Coaching Course: How to Train Like A Coach Part 1

**This coaching course combines online learning with face-to-face skills coaching sessions conducted in small groups in Singapore.

While MOOCs are easily accessible, its registrants often need a face-to- face learning environment to help anchor learning. The Coaching Accreditation Programme (CAP) will target learners who are revered subject matter experts (SMEs) with domain knowledge and experience. As SMEs, they may forget what it is like to be a novice or new entrant to a field, grappling with an overwhelming load of new concepts and skills. As holders of knowledge and skills, the expertise of SMEs can trip them up, becoming a barrier to their teaching as, in their attempt to share their knowledge, they end up ‘teaching by telling’ which is not helpful to the novices in the class.

The CAP acknowledges the learners’ domain expertise and offers a safe and supportive learning space. Participants discuss, share and experiment so that they gradually assimilate into their own practice as ‘learning coaches’ – whereby they are able to coach others on their domain. 

Unlike more conventional TTT training programmes, the CAP will focus on basic threshold concepts that are key to facilitating meaningful engagement and structured learning. Examples of threshold concepts are the notions of engaged learning and structured active learning which are deemed critical to effective adult learning. The programme facilitates a series of conversations and activities around such key concepts to surface requisite evidence of ‘coaching for learning’ competencies. The CAP will be a blended learning programme, comprising e-learning (via a Massive Open Online Course) followed by two classroom-based workshops which will anchor the learning with discussions and applications of key concepts. The objective is that domain experts will be able to design and facilitate face-to- face coaching sessions to accompany MOOC/online learning courses. 

So what will participants learn from this course?

Participants (SMEs) will be able to describe how facilitation basics can be used to purposefully and easily engage their learners. Upon completion of the MOOC, learners will reflect on how they will apply their key learning to designing and delivering a coaching plan to accompany a MOOC course of their choice.