Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 1 | Page 10

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2018, Vol. 1
What does this mean for coach education?
Learning collaboratively offers coaching and coaches
a valuable opportunity to share knowledge, develop
professional practice and work with others to
generate solutions to coaching problems. Moreover,
evidence from teaching suggests that using
collaborative learning as continuing professional
development has benefits for both the teacher and
their students (potentially, in the case of the coach,
and the athlete).
Mentoring provides a good example of collaborative
learning, where two or more people are working
together to enhance learning. Recent technological
advances offer the opportunity to consider
how mentoring might be conducted online, as
e-mentoring. Although empirical support for this
is limited at this time, it may play a useful role
in coach education. A successful example of how
this might be conducted has been taken from
Mentornet 3 , a USA-based online service designed to
match mentors and mentees in the STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.
Mentornet provides a good example of how a range
of communication technologies might be used to
encourage collaborative learning (eg online chats
or Google Hangouts). Being able to engage in the
mentoring process without having to be in a specific
place and time may make connecting with mentors
and mentees easier. Mentornet also provides a
good example of processes that are designed to
facilitate productive interactions and promote
equal contributions, highlighted as important by
the research above. For example, they provide
weekly prompts or discussion points that account
for the student’s level of study and specific subject
interests, and also provide suggestions for setting
goals and boundaries for the mentoring process.
Other good collaborative learning practices that
might be used by coaches include the development
of working groups that set out to explore and
provide solutions to coaching problems. The
research findings above suggest that groups might
find it beneficial to include the role of a facilitator,
and to agree on some structural elements to the
group processes that ensure fair distributions of
the contributions made to the group. Such groups
might also consider how technology can play
a role in bringing the group together in a more
virtual environment if, for example, there is a
need to reduce geographical or cost barriers.
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Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is an approach used
whereby the problem forms an initial starting base
for learning where skills and expertise develop as
a result of finding, creating and testing solutions.
This helps learners develop not only subject-specific
knowledge but also skills around problem solving.
Savery (2006) suggests problem-based learning is a
learner-centred activity that promotes responsibility
and ownership, as well as collaboration with others.
It relies on the provision of “ill-structured” problems
(that represent real-world and messy problems)
that allow the learner to explore and discover the
nature of the problem and engage with the process
to help resolve it. Problem-based learning often
involves a degree of self-directed learning that is
fed back to the group, and relies on good debriefing
or analysis to establish effective solutions, or
reflection on the process needed to get there.
What evidence is there to support problem-based
learning?
Key messages that emerged from the review:
• Many of the reviews around problem-based
learning focus on higher education and
professional practice qualifications, particularly in
health (eg doctors, nurses and dentists).
• Although there was a concern around the quality
and quantity of research studies available, reviews
demonstrated that problem-based learning was
effective in improving or developing particular
learner outcomes (eg examination scores).
• Reviews were more confident in suggesting
that problem-based learning demonstrates
some effectiveness in developing particular
skills (eg applying concepts, communication
skills, flexible working, critical thinking
and self-directed learning).
• The research also highlights that the
problem-based learning environment can result in
more positive perceptions of the learning process
and those within it, and that learners appear to
enjoy this mode of learning.