These are techniques designed to elicit narrative accounts of educational experiences as a means of evaluating effectiveness of teaching and factors associated with student learning. Examples include the use of student journals or logs, focus groups, and interviews. Instead of providing numerical information, results often take the form of analytic categories supplemented with first-person narrative accounts.
The Impact of a Positive Psychology Course on Students' Lives: Results From a Collaborative Assessment
H. Russell Searight (Lake Superior State University, USA), Jaden R. Brandau (Lake Superior State University, USA), Hunter Diehl (Lake Superior State University, USA), Amy Earley (Lake Superior State University, USA), Vanessa Friisvall (Lake Superior State University, USA),
Lilionnah Hahn (Lake Superior State University, USA),
Makenzie L. Jacobson (Lake Superior State University, USA), Jake Jirsa (Lake Superior State University, USA), Christopher Juliano (Lake Superior State University, USA),
Sydney Kapushinski (Lake Superior State University, USA),
Luke A. Lyons (Lake Superior State University, USA), Irianely Sanchez Martinez (Lake Superior State University, USA), Alyssa Morley (Lake Superior State University, USA), Edyn Nettleton (Lake Superior State University, USA), Kira Passage (Lake Superior State University, USA), Amaya Simmons-Secord (Lake Superior State University, USA), James William Silbernagel (Lake Superior State University, USA), Pierre-Luc Veillette (Lake Superior State University, USA), Katie M. Swiderek (Lake Superior State University, USA), and Kathryn Welsch (Lake Superior State University, USA)
Positive Psychology, focusing on character strengths and virtues, meaning in life, and transcendence, encourages students to reflect on their lives. The course frequently uses questionnaires and assigned activities to promote reflection and resilience. While mandated by many universities, course assessment in higher education is typically characterized by quantitative reductionism, which may not capture students' experiential learning. A phenomenological perspective on assessment is particularly valuable since it can highlight the experiential impact of a course not captured by conventional learning outcomes. This chapter, co-authored with students, illustrates the value of collaborative inquiry, resulting in qualitative findings depicting which elements of a Positive Psychology course were particularly meaningful and how students' perspectives and prior assumptions were challenged.