Authentic Learning in Online Tertiary Coach Education Contexts: Positively Impacting Coaching Practice

Over the past decade, online learning has increasingly been positioned as a way of supporting the diverse needs of sport coaches across a variety of contexts. With the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the view of online learning as a panacea reached unprecedented levels. However, there are some significant issues with technology-enhanced learning broadly and online learning for coaches more specifically. In this chapter, we introduce the notion of authenticity as an alternative way of conceptualising the design and deployment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment intended to impact the learning of sport coaches in higher education contexts. In doing so, we draw on programmatic experiences spanning more than 20 years across two of the highest ranked universities in Australia. To demonstrate the aptness of authenticity, we explore a variety of pedagogical materials employed in postgraduate sport coaching courses related to reflection. The specific examples show how the notion of authenticity has permitted the challenging of taken-for-granted assumptions associated with areas of historical and contemporary relevance such as women in sport, junior sport and talent development. Recommendations for coaches, coach developers and academics are also provided.