by Rachel Bruce
Throughout the early part of the Summer I have been taking a course of tennis lessons. It’s the only sport I have any vague ability in and I decided it was time to learn how to play better. A friend that I regularly play tennis with also booked lessons with the same coach.
I found I was nervous at the beginning of my first lesson. I wanted to be able to perform well in front of my new coach, and to also feel that at the end of the hour I had achieved something and was a better player. I was disappointed. I realised that I had a lot to learn and that I didn’t have as much skill as I thought!
My friend and I met up after our first lessons, and were both unsure as to what we had achieved, and were actually quite despondent. We wondered whether the coaching had been useful. We began to speak about the techniques that the coach had introduced to us and what he had asked us to practise before our next lesson. As we chatted, we were both able to identify parts of our game where we realised there was lots of room for improvement, and that we knew what we had to do to make the improvement.
I started to feel more positive about my lesson. Having the opportunity to discuss what I had been learning with a colleague who was going through the same learning experience, enabled both of us to put our learning into context and become motivated about taking it forwards.
It strikes me that there are parallels here with the way that some of our courses are developed. We take learners through the learning online, and for some learners that’s enough to help them to get to grips with the subject. For others, they find it helpful to be in touch with other learners for example, by seeing how they have responded to scenarios or through chatting via a discussion forum. This can help to bring the learning to life, and can also spur a learner on to go back to the course and continue.
Having networking tools at your disposal that support the core of your learning, whether it is online, or face-to-face, can only help to enhance the learning experience. Venus Williams, I am not. But I am growing in confidence, and this is down to the support and practise away from the lessons, as well as from the lessons themselves.
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