ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1588636
This article is part of the Research TopicDigital Transformation in Sports Coaching: Enhancing Coach Learning and Athlete DevelopmentView all 5 articles
A self-directed online resource to enhance coach learning: A 21stcentury approach to coach education
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
- 2Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 3College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
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Introduction: Physical education and sport settings provide dynamic environments conducive to learning values and life skills. However, not every programme that aims to promote healthy youth development has been successful. Such ineffectiveness is often due, in part, to a lack of requisite knowledge and efficacy among coaches. Nonetheless, preliminary research has begun highlighting the potential of online self-directed resources, a contemporary 21st-century approach to coach education and development.The present study explored the development of a coach observation tool (COT) mobile application to support coaches' learning and the participants' perceptions and recommendations of COT for future enhancement.Methods: A total of 34 coach participants from team and individual sports were involved in the present study. Two 60-minute lessons were recorded from each participant. The participants were also interviewed individually after the second observation. The lesson plans submitted by the participants were used to link the data generated by the COT mobile application with the percentage of time spent on sports skills, values and life skill development. The COT data were analysed using a paired-sample t-test, while thematic analysis was employed to examine the interview transcripts.Results & Discussion: Findings indicate that i) key features of the COT are appropriate and practical for coaches; ii) the use of the COT supported self-reflection among coaches, particularly related to facilitative coaching practices and an increased awareness in the designing and delivery of programming. However, additional application features (e.g., incorporating athlete feedback, using Artificial Intelligence for data management) may further enhance the potential to support coach learning effectively. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications for coaches, administrators, and coach educators are discussed.
Keywords: pedagogy, Technology, Mobile application, Life skills, Values
Received: 06 Mar 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 KOH, Santos and Newman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: KOON TECK KOH, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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