...the average increase for students completing four or more appointments during the 2011-2012 school year was around 2/3 of a letter grade.
Studies demonstrate that students who participate in Academic Coaching are 10 to 15% more likely to persist toward their degree and have higher graduation rates than their peers.
What is Academic Coaching
Academic Coaching is a service offered by the University of Cincinnati Learning Assistance Center. Coaches are versatile and act as mentors to students who want help in any area related to academia. Coaches work with students to look at learning styles, study and work habits, motivation, and the student's future. A personal plan with realistic but high achieving goals is set with the student, and the coach and student meet periodically to check in and modify the plan if need be. The role of a coach is to provide support and teach the student valuable skills that serve and motivate the student towards success.
More information can be found at the LAC website.
More information can be found at the LAC website.
My Experience as a Coach
It was nearing the end of fall semester of my junior year when my good friend and coworker Marcus Germany recommended I be an academic coach. He said that my patience and academic skills would be great for the position. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I figured I'd enjoy getting involved in another leadership position. What I experienced as a coach was unlike any of my previous experiences.
The training was intense and backed by a lot of theories and research. However, I soon realized that being an Academic Coach is a like being a fellow student adviser and mentor. Unlike a tutor, my role was not to teach the material, but instead teach skills. It falls in line with the vapid lesson, "give a man a fish and he is fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he is fed for a lifetime." Fishing in this sense signifies the skills and qualities a student needs to succeed.
Of course, there was no good in lecturing the student for an hour meeting. Reading body language will show you the student loses interest within minutes. Instead, a coach had to work on a relationship with the student. I had to work to get the student to identify in themselves what was working for them and what wasn't working for them. For example, I could ask, "How did your history exam go Monday?" and the student could reply, "I did fine.Could've studied more" I'd ask, "what was it that was keeping you from studying? How do you feel about this test?" I often had to probe with questions and get the student to respond so that they knew what strategies work well and what they need to work harder on.
Many of the students who came in were in danger of not returning to college because of an excessively low GPA. With these students, I found that none of them were unintelligent. Some were flustered by the transition from high school to college, some took their newfound freedom and exploited it without realizing their responsibility as a student. Others still simply had no motivation because they lacked a long term career goal and didn't see the value in their classes. Some students had to work almost full time to support a family, while others lacked basic time management skills. I saw around twenty five students throughout the semester and each student had his or her own background. I had to meet each student where they were and work from that point.
As one might expect, that is a lot to keep track of. The coaching position challenged me to stay organized, because if I didn't I would lose track of a student's progress. Each student had a folder where I as a coach would keep notes, their personal goals, and updates on what strategies were covered.
I found myself using transformational leadership, discussed in my Exploring Leadership seminar. I had to show my passion for the student and their academics and inspire and motivate the student. I couldn't act as a directive leader, just ordering the student to do A, B and C, but had to build rapport with the student and get them to commit to their own success.
Coaching also allowed me to network with the staff advisers for each college and even deans. As someone who likes to see concrete results, I enjoyed seeing my students succeed at the end of the semester. One engineering student went from a 0.9 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Another student, this time a pre-nursing major, went from a 1.4 GPA to a 3.0 GPA. I am amazed with the students. I know my coaching has helped them, but as a coach I couldn't do their work for them: their success was their doing.
Coaching was a wonderful experience and by being a coach I became more organized and engaged as a student. While I enjoyed getting to know students and seeing them grow and succeed, I wanted to spend more of my time with what I had already identified as my passion: Spanish and medicine.
The training was intense and backed by a lot of theories and research. However, I soon realized that being an Academic Coach is a like being a fellow student adviser and mentor. Unlike a tutor, my role was not to teach the material, but instead teach skills. It falls in line with the vapid lesson, "give a man a fish and he is fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he is fed for a lifetime." Fishing in this sense signifies the skills and qualities a student needs to succeed.
Of course, there was no good in lecturing the student for an hour meeting. Reading body language will show you the student loses interest within minutes. Instead, a coach had to work on a relationship with the student. I had to work to get the student to identify in themselves what was working for them and what wasn't working for them. For example, I could ask, "How did your history exam go Monday?" and the student could reply, "I did fine.Could've studied more" I'd ask, "what was it that was keeping you from studying? How do you feel about this test?" I often had to probe with questions and get the student to respond so that they knew what strategies work well and what they need to work harder on.
Many of the students who came in were in danger of not returning to college because of an excessively low GPA. With these students, I found that none of them were unintelligent. Some were flustered by the transition from high school to college, some took their newfound freedom and exploited it without realizing their responsibility as a student. Others still simply had no motivation because they lacked a long term career goal and didn't see the value in their classes. Some students had to work almost full time to support a family, while others lacked basic time management skills. I saw around twenty five students throughout the semester and each student had his or her own background. I had to meet each student where they were and work from that point.
As one might expect, that is a lot to keep track of. The coaching position challenged me to stay organized, because if I didn't I would lose track of a student's progress. Each student had a folder where I as a coach would keep notes, their personal goals, and updates on what strategies were covered.
I found myself using transformational leadership, discussed in my Exploring Leadership seminar. I had to show my passion for the student and their academics and inspire and motivate the student. I couldn't act as a directive leader, just ordering the student to do A, B and C, but had to build rapport with the student and get them to commit to their own success.
Coaching also allowed me to network with the staff advisers for each college and even deans. As someone who likes to see concrete results, I enjoyed seeing my students succeed at the end of the semester. One engineering student went from a 0.9 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Another student, this time a pre-nursing major, went from a 1.4 GPA to a 3.0 GPA. I am amazed with the students. I know my coaching has helped them, but as a coach I couldn't do their work for them: their success was their doing.
Coaching was a wonderful experience and by being a coach I became more organized and engaged as a student. While I enjoyed getting to know students and seeing them grow and succeed, I wanted to spend more of my time with what I had already identified as my passion: Spanish and medicine.