Appreciative Inquiry into passion for learning

Aims of the tool

· To get into contact with your own passion for learning
· To increase awareness of your own learning and strengths as a learner
· To encourage a positive approach towards learning during the activity

Description of the tool

Divide the participants into pairs and give them the handout for this exercise in three steps:

Step 1: Remember your story

First, individually, the participants take a few minutes to remember a moment in their lives when they were really passionate about learning something and write it down.

Step 2: Tell your story

Second, they tell the story to their partner in as much detail as possible. Together, they are invited to look deeper into what was experienced in the story, using the questions given in the handout.
After this step, they exchange roles: the storyteller becomes the listener and vice versa.

Step 3: Imagine the future

The participants imagine themselves in the future, being passionate about learning during a similar
activity (e.g. training course, EVS). The partner helps the visualisation process using the guiding
questions from the handout. After some time, they exchange roles again.
Afterwards, both are invited to draw a future image of themselves using the creative material and tools provided (with some nice inspirational music in the background).
When the drawings are finished, they share their images on the ‘Wall of Passionate Learning’. The
gallery remains throughout the activity and serves as a source of inspiration during the learning process.

Debriefing

The exercise usually ends with an exhibition, but if there is still time, you may use some of the following debriefing questions:
· How did it feel to talk about your passion?
· Was it easy to remember the stories?
· How did listening to each other’s stories affect you as a listener?
· What have you learnt about ‘passion for learning’?
· How was it to imagine ‘passionate learning’ in the future?
· What steps are you willing to take towards that vision?