Management Teaching Review 2017, Vol. 2(2) 141–150 © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/2379298116683324 journals.sagepub.com/home/mtr Experiential Exercises Appreciative Inquiry: An Experiential Exercise and Course Feedback Tool Terri A. Scandura 1 Abstract The action research method of appreciative inquiry (AI) was employed to develop a teaching tool. This exercise involves students’ reflections on a course, noting when they learned the most. The AI process of appreciating, envisioning, dialoging, and innovating is used to help students reflect on how they learn. Instructors of all types of courses at both the undergraduate and master’s degree levels gain understanding of student learning and ideas on how to improve courses. The exercise and sample responses from students are provided to demonstrate how the exercise works. Three variations are presented: mapping the exercise onto Kolb’s learning styles, running the exercise at the midpoint of a course, and a case study of an AI implementation in an organization. Keywords appreciative inquiry, experiential exercise, learning styles Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an organizational development (OD) intervention that is an example of action research. Action research is the process of problem specification and then interventions (i.e., actions) until the researcher understands how the interven- tion is affecting the organization. AI is “a search for knowledge and a theory of intentional collective action which are designed to help evolve the normative vision and will of a group, organization, or society as a whole” (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987, p. 159). The assumption is that 1 University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA Corresponding Author: Terri A. Scandura, Department of Management, School of Business Administration, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA. Email: scandura@miami.edu 683324MTR XX X 10.1177/2379298116683324Management Teaching ReviewScandura research-article 2016