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Academic coaching is a one-on-one equal power relationship in which the coach uses a targeted style of questioning to encourage student self knowledge and self-regulation and challenge the student to build accountability, take initiative and persist. Although the entry point is academics, student performance is affected by many other factors. For this reason, coaching addresses the whole student and often moves into whatever other area the student identifies as related such as juggling work and school responsibilities, family factors and personal motivation.
It is important to clarify academic coaching vis-a-vis other higher education roles. Whereas advising is more specific to course choice and fulfillment of requirements and counseling focuses more on mental health and mentoring guides, a student in a mentors area of expertise, coaching provides an opportunity for the student to define their own unique needs and goals and receive targeted support toward those goals.
Academic coaching is an ongoing partnership to help students produce fulfilling results in their lives. This equal-power relationship is formed through meetings driven by the student’s own agenda and shaped by the coach’s use of strategic questioning that guides students to identify their own issues and generate their own plans and actions in response. Through the process of coaching, students deepen their learning, take responsibility for their actions, improve their effectiveness, and consciously create their outcomes in life.
Discussions
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