Academic coaching tools for increased retention: Empowering engineering students in their education

What skills can we use to help undergraduate and graduate engineering students to set and work toward their own goals, to take charge of their education and career path, and to hold themselves accountable all without adding more to the workload for faculty and support staff? Learn how to empower engineering undergraduate and graduate students to own their education, utilizing tools in coaching. Inherent in the structure of coaching is the engineering design process: identify the underlying problem, explore solutions, and create an action plan. Using coaching skills with students you advise, teach, mentor, supervise, etc. can be a valuable tool for inspiring critical thinking and self-reflection and for improving student retention. Drawing parallels to the success of coaching in business, coaching tools can be used in higher education to empower students in professional and academic skills, as well as in areas relevant to a successful engineering career (e.g., taking initiative, embracing risk, innovation skills). In the case of under-represented groups in engineering (e.g., women and by ethnicity), a coaching approach can help these populations see negative assumptions they might be making about themselves that are actually a result of cultural/societal norms or implicit bias at work. With that understanding the student can then progress with the coach to come up with goals and action plans to persist in spite of bias. Workshop engagement consists of definitions of and research behind coaching, a sample coaching session, and introduction to coaching tools. Small group discussion and coaching practice with peers is integrated throughout. Workshop activities and materials are drawn from research in fields of education, psychology, diversity and inclusion, and brain science, and from the practice of coaching in business and education contexts. Participants in this highly interactive workshop will: (1) Learn about and practice coaching skills to help you grow as an educator, leader, mentor, supervisor, director.; (2) Practice formulating thought-provoking questions and improving listening skills; (3) Draw parallels to inquiry-based learning and design procedures prevalent in STEM fields to help to foster problem solving and critical thinking skills in students; (4) Identify specific ways that you can adapt and use coaching strategies in your higher education roles and everyday life. In aligning with FIE goals, this workshop will combine an innovative educational approach for engineering with research from diverse fields. Higher education is on the precipice of involving coaching strategies beyond a subset of academic advisors trained in some coaching skills (known as appreciative advising). Engineering Education can be a front-runner in embracing coaching approaches and skills in teaching, advising, and mentoring of our students. This workshop also embraces the FIE philosophy of sharing ideas, learning about developments and interacting with colleagues in these fields.