Lynn University Provides Some Great Examples for Supporting Student Self-Determination

Research has demonstrated that academic coaching is an effective strategy to increase student self-determination. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Institute for Achievement and Learning at Lynn University. Wow! They are doing some great things to make coaching, and other practices that support self-determination, available to their students. Lynn has 11 coaches and 40 tutors on staff. Care is taken in the assignment of coaches to students to help assure that the particular skills of individual coaches are a good match for the specific needs of the students they will be working with. Every coach also has a clear understanding of what faculty and students are experiencing in the classroom because they each teach two courses/year in the general curriculum. They have developed on-line courses for their faculty campus-wide on key topics that help promote self-determination in the classroom such as universal design, metacognitive instructional techniques, executive functioning and strategies to increase internal motivation. It was a joy to meet with staff members who were so highly motivated, energetic and creative……in a word, self-determined! It was a great reminder that when a climate of self-determination is established for faculty and staff, good things happen! If you want to learn more about the good things that are happening with academic coaching and supports at Lynn, contact Rebecca Coffy at 561.237.7064.