The subject of talent in sport continues to fascinate and intrigue as organisations seek to identify and deliver an effective talent development programme in an effort to ensure systemic success. In the quest to deliver an optimal national governing body talent development programme, this paper investigates the role that Appreciative Inquiry can…

Elements of strength-based pedagogy are evident in current practices being implemented in Canadian schools as well as internationally. Classroom teachers appreciate the importance of creating a positive learning environment for students where the latter feel a sense of belonging, choice, and self-efficacy toward their learning (Deci & Ryan,…

The goal of this study was to learn how school leaders in a complex adaptive system that is a suburban public high school influenced a process of adaptive change to the instructional core and how they were influenced by the process. For many years, U.S. public school leaders have faced challenges from the rapid pace of change in their internal and…

The purpose of this paper is to share our pedagogical evolution as graduate faculty in relationship with increasingly diverse cohort communities of early childhood professionals learning across the landscape of leadership roles engaged with young children, families, and other adults. The early childhood leadership program described in this paper…

As one of two newly-hired Learning & Development (L&D) consultants for the Vancouver School District (VSD), the author, along with an administrator, was tasked to design and implement a new district-wide focus around two core questions: "What Do We Know About Learning?" and "What Are We Doing About It?" In the spring of…

I examined the embedding of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in three micro-cases at Northeastern Regional Community College (NERC). This community college is a rarity for the way AI was adopted as an operational philosophy throughout the institution. The purpose of this research was to understand institutional agents' and students' perceptions of the…

In November 2019, scholars and practitioners from ten higher education institutions celebrated the launch of the iKudu project. This project, co-funded by Erasmus[superscript +], focuses on capacity development for curriculum transformation through internationalisation and development of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) virtual…

The concept of quality culture has gained increased attention in health professions education, drawing on insights that quality management processes and positive work-related attitudes of staff in synergy lead to continuous improvement. However, the directions that guide institutions from quality culture theory to educational practice have been…

This practice paper describes how leadership education faculty and students at Virginia Tech have facilitated change through the use of appreciative inquiry (Ai) at the departmental level, program level, and project level. Appreciative inquiry has been found to be a useful tool for leadership educators, as its foundation in social constructionist…

Collaborative problem solving, creativity, innovation, and continuously improved performance outcomes are the normative expectations for organizations in the early 21st century. At the same time, workers seek not only equitable compensation for their efforts, but also opportunities for professional growth and development as well as acknowledgement…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to advance the preparation of prospective school administrator students by extending the Web 2.0 application of blogging to discover students' strengths and successful leadership experiences. During the blogging process, students reflected on and responded to appreciative inquiry (AI) blog posts that…

Urban schools often experience rapid turnover among teachers and leaders. Yet, research and practice highlight the importance of sustained leadership over time as an integral component of school improvement. Successful leadership requires principals who operate in multiple dimensions at once, moving from individual capacity to group empowerment,…

Introduction: This paper discusses an "information in context" design project at Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado which aims to collaboratively create organizational structures and communication systems with and for library employees. Method: This action research project is founded within shared leadership, informed learning and…

In an era of unprecedented challenges and rapid change, community colleges need effective leadership that brings out the best in people, organizations, and communities. This qualitative study was based on interpretive research using appreciative inquiry (AI). AI is based on social constructivist theory and is a collaborative and highly…