Virtual Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (vAIFT)

What might be possible if a community of individuals were fully engaged and using their strengths to collectively achieve shared visions?

Appreciative Inquiry is a collaborative, strengths-based approach to both personal and organizational development that is proving to be highly effective in thousands of organizations and communities in hundreds of countries around the world. It is a way of bringing about change that shares leadership and learning, fully engaging everyone in the organization.

The Virtual Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (vAIFT) © is a two-week online certification program that engages participants to learn about the foundations and principles of Appreciative Inquiry as well as provide the skills necessary to facilitate appreciative inquiry sessions in all human systems (large or small). This course teaches the basics of Appreciative Inquiry (e.g. principles, 5-Ds, supporting theory and research, etc.) but delves deeper by providing experiential exercises that teach participants how to define the topic of inquiry, practice positive framing, work with core teams, design and field test an interview protocol, and more…

This Appreciative Inquiry foundations course includes mini-lectures, and experiential learning (individual, pairs, trios, small group, and large group) as well as auditory and visual materials to enhance the learning experience.

Leaders in businesses and corporations, community development, educational organizations, governmental organizations, and nonprofit organizations–in short, anyone who wants to learn how to facilitate Appreciative Inquiry.

The virtual Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (vAIFT) is designed to be a blended learning experience. This means portions of the course will be delivered synchronously (in real-time through services like Zoom) and asynchronously (you read and participate in activities and exercises at a time/pace/place that works best for you to be ready for the synchronous session). The combination of synchronous and asynchronous work will equate to 26 training hours (same as our face-to-face AIFT program). Participants will need to complete the program in its entirety to be eligible to earn their AI Facilitator Certification, this includes participating in all synchronous sessions.

Please note: the synchronous portions of the vAIFT are highly experiential and will not be recorded. The vAIFT Trainers will be utilizing breakout rooms to develop community and trust amongst participants, conduct paired interviews, and engage in small group discussions and reflections.

To ensure that all participants are off to a strong start, your vAIFT trainers will host a live orientation session via Zoom on Monday, May 8th at 9:00am Pacific Time. Orientation allows you to connect with your trainers, engage with participants, become familiar with LearnDash (our online learning platform), and ask questions about pre-workshop reading and activities prior to your first vAIFT session in Zoom on Monday, May 15, 2023.

The SYNCHRONOUS portion (‘real time’ learning with your vAIFT trainers). The virtual AIFT program is an intensive, accelerated program spanning over the course of 2-weeks. Below are the hours for live interaction and collaboration with your vAIFT trainers and cohorts:

*Please note: all times listed above are Pacific Standard Time (PST)

The ASYNCHRONOUS portion of your training begins:

• Monday, May 8, 2023 with introductory activities and runs throughout the 2 weeks of synchronous learning. You will receive login information to the Center for Appreciative Inquiry’s (CAI) online learning platform closer to the vAIFT start date.

AIFT is divided into 4 ‘segments’. Each segment consists of modules containing exercises, readings, and discussions.

SEGMENT I – EXPERIENCING APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

Learn basic processes and experience AI by participating in a facilitated Appreciative Inquiry led by the Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training Trainers

SEGMENT II – UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY

Actively learn about the concepts, principles, theories and research.

SEGMENT III – PLANNING AND DESIGNING AN APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY SESSION

Plan and practice how you will begin helping your organization, group, or community build upon their strengths.

SEGMENT IV – PRACTICING APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY APPLICATIONS

• Practice exercises you can take home to use Appreciative Inquiry in your personal and professional life.
• Practice choosing the best language, words for facilitating Appreciative Inquiry within a particular culture.
• Begin developing your plan to become a certified Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator by completing a Practicum/Supervised Experience.

We will start our synchronous sessions on time and work diligently to maintain the vAIFT schedule, honoring our commitment to the learning experience. We have found full participation to be the most productive for the participants and the trainers.

As a fully engaged participant in the Virtual Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (vAIFT^©), you will leave the workshop better able to:

1. Create/enhance your personal way of being and doing in order to use an appreciative approach; focus on what’s right in your world, so that you can deeply inquire into what’s right and why, and then find ways of intentionally creating more of what’s right in your world.
2. Facilitate individuals, groups, organizations, and communities to create collective ways of being and doing using an appreciative approach; that will help them focus on what’s right so that they can deeply inquire into what’s right and why, and then find ways of intentionally working with them to both create more of what’s right and envision innovation and new ways of being and doing.

To obtain a letter of completion (and to be eligible for consideration for AI Facilitator Certification) each participant must complete 26 training hours. Letters of completion include your name, date of your training, and number of classroom hours earned.

Each of our certification courses require a written practicum (‘narrative’) of your work. The learning management system will be accessible to you to review materials for a full year after the vAIFT. The purpose of your practicum is to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, its various applications, what you learned, etc. Participants will submit their practicum for review by our Practicum Review Committee which consists of 2-4 seasoned Ai practitioners. It is standard practice for the panel to engage participants in a conversation (conducted virtually) about their practicum. Typically, they will respond with questions to deepen their and the participant’s mutual understanding of, and learning about, AI. The practicum review is therefore a dialogical and interactive process.

Participants have up to one year from the date of their training to submit their practicum for review. During this time, your trainers make themselves available to you for mentoring and support (at no additional cost) as you work through your first inquiry. Your mentoring/support can be done via telephone, skype, zoom, etc. You and your trainers can arrange a time and platform in which to conduct these sessions. Learn more about our Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Certification requirements here.

Once certified, your Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Certification lasts for 2 years. AI Certification with the Center for Appreciative Inquiry includes:

• Appreciative Inquiry Certification document that will be emailed to you for your records;
• Center for Appreciative Inquiry Certification logo that you are welcome to embed on your website or include in your email signature;
• Listing on our Appreciative Inquiry Directory. Your Ai Directory listing is an editable profile page that includes your photo and professional biography that highlights your specialties, articles, videos and testimonials. Directory profiles are easy to create and update and will make you locatable by our worldwide audience. All Directory profiles will remain visible on our website for the duration of your certification. Our Appreciative Inquiry certification is good for 2 years; after which you may renew your Ai certification. You can learn more about the benefits of our AI Directory here.

Participants will receive login information to the Center for Appreciative Inquiry’s (CAI) online learning platform closer to the training date. We will open the online platform to participants prior to the start of the training. This allows participants time to navigate the software and become acquainted with the various features and tools it offers, introduce themselves to their trainers and other vAIFT participants, and access all pre-workshop reading and materials.

All fees are due upon registration.  Your full participation is very important to us and we know that from time to time, your plans to attend one of our workshops or programs may change.  Our refund policy reflects our interest in your continued growth and learning journey as well as our planning needs and expenses incurred based on your enrollment. For more information about our Refund Policy, please click here.

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