Sports studies e.g. physiology / coaching



Thanks for the feedback, everyone. As I mentioned in a couple of emails to people, it's unlikely that I'd put something like this together before next fall (if ever). Still, I am listening/taking plenty of notes, so if anyone wants to put their $0.02 in, please do so.
 
so while we all hope for the above to become reality :D ...would anyone like to suggest (apart from the reading I am already doing) some worthwhile starting point re: my initial question ?


I'm based in Europe, work fulltime and do my best at turning the pedals, so if anyone from this neck of the woods has done any courses they feel are worthwhile (e.e Open University course), I would appreciate suggestions.
 
acoggan said:
Boy, a bit more enthusiasm here for this idea than I expected! :) Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone.

Since I have y'alls attention, perhaps I can get you to serve as an unpaid "focus group" for me. ;) In no particular order, here's what I've been considering/questions that I have:

1) How much time are people willing to commit? To make such an online course a true value, I figure that it would need to move beyond just the half-day of lectures on exercise physiology that is part of USA Cycling's level 2 coaching certification. OTOH, I don't think it would be possible to go into tremendous detail, as A) not everyone signing up for such a course necessarily has the background that would be expected of an undergraduate exercise science student, and B) only so much detail is really useful to a coach (versus interesting). Just off the top of my head, then, I was considering 1.5 h/wk for 10 wk, or perhaps 2 h/wk for 6 wk. As potential student/clients, does that make sense/appeal to you?
Sorry I have been out of town and visiting my folks in the cold snowy northeast. That simply means no internet access.

Personally I would be fine with any format, but the 2h/wk for 6 wks sounds the most workable

acoggan said:
2) What time of year would be best? Assuming that most of those signing up would be from the US (which may not be a valid assumption), I'm thinking that summer in the northern hemisphere would be too busy a time for most people. OTOH, I can also see people have problem committing so much time to such a course over the winter, what with holidays and all. So, I'm leaning towards the fall (obviously not this year) and/or spring - what say you?
I would love to see this happen this spring! If that's too soon then next fall, late Octoberish would be second choice for me.

acoggan said:
3) What about tests and grading? Although I joked about calling myself an institute, I don't envision this ever growing to the level of any kind of certification or diploma program (although if somebody wants to take that business model and run with it to form a university for cycling coaches, I could see being a part of that). IOW, those signing up for the course would be doing so almost entirely for the knowledge they would gain, and not in hopes that it would open other doors re. their coaching career. If that assumption is correct, then I don't see a lot of need for tests to make sure that people are truly grasping the material...basically you'd be on your own there. OTOH, I do think that knowing you're going to have to pass an exam at some point is often motivational. My initial thought is therefore to just have an exit exam that is graded pass/fail, but with a standard for passing that is sufficiently high that I'd be comfortable with someone presenting themselves as having passed my course. Thoughts?
I do like tests and grading. I always have so that's fine with me. Certainly something that would give Andy/us feedback on how much we learn and retain.

acoggan said:
4) How much to charge? This is the toughie, and I'm still mulling over what is a reasonable fee. Obviously, though, the more people who sign up the less it would have to be per person to make it worthwhile. I would therefore likely establish some minimum number of individuals who would have to sign up by a particular date for the course to "make", and refund any and all up-front fees to those who pay in advance if it didn't. I'd also likely offer a discount to coaching groups, as that would A) help them, and B) remove some of the incentive to have only one person sign up but then have a bunch of other people also gather around their computer screen.
I would feel very lucky to have something like this available. I would be willing to pay what it would take for it to be worthwhile for Andy to do it. Of course a cost that wouldn't be prohibitive to enough folks signing on. How's that for being vague? :)

acoggan said:
5) Let's see, what else? I'd make the syllabus available for free a priori, and would probably recommend (but not require) a particular textbook. I don't know whether lectures would be downloadable...on the one hand, it would be great as a student to be able to review material, but on the other, there is no way of preventing the file being shared with those who did not pay for the course. You could argue that what you get for your money is the ability to interact directly with the instructor, but that is diminished in an online course vs. in person, so I'm not sure whether that adds sufficent additional value to discourage piracy. Maybe make the .ppt slides freely available, but not the audio? I don't know...
No opinion here....whatever works for the masses, and Andy of course.


Please let me know if/when this happens! I am there.

-Rich
 
acoggan said:
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. As I mentioned in a couple of emails to people, it's unlikely that I'd put something like this together before next fall (if ever).
So Andy, is this sort of a prelude?

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Steve_B said:
So Andy, is this sort of a prelude?

Pretty much...although instead of trying to squeeze a semester's worth of material into, say, 6 x 2 h sessions, I've got to squeeze into just 1.5 h! :eek:
 
acoggan said:
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. As I mentioned in a couple of emails to people, it's unlikely that I'd put something like this together before next fall (if ever). Still, I am listening/taking plenty of notes, so if anyone wants to put their $0.02 in, please do so.

In the meantime, you should attend his online Webinar that I finally got him to agree to do!
Dec. 3rd- 8pm (GMT-5)
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/power/power_training_webinars.html

It promises to be more information than you can possibly pack into 1.5hours by Andy Coggan... ;-)

Hunter
 
Hunter w/kg said:
In the meantime, you should attend his online Webinar that I finally got him to agree to do!
Dec. 3rd- 8pm (GMT-5)
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/power/power_training_webinars.html

It promises to be more information than you can possibly pack into 1.5hours by Andy Coggan... ;-)

Hunter
Will this webinar have more info than the level 2 cycling certification and the power based training certification? If so, a lot more or a little more. It sounds great but it may be a lot of what has been presented in these other courses already. That's certainly not a bad thing, just wanting to spend $$ wisely..... Or save it for Andy's 6week course:)

Thanks!
Rich
 
richvoss said:
Will this webinar have more info than the level 2 cycling certification and the power based training certification? If so, a lot more or a little more. It sounds great but it may be a lot of what has been presented in these other courses already. That's certainly not a bad thing, just wanting to spend $$ wisely..... Or save it for Andy's 6week course:)

Thanks!
Rich

I haven't lectured at a level 2 course in a couple of years, so don't know precisely how Dr. Macgregor currently approaches the topic(s). IIRC, though, you attended one at which I did present, in which case you may wish to save your money (unless you just want a refresher). I say that because simply due to the time available, this presentation will be a bit less in depth.
 
acoggan said:
I haven't lectured at a level 2 course in a couple of years, so don't know precisely how Dr. Macgregor currently approaches the topic(s). IIRC, though, you attended one at which I did present, in which case you may wish to save your money (unless you just want a refresher). I say that because simply due to the time available, this presentation will be a bit less in depth.
Thanks for that info Andy.

Rich
 

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