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Alex Twitchen Post 1

• 29 October 2020, 5:18 PM

Learning online is not the same as online learning. Implications for coach education and development

Looking forward to comments on the article. It is something I'm thinking of developing into a longer piece.

Andrew Beaven Post 2 in reply to 1

• 5 November 2020, 5:22 PM

Definitely recognise the concept.

Two immediate Qs:

  1. Thoughts on which might be more effective and efficient?
  • Personal experience (coach CPD before and during lockdown) has been that retention and transfer into practice might be greater for Learning Online (LO) than structured Online Learning (OL). Might be because LO tends to involve more “reading around” a topic and often sense-making (in a blog post), whereas OL can simply end with certification.
Is there a role for coach developers/educators in curating or mediating content for learning online?

Alex Twitchen Post 3 in reply to 2

• 5 November 2020, 8:56 PM

Thanks for the comments Andrew. I find my engagement with online learning is really influenced by how well the course has been designed and how easy it is to navigate. I also find that I often share and discuss what I have found online with my colleagues that I coach with. I engage with something online but often think about it, reflect and process it through discussion with others when we meet. It highlights the complexity of understanding the learning process.

I think coach developers and coach educators can in a way act as mediators/curators but I would be wary of giving and directing advice to coaches. I would let coaches navigate the world of online opportunities themselves, discover things and then use me as a sounding board to chat and discuss the ideas and content they have found further. I'm undertaking this process at the moment. A fellow coach at our club is undertaking a MSc in Sports Coaching online. We have a weekly chat at training about what he is doing and what do I think about it. I'm kind of acting as a sense-check for him rather than a mediator or curator of material.

Something else I thinking about is Rhizomatic Learning and how applicable it is to coach education. You can google it and find out more, I'm sure you will find it interesting.

Andrew Beaven Post 4 in reply to 3

• 6 November 2020, 3:04 PM

Rhizomatic learning

You are right — this does look interesting!

I think it might sit alongside my conversion to Ecological Dynamics as a mechanism of skill acquisition — athletes and learners adapting to their environment?

Just last week I saw a link to a paper on how hunter-gatherer children develop subsistence skills (still to read the paper), which I think might touch on similar ideas.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12110-017-9302-2

In a twitter thread from Mark Upton @uppy01

Andrew Beaven Post 5 in reply to 3

• 6 November 2020, 3:07 PM

Coach educator as curator

I take your point about allowing coaches to explore.

My concern was more to do with “translating” some of the “academese” to make it more accessible.

But sometimes the best learning does seem to happen after some puzzling out of meaning.

Rus Smith Post 6 in reply to 1

• 6 December 2020, 3:32 PM

Article

Really enjoyed this article 

Too many Organisations now seeing Digitally as the WAY that all people will learn rather than A way or tool to aid.

Quality assurance is a good question to aid alongside the impact or measuring effectivness rather than a tickbox 

Alex Twitchen Post 7 in reply to 6

• 7 December 2020, 9:59 AM

Thanks Rus. Yes how online learning is 'quality assured' is an interesting question. Another queston that needs more investigation is access to online learning opportunities. Data from our 'Coaching others to Coach' badged open course suggests there is a digital divide and people from BAME backgrounds are possibly disproportionatley disadvantaged. Another question linked to this is how do we ensure in either online learning or learning online that there is a diversity of 'voices' heard and seen - and not all content is white, male and middle-aged. Lots of challenges!