We all need someone in our corner, cheering us on, especially when we are facing big challenges. This is especially true for college students, who often struggle with self-doubt and the need to persist and maintain the motivation needed to succeed in their academics.
At Ohio State, students can turn to academic coaches at the Dennis Learning Center (DLC) for support in reaching their goals.
Located within the College of Education and Human Ecology, the center offers research-based services on multiple topics, including:
- Time management
- Effective study strategies
- Test-taking skills
- Note-taking skills
- Reading strategies
- Focus and concentration
- Stress management
What is academic coaching?
Academic coaching is a newer, and increasingly popular, service on college campuses. Different from tutoring, which focuses on learning content in a specific course, academic coaching helps students use effective learning and motivation strategies in all of their courses.
Academic coaching provides a student-led discussion with a coach who is knowledgeable about learning and motivation strategies. The coach challenges students to try new methods and encourages them through championing language.
Through a collaborative relationship, academic coaches help students reach personal and professional goals (NACADA, 2017). Research supports academic coaching as an effective intervention to increase learning and motivation skills in college students (Capstick et al., 2019; Howlett et al., 2021).
At the Dennis Learning Center, students meet one-on-one with an academic coach to discuss ways to improve their study skills and academic performance. Coaches use techniques such as motivational interviewing and powerful questions to help the student to examine their own behavior and beliefs.
During sessions, the coach provides training on evidence-based learning and motivation strategies and encourages the student to practice new strategies Together, the student and the coach make a plan for how the student will use the new strategies in daily life. Coaches encourage, challenge and support students as they work toward their goals.
Learn more about academic coaching at the Dennis Learning Center and schedule an appointment.
Why do students meet with an academic coach?
Coaching is beneficial for any student who wants to learn new strategies. Students are often referred to academic coaching when their grades are suffering. And while this is an opportune time for students to learn new academic strategies, students do not need to be struggling or have poor grades to come to coaching.
Students may be performing well but would like to be more organized, have less stress or just have someone to listen to their worries. Coaching is for anyone who wants to be a better student. Coaching helps students feel empowered, determined and prepared for academic challenges.
Common coaching topics include:
- Making a study plan
- Identifying new and improved study methods
- Learning how to take more effective notes
- Practicing strategies to reduce test anxiety
- Setting weekly and long-term goals
- Engaging in healthy and effective study habits
- Maintaining accountability and reducing procrastination
Coaching from someone who gets it
At the Dennis Learning Center, students are coached by their peers – trained undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State. Through a peer-to-peer model of academic coaching, students can feel more comfortable sharing their struggles with someone who has recently been through a similar situation.
The importance of peer-based programs to the student experience cannot be overstated. In fact, in his book What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited, Alexander Astin stated that “the student’s peer group is the single most potent source of influence on growth and development during the undergraduate years.”
The peer perspective brings elements of relatability and relevance into coaching, as well as being a beneficial learning experience for the coaches themselves.
Students report feeling heard, understood and supported by their coaches. After coaching sessions, students say their coaches were easy to talk to and knowledgeable about what they wanted to discuss.
Peer academic coaches at the Dennis Learning Center
Undergraduate and graduate students from many different colleges and majors at Ohio State work as academic coaches at the Dennis Learning Center. The diversity of the coaching team brings a wealth of knowledge, skills and personal experience that matches the diversity of the Ohio State student population. Coaches are selected based on interest in academic coaching, interpersonal skills and potential for growth.
As a peer academic coach, students are trained in both theoretical frameworks and practical strategies relevant to learning and motivation in college. In addition to helping their peers develop new strategies, the coaches are able to improve their academic skills at the same time. Peer coaches also learn coaching skills that are transferrable to many different careers.
Coaches learn:
- How to build rapport with a client
- Active listening skills
- Empathy and emotional understanding
- Methods to promote behavior change
- Organizational tools
- How to use notes and follow-up contact to support clients
- Time management strategies
Peer coaches at the center report developing greater self-confidence, empathy and understanding of other’s perspectives and professionalism in the workplace. They also get to share in other’s successes, as they support fellow students in their journey. It is a student job that is impactful and meaningful to both the coach and the students they serve.
Learn more about the peer academic coaches at the Dennis Learning Center.
References:
Astin, A.W. (1993). What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Capstick, M. K., Harrell-William, L. M., Cockrum, C. D., & West, S. L. (2019). “Exploring the effectiveness of academic coaching for academically at-risk college students.” Innovative Higher Education, 44, 219-23.
Howlett, M. A., McWilliams, M. A., Rademacher, K., O’Neill, J. C., Maitland, T. L., Abels, K., Demetriou, C., & Panter, A. T. (2021). “Investigating the effects of academic coaching on college students’ metacognition.” Innovative Higher Education, 46, 189-204.
National Academic Advising Association: The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA; 2017). “Academic Coaching Advising Community.”
