The pedagogical benefits of enacting positive psychology practices through a student–faculty partnership approach to academic development

Abstract

Academic development that supports the enactment of positive psychology practices through student–faculty pedagogical partnership can increase faculty confidence and capacity in their first year in a new institution. When student partners practice affirmation and encouragement of strengths-based growth, processes of faculty acclimation and self-authoring can be accelerated. This article presents a student–faculty pedagogical partnership program and positive psychology practices that focus on faculty strengths and capacities as the foundation for reinforcing and revising existing pedagogical strategies and for sustaining energy for continued development. It combines collaborative autoethnographic and comparative case study approaches to investigate the pedagogical benefits of these practices.

Keywords:

• Affirmation
• strengths-based growth
• student–faculty partnership
• positive psychology

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Mary Encabo, Damon Motz-Storey, and Alexandra Wolkoff for critical insights offered on and integrated into this discussion and to two anonymous reviewers and an IJAD editor for their suggestions for revising earlier drafts of this manuscript.