We did just that
What would you ask yourself to check your understanding
Test questions set by you, for you
That’s what I tried to do, I took a risk!
The coaches had an input into their learning
They voted to decide which topics to discuss
I was working with a group of 8 coaches. We had 3 days discussing Coaching Practice and Methodologies as part of a BWF (Badminton World Federation) Level 2 Coach Education course. Learning that normally was covered in 5 hrs, we now had 21 hrs!
Yes, that’s correct 21 hrs to cover what is normally done in around 5 hrs!!
So plenty of formal and informal conversations, including lots of questions from the coaches. Tasks were mixed with interactive feedback, linked to on-court coaching.
The organisers valued the time to create deeper learning and to remove time as a barrier to delivery
Make your 3 choices
Each coach had 3 votes to share over the different subjects
The result of the vote would provide me with a summary of their needs, wants and interests.
Each topic was planned for either 60 mins, 2 hrs or a half day.
The unexpected positive aspect of doing this was the number of questions and considerations created by people exploring what was to be included in each subject.
They quizzed me as to what would be included in each and what they would learn.
Doing this within the first hour of the course created an interaction and openness that I hadn’t expected. On reflection, it was a great way to find out what they thought they needed.
Which of these topics would you have voted for –
how would you use your 3 votes?
The 'Exam'
The organisers wanted a written, marked exam that produced a score for each of the coaches
To check the coach’s understanding, they said.
I’m not a fan of only using exams to determine understanding of coaching methodologies, and certainly not a fan of surprise exams!
However, the client asked for one, so we had to produce something, they were paying 🙂
I had several questions in my mind –
… Should I give each coach a score from my subjective observations, ignoring the client exam request
… Should I create a multiple choice quiz – where I hide the ‘correct’ answer amongst wrong answers
… Should I ask for an essay or a presentation – but then they need time and to do it overnight
Or, do something that I’d never done before! 
What happened next
During the next 15 mins, the coaches started to create their own exam questions!
It was a risk as I had no idea of what they would say, how many would they create and crucially, would I agree with their questions!
Would their questions be relevant to the material that we’d been considering, I started to panic!
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to ask coaches to set their own exam questions.
Each coach created a list of the aspects that they felt were important to remember. The key points, concepts, and methodologies that we’d used.
People varied and discussed openly what they thought was important to them, and others questioned why this or that should be rested. It was a fun experience
It was their list of important ‘test’ topics – not mine
Everyone had to change their mindset from coach
to coach developer, then to coach assessor
The benefits
Just doing this task was a type of test/exam, and hopefully, people didn’t realise this initially.
The coaches behaved like Coach Educators, exploring what could be tested, how to test and crucially the value of testing using exam questions.
The task required coaches to carry out their own self-reflection/review to determine what they valued. All in a psychologically safe way, i.e., how could they fail this task? 🙂
I liked the fact that they had identified a subject matter and then used a process to define a question, based on an answer they wanted. It was intriguing to me.
We still covered nearly all of the topics, but some were ‘hidden’ inside others. There were many common coaching themes and critical points that applied throughout.
Would you be motivated to set
your own ‘test’ questions during a Coach Education course?
Do you want a conversation?
I’d like to hear from you if you have a viewpoint on anything that you’ve read
We don’t need to agree, but explore viewpoints.
It would be great to hear from you, send me an email : contact@badmintonandy.com
This is part of a series of conversation starters.
Although not in detail, the posts are written to get you thinking and talking with others.
