Presentation given at a JISC webinar about the PC3 project and the use of coaching within Education.

1. PC3: Coaching Ambassadors
Janet Finlay & Dawn Wood
Leeds Metropolitan University

2. Session Aims
 What is coaching?
 Where the idea came from
 Coaching Ambassadors
◦ The process
◦ Their ideas
◦ Their story
 Your questions
 Your ideas

3. PC3: Personalised Curriculum
Creation through Coaching
 Original aim: to develop curriculum
structures and technological support to
allow students to build their own
curriculum – supported by coaching
 Institutional changes from January 2009
forced iterative refocus.
 Aim now: embed coaching in the
curriculum to provide personalised
support for students and to enable them
to make independent, informed decisions
about their learning

4. What is coaching?
“The coach works with clients to
achieve speedy, increased and
sustainable effectiveness in their lives
and careers through focused learning.
The coach’s sole aim is to work with the
client to achieve all of the client’s
potential – as defined by the client”
(Rogers 2004 p7)

5. What is coaching?
 Focus on active listening and asking
open, incisive questions
 Resisting giving advice or leading
 Support coachee to find own solution
 Be a mirror to reflect back what the
coachee brings

6. How is it distinct from Mentoring?
Directive Non-directive
support support
Mentoring Coaching
 Similar skills – different “lens”
 Mentor usually more experienced in same
field – Coach may have no experience in
coachee’s field
 Equality – mentor usually senior to mentee –
coach and coachee equal

7. BA Sport Business
Management
 Course team embedded coaching
year on year into personal
development planning strand
◦ Initially: L4 students – staff-student
◦ Later: peer coaching across all levels – in
triads and pairs – inter-level and cross-
level
◦ Supporting (for example):
 Clarifying learning outcomes for placement
 Developing self-awareness and employability
skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Managing assessment and learning

8. Coaching Ambassadors
 Level 3 students
◦ Experienced coaching within their module
 Aims:
◦ To understand their experience of
coaching
◦ Their view of what is important to get
across
 Outputs:
◦ Ideas for promoting coaching
◦ Individual stories of coaching impact

9. An Open Brief
 What is your story in regard to
coaching?
◦ The benefits
◦ The pitfalls
 How do we promote the benefits of
coaching you have experienced to
other students (and staff) ?
 How did you devise this promotion
plan?
 If we are able to implement part of this
plan, what was the impact on students

10. Negotiated Data Capture
 Weekly email reflections
 Video or audio diary
 Facebook communication (or other
social site) giving access to
researcher
 Recorded Elluminate sessions
 Photographs, poster or other artefacts
 Written notes
 WHAT ELSE?

11. Results of the Negotiation
 As individuals you will contribute eight
semi-structured reflections
 As a group you will generate artefacts
from face-2-face meetings
 As a group you will set up a closed
Facebook page
 To do mini voice recorded interviews

12. What the students undertook
 Coaching Training 4*2 hour sessions
 Face-2-Face meetings to discuss their
ideas
◦ This was facilitated by their request
◦ Researcher captured data via white board
and recordings
 Surveys to capture what their
individual thoughts and stories were
◦ Questions drawn from the discussions

13. Their ideas

14. Ideas Generated by Students
1. You Tube Resources
2. Resources for PDP staff
3. Seminar training for staff
4. A generic module embedded at the
beginning of course
5. Feedback to current tutor
6. Interactive self-coaching tool
7. Review current modules/course and make
recommendations
8. Provided feedback to tutors after sessions
9. Resources for skills for learning site
10. Twitter stream as promotion (added later)

15. Their Plan

16. Their Plan
 Short Term
◦ Create Content for Module
◦ Consult with Nick
◦ Feedback for Staff
 Medium Term
◦ You Tube
◦ Resources for staff/skills for learning
◦ Twitter
 Long Term
◦ Interactive Self Coaching Tool
◦ Coaching Module across University
◦ Implement Coaching in Tutorials etc.

17. Their Discussion with Tutor

18. Main Themes
 Coaching office
◦ Part of assessment – volunteering
◦ Involve returning students
 Improving peer coaching by:
◦ Bringing levels 4 & 6 together
◦ Increase coaching training (Induction
week)
◦ Assess the coaching more –
theory/practice

19. Individual Stories: Student 1
 Experienced coaching during second year
 “sceptical about the whole experience”
 1st Year Coaching
◦ They wanted answers
◦ They need more understanding of coaching
◦ “It didn't really work”
 Developing Self-directed learning
◦ “100% this is the key advantage to coaching”
 Change to learning process
◦ “I make decisions based on what I actually want not
impulse. “
 Relation to Tutor
◦ “I ask myself the questions before I go to a tutor”

20. Self-Directed Learning
 “peer to peer coaching made me
(more) aware of my abilities, boosted
my self confidence and empowered
me to back my ideas and implement
them in assessments and group
activity”
 “I think that lecturers could coach
students with assignments rather than
just setting the task and then telling
students what to do. ”

21. What would be most
effective?
 “The most common issue among
students is time management. If
coaching was going to be incorporated
into the educational environment it would
be most effective if it happened to
revolve around this particular issue.”
 “Active listening is an obvious one that
myself and most students tend not to use
in seminar and lecture environments.”
 “The initial process of getting students to
look at there selves from the outside and
work out their own problems, “

22. Your Questions

23. Your Ideas
 How could you apply this within your
practice?
 What are the benefits you perceive for
your students/colleagues?
 What could you personally benefit
from?
 What else?