative Andragogy into an instructional strategy for online teaching;
• Apply Appreciative Andragogy to a culminating individual action plan.

Workshop Designed For:
All online instructors will find this appreciative teaching strategy useful.

Workshop Pre-requisites:
There are no pre-requisities for the online workshop.

Workshop Schedule and Hours
This Appreciative Andragogy workshop is delivered in an asynchronous online environment and will encompass a wide variety of instructional interactions between the instructor and learner (e.g. email, online discussion boards) and include instructional materials and supplemental reading which will be provided upon registration.

Workshop Required Readings
The following books are required for this course:

• Johnson, B. (2013). Appreciative Andragogy: Taking the Distance Out of Distance Learning. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.
• Whitney, D., & Bloom, A. (2010). The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Please note: You will receive an autographed copy of Dr. Johnson's book, Appreciative Andragogy: Taking the Distance Out of Distance Learning, upon registration; however the book, The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change is not included in your registration and will need to be purchased separately.

Additional Workshop Information:
Professional development is an important aspect of a person's career development. Every employer expects that their employees will continue to learn and acquire new knowledge. For many careers this means taking courses, webinars, and even enrolling in degree programs. Some employers still offer tuition reimbursement; however, the amount available for employees has been decreasing significantly across many industries over the past few years. If you are an educator and work in the field of higher education, ongoing professional development is a requirement.
 
The question then becomes a matter of how to find quality sources for professional development courses, and more importantly, at an affordable cost. These courses have been developed by Dr. Bruce A. Johnson, an innovative educator with extensive experience in the field of higher education, distance learning, online teaching, faculty development, and career development.
 
More importantly, you will be working directly with Dr. J for each course lesson. Dr. J will provide mentoring and guidance through feedback provided with all assignments.
 
The courses offered will provide you with a professional development opportunity, without having to make a significant investment or enrolling in a degree program. While CEUs are not offered, you will receive a certificate after the completion of each course and you can display your accomplishment on your resume.
 
Important Class Notes:

• This is an online professional development course there is no formal classroom attendance requirement.
• In addition, there are no deadlines for each Lesson. You can work at your own pace.
• This course has 12 Lessons. With each Lesson there is a mini assignment that you submit to Dr. J via email for personalized, one-on-one mentoring and guidance. For each Lesson there are also assigned resources to review and a detailed overview that was written by Dr. J. There is a final cumulative assignment that is an action plan for you to use and apply the concepts you have studied. There are no quizzes. As part of the fee, you will receive a complimentary, autographed copy of Dr. J's book that the course was built from.

Workshop Creator and Instructor
Dr. Bruce A. Johnson, the creator of Appreciative Andragogy, is an academic leader and innovative educator with extensive experience in the field of higher education. Dr. J has expertise in higher education administration, adult education, distance learning, online teaching, faculty development, curriculum development, and instructional design, along with organizational learning and development. Dr. Johnson holds  a Ph.D. in Adult Education, a MBA, and a Certificate in Training and Performance Improvement. Dr. J has also published over 150 online articles related to distance learning, adult education, online teaching, and career development, along with three books related to distance learning.