Student-student online coaching as a relationship of inquiry: an exploratory study from the coach perspective

• Published in: Journal of asynchronous learning networks JALN Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 37 - 48
• Main Authors: Stenbom, Stefan, Hrastinski, Stefan, Cleveland-Innes, Martha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Online Learning Consortium 01.10.2012; Sloan Consortium
• Subjects: Case Studies; Coaching (Performance); College School Cooperation; College Students; community of inquiry; Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Mediated Communication; Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Instant messaging; Instructional Effectiveness; Mathematics; Mathematics Instruction; Methods; online coaching; Online education; online learning; Partnerships in Education; Preservice Teacher Education; Questionnaires; relationship of inquiry; Statistical Analysis; Student Surveys; student-student online coaching; Study and teaching; Sweden; Synchronous Communication; Teaching Methods; Technology application; Tutoring; Tutors and tutoring; Sweden
• ISSN: 1939-5256; 1092-8235; 1092-8235

There are comparatively few studies on one-to-one tutoring in online settings, even though it has been found to be an effective model. This paper explores student-student online coaching from the coach perspective. The empirical case is the project Math Coach, where K-12 students are coached by teacher students using instant messaging. This research is an adaptation of the community of inquiry model to an online coaching setting, which we refer to as a relationship of inquiry. The adapted model was used to gain a better understanding of the practice of online coaching by exploring the extent to which cognitive, social, and teaching presence exists in this case of online coaching. A relationship of inquiry survey was distributed to and answered by all active coaches (N = 41). The adapted cognitive, social and teaching presence measures achieved an acceptable level of reliability. Differences between three presences, and their respective sub-categories, demonstrate a unique pattern of interaction between coaches and coachees in the online coaching environment. Findings suggest the online inquiry model fits as well for a relationship of inquiry as it does for a community of inquiry. The model provides valuable information for better understanding of online coaching. KEYWORDS online coaching, online learning, relationship of inquiry, community of inquiry, student-student online coaching.