Appreciative Inquiry and SLO Assessment: Starting with Strengths | Crystal Kiekel | Friday SLO Talks

What if SLO conversations started with what is working? In this Friday SLO Talk, Crystal Kiekel (Los Angeles Pierce College and 3CSN) crosswalks the Appreciative Inquiry cycle with the SLO assessment process and shows how a small change in the questions we ask can turn assessment fatigue into engagement, without lowering the standards of evidence. Key ideas: • Appreciative does not mean uncritical. The approach shapes the questions, not the evidence. • Gaps will always surface on their own. Finding strengths takes deliberate practice. • "A frustration is an unexpressed hope." Ask the dream question: if this were working, what would it look like? • Two questions you can always use: "What has worked so far?" and "If it were successful, what would it look like?" Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introduction 02:50 Session goals and community agreements 04:15 What is Appreciative Inquiry? 08:14 The cycle: Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver 10:14 Four types of appreciative questions 12:14 Why Appreciative Inquiry fits SLO work 14:25 Q&A: fatigue, resistance, and rigor 20:26 Crosswalk: Appreciative Inquiry and the SLO cycle 24:30 Appreciative does not mean uncritical 25:25 Reframing traditional SLO questions 29:24 Activity 1: Reframe an SLO question 33:26 Discussion: from rants to hopes 37:12 What this means for our practice 39:25 Activity 2: Find the strength in SLO data 45:45 Closing reflection Presenter: Crystal Kiekel, Los Angeles Pierce College; Professional Learning Coordinator, California Community Colleges Success Network (3CSN) Moderators: Jarek Janio (Santa Ana College) and Enrique Jauregui (Fresno City College) Recorded October 2, 2026 Resources COACHES: everything about SLOs: https://coaches.institute/ Friday SLO Talks blog: https://coaches.institute/blog/ Frequently Asked Questions About SLOs: https://coaches.institute/frequently-... Canvas Outcomes and SLO Assessment: https://coaches.institute/canvas-outc... National SLO Symposium, Call for Presenters: https://coaches.institute/slo-symposi... Join Praxis Commons, our online community: https://praxis-commons.circle.so/join... Join us live for Friday SLO Talks! Subscribe for weekly conversations about student learning outcomes assessment. #SLO #StudentLearningOutcomes #Assessment #AppreciativeInquiry #HigherEd #CommunityCollege