COURSE SYLLABUS / OVERVIEW
Integrating Coaching into Education
For a video explaining the course and its design go to: https://youtu.be/I_ZNBoJFmzM Augments this Course Syllabus / Overview
Example Quest Components: Getting Out of the Expert Trap!
(This is an actual Quest in the course)
- Opening Video – https://youtu.be/FNgNkGdZipA
- Quest Instructions, Resources Page & Submission Details - http://classroomcoachingcultures.weebly.com/ccq4-getting-out-of-the-expert-trap.html
Primary Instructor / Moderator:
Barry Switnicki, PCC, BCC, ECPC, Cert. Con. Res. B.Ed Grad. Dip.
Email: [email protected]
Skype: bestmentor
Twitter: @coachswitnicki
Barry is an Erickson Certified Professional Coach, a Master Certified Coach (International Coach Federation) and a Master Business and Life Coach (PRC). He has been a professional coach for over twenty years and a coach mentor and assessor for more than ten years.
Barry has been teaching online and face-to-face for over ten years. He has a post-graduate diploma in online learning and teaching and is presently completing a Masters degree in education.
Virtual Office Hours:
By appointment via email or Skype
Via telephone or Online appointments
There will also be visiting guest experts whose contact information will be posted on the Course Homepage.
Primary Course Website:
3D GameLab http://rezzly.com/
Course Description:
This course provides an introduction to integrating a solution-focused coaching approach into educational course design and delivery. Solution-focused coaching is very different from sports type coaching and much of what is being called coaching currently practiced in education. This course is online which supports greater flexibility for participants allowing them to learn in their best manner, at their best pace. It also uses a gamified learning management system that incorporates quest-based learning, narrative, experience points, badges and rewards. The course incorporates educational design best practices and provides a technologically rich learning environment. Depending on the students' interest and motivation, learning can range from a basic comprehension level to a more in-depth understanding and skill-set. Students may choose to focus on course design, course delivery, or both.
Prerequisite: Be a practicing teacher or teacher in training
Course Overarching Learning Concepts:
Through course activities, online discussions, readings and research, it is expected that students will:
- Understand the concept, of how a Solution Focused Coaching approach integrated into educational course design and delivery will up-level their existing skill-set.
- Be able to apply the concepts of integrating a solution-focused coaching approach into their own course design and delivery.
- Be able to understand the need to get buy-in from students and other stakeholders when integrating a coaching approach into the learning environment.
- Have the capability to develop strategies to introduce benefits of a coaching approach in the classrooms and get buy-in from various stakeholder groups and individuals.
Course Resources:
There are no materials that need to be purchased for this course. The course is quest (module) based. Each quest provides access to a range of video, audio and print resources. In-house video and audio resources are accompanied by transcripts to provide greater accessibility for participants. There are three blog areas that also double as repositories for student and expert artifacts that participants can access during and after they have finished the course. These are:
- A community blogspace to support participants and the concept of community learning as well as mutual mentorship and co-learning during and after the course ( Coaching Cultures in the Classroom Google+ Blogspace https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/109957446295936136749 ).
- A blogspace and repository that focuses on conversations, ideas, and strategies to support buy-in of various stakeholder groups such as students, parents, administrators and other potential collaborators ( Stakeholder Ideas - Coaching Cultures Google+ Blogspace and Repository https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116176442250062304900 ).
- A blogspace and repository that is devoted to practical ideas, strategies, tools, advice and support for incorporating a coaching approach into course design and delivery. This also includes supporting and promoting educational coaching cultures ( Practical Ideas - Coaching Cultures Google+ Blogspace and Repository https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/113080123988070035684 ).
This course supports the philosophy of open educational resources ( https://www.oercommons.org/ ) and the materials created "in-house" have Creative Commons licenses (https://creativecommons.org/ ).
Course Dates:
None. Course may be started at any time.
Course Duration:
This course will take between 25 to 50 hours to complete depending on interest level, focus, and motivation of the participant. It will also be dependent on the level of certification the participant is studying to complete.
Course Components:
This course has an open format whereby students can match their motivation, areas of focus, interest and available time and energy to their studies. Course completion is layered. Students may have a number of different focuses that will give them varying numbers of experience points (XP) that contribute to their completion at different levels and competency areas. These areas are:
Basic Coach 3.0 Educator
Basic Coach 3.0 Educator / Delivery Focus
Basic Coach 3.0 Educator / Design Focus
Advanced Coach 3.0 Educator / Design & Delivery Focus
Masterful Coach 3.0 Educator
The experience point system (XP) is designed so 1 point equals approximately 1 minute of learning time, 60 points equaling 1 hour.
Approximate completion times for the various levels are:
21 hours / 1300XP - Basic Coach 3.0 Educator
24 hours / 1500XP - Basic Coach 3.0 Educator / Delivery Focus
26 hours / 1600XP - Basic Coach 3.0 Educator / Design Focus
30 hours / 1800XP - Advanced Coach 3.0 Educator / Design & Delivery Focus
40 hours / 2600XP - Masterful Coach 3.0 Educator
The course is broken down into Quests (modules) that are grouped together in areas of focus. Each Quest has an estimated completion time which is linked to the number of XP participants are awarded when the Quest is complete. The majority of Quest completion submissions are examined by the moderator and participants may be given feedback and suggestions for further research and awareness. Some Quests simply have actions or process to be completed and are automatically given approval within the system design. Quests vary in estimated length from 15 to 150 minutes.
Quest Areas of Focus:
Navigation / Setting the Stage - 4 Quests
Basic Concepts - 7 Quests
Course Design - 4 Quests
Delivery Style - 3 Quests
Coaching Toolbox - 5 Quests
Masters Toolbox - 3 Quests
Trying It Out - 11 Quests (these are skills-based quests directly related to the participants situation) There is also a reoccurring practical skills based quest.
Total Quests - 37 plus one reoccurring quest
In addition to collecting XP for completion of Quests there are various rewards and incentives providing additional XP that participants collect contributing towards their completion of their specific certification.
As participants finish Quests, other Quests will become visible reducing overwhelm and creating greater anticipation. To see a visual of the Quest Chain go the Appendix at the end of this document.
Note: Studies have shown that participants in gamified learning environments usually expend more energy than they expect. It is very easy to become immersed in the program and to spend much more time and energy than the minimum commitment. Of course, this simply means that participants learn more deeply and integrate faster AND it can have significant impact on time management schedules.
Overview of the Course:
The course is for educators wanting to abolish boredom in the classroom and enjoy teaching more. It will up-level their expertise and effectiveness in the areas of course design and course delivery. As educators successfully finish the program they will be able to support their own students to be more engaged, take greater ownership for their learning, and learn more deeply. This is done by the educator incorporating a solution-focused coaching approach into their existing style of course design and delivery.
The course has a broader scope than simply teaching how to incorporate coaching concepts. It is common in professional development courses that participants experience some increase in skill development that lowers over time, often due to not incorporating the skills permanently into their routines. This is often due to lack of buy-in, lack of time and energy to incorporate the new learning, and lack of follow-up and support. This course is designed to support the participant by creating processes for them to make informed decisions about the validity of the concepts and how they would fit into their present teaching and design styles. As their buy-in happens, participants will also be exposed to ways and means to get buy-in from their students and other stakeholders. The course has a "Community of Learning" component providing forums for contributing, and having access to practical strategies, tips, plans, ideas and new awareness's from other participants.
The intention is to support participants of the course to buy-in, learn the concepts, and start to incorporate them habitually. It is also designed to be a venue for follow-up support, and community, to continue developing greater expertise incorporating a coaching approach and creating a coaching culture in their learning environment, virtual or real.
The coaching components for education have been primarily adapted from modern solution-focused coaching concepts. These are very different from traditional sports coaching and much of what is being called coaching currently practiced in education. The concepts are similar to what is being practiced in business and life coaching as approved and accredited by the International Coach Federation ( https://www.coachfederation.org/ ) and other coaching regulatory bodies worldwide. Some of the primary foundational concepts addressed in the course are:
- Coaching is collaborative, not authoritarian, relationship that is a systemic and solution focused process that supports ongoing self-directed learning and personal growth ( This is from Stober and Grants book, Evidence Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients, 2006)
- The coach is not responsible for supplying the answers.
- Coaching is an inquiry-based process that incorporates open questions and other tools and strategies to support people to come up with their best solutions.
- Coaching incorporates current brain, creativity and solution-finding research. This includes current understanding of how people process, learn and integrate their learning.
- Coaching incorporates mental rehearsal, visualization and imagining to support more effective and efficient solution-finding, learning and integration.
- Coaching does not focus on problems, instead the focus is on solutions and the future.
- Have an easily modelled and taught structure that supports greater efficiency achieving solutions and goals.
- Places structured attention and builds greater buy-in, motivation, engagement, and personal responsibility for participants.
These concepts have been adapted and tested for both course design and the classroom and align very well with current best practices in teaching today. Students will learn at the higher levels of the revised Blooms Taxonomy, and will being more engaged and responsible for their learning process. Another benefit is that students and teachers tend to be more satisfied and happy.
The course models a coaching approach. It exposes participants to a cutting-edge quest-based online course design that incorporates a gamified, experiential, inquiry-based, multimedia approach. Participants become part of a learning community that is intended to continue long after they finish. It has a non-linear, options-based progression to allow the participant greater flexibility and choice. It "walks the talk."