Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs

Samenvatting

There is an increased interest in coaching initiatives in the first year of higher education. Learning-trajectory coaching focuses on reflection and becoming aware and is seen as a means for helping students cope with the height and changing demands of higher education. Questions remain on the design and the impact of these initiatives on students’ learning and motivation. The project ‘Impact of learning-trajectory coaching’ aims at answering some of these questions. In the current study, initial results of this project are reported: the development of learning and motivational characteristics of first-year students, the perception of these students on the learning-trajectory coaching they receive and the relationship between student characteristics and perception variables. Answers will help in optimizing the coaching trajectory. Results show changes in students’ cognitive processing strategies and motivation. However, their use of regulation strategies remains stable. Students have a high overall perception of learning-trajectory coaching, but there are differences in perception according to their learning and motivational characteristics. Highly motivated students and students with high self-efficacy feelings have a more positive perception while students who lack regulatory skills tend to have a lower perception. The impact of students’ perceptions on developments in learning and motivational characteristics is found to be moderate. Students who feel supported by their coach and experience learning-trajectory coaching as having a low workload, developed stronger feelings of self-efficacy throughout their first year.