Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine how academic coaches, through academic student support, impact graduate student performance in a time-intensive online learning program for pursuing a master’s degree in leadership and human resource development in a research-intensive public university in the Southern USA.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants in this study were 435 graduate students enrolled in their online master’s degree program. Framed by the theory of transactional distance and by adopting a pre-experimental design and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique, the student performance in three courses was compared (principles of adult education, research methods and performance analysis) with academic coaches.

Findings

The findings indicate that the average score of students was higher when students received more feedback and comments from an academic coach than less feedback and comments in the performance analysis course. Students who had an academic coach in the adult education class performed better than those who did not have a coach. However, there was not a significant difference in academic performance based on the number of academic coaches (one versus three) in the research methods course.

Originality/value

This preliminary work may lead to a better understanding of how academic coaches can best support adult learners in their pursuits of online postsecondary education. This study would suggest implications for online instructors and institutions to enhance student success and retention in online learning activities by using academic coaching.

中文翻译：

---

在线学术教练对支持研究生在密集在线学习环境中表现的影响：三门课程比较

目的

本研究的目的是研究学术教练如何通过学术学生支持影响研究生在时间密集型在线学习计划中的表现，以便在南方研究密集型公立大学攻读领导力和人力资源开发硕士学位美国。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究的参与者是 435 名注册在线硕士学位课程的研究生。以交易距离理论为框架，采用预实验设计和方差分析（ANOVA）技术，将学生在三门课程中的表现（成人教育原理、研究方法和表现分析）与学术教练进行比较。

发现

研究结果表明，当学生从学术教练那里收到更多的反馈和评论时，学生的平均分数高于在绩效分析课程中获得的较少反馈和评论。在成人教育课上有学术教练的学生比没有教练的学生表现更好。然而，根据研究方法课程中学术教练的数量（一对三），学术表现没有显着差异。

原创性/价值

这项初步工作可能有助于更好地了解学术教练如何最好地支持成人学习者追求在线高等教育。这项研究将建议在线教师和机构通过使用学术指导来提高学生在在线学习活动中的成功和保留率。