ICT to Enhance Learning and Performance

Introduction

I currently work as a tutor and consultant in the private training sector teaching and advising on management & leadership and sport related subjects. I am sharing a reflection on how ICT and technology has had a major impact on the way I teach students on our sports coaching programme.

Over recent years the advancement of technology and its uses in sport have had a dramatic effect on sporting performance and how we coach athletes. We have embedded a range of technology into our education programmes to ensure our trainee coaches (students) can meet the demands of the next generation of athletes. My reflection is concentrated on the introduction of sport video analysis into our program and the development of learning resources namely the Skill Assessment tool using this technology.

I will look and share at how technology has impacted on the learning experience of our students and also reflect on how the same technology has impacted on our students’ (trainee coaches) ability to coach others.

ICT and Technology to Enhance Learning

Prior to the introduction of video analysis and technology into sports coaching the primary method of observing performance was the human eye. A study by Franks & Millar, 1991, showed international level soccer coaches could only recall 30 per cent of key factors that determined successful performance. These limitations have had a major impact on the emergence of ICT and technology in sports coaching.

As part of their research Franks & Millar, 1991 stated:

“The person who sees an accident or witnesses a crime and is then asked to describe what he saw cannot call up an ‘instant replay’. He must depend on his memory, with all its limitations. The limitations may be unimportant in ordinary daily activities. If someone is a little unreliable, if he trims the truth a bit in describing what he has seen, it ordinarily, does not matter too much. When he is a witness, the inaccuracy escalates importance”. (Franks, I.M. and Millar, G. 1991, p.285)

When we put this into the context of sports coaching and an athlete’s learning process the importance of accurate feedback from those that have witnessed performance is at the high level of importance, hence the emergence of ICT and video based analysis in sport.

One of the key factors we had to consider when introducing ICT and technology into our

sports coaching education programme is “those who approach the learning experience from a history of success in similar situations may be able to enter more fully into the new

context and draw more from it” (Boud, D. et al. 1995. p.22), while those with more traditional views feel “incorporating ICT… challenges well established ways of teaching and learning” (Sutherland, R. et al, 2009. p.6). I also considered that poor or limited ICT skills may present an additional barrier to engaging with this new technology. In the first instance to try and overcome these barriers and ensure all our students understood the potential benefits from the use of ICT and technology we sign posted many sporting successes that have been achieved with the support of technology. We also introduced guest speakers from professional sporting backgrounds to share their experience of such technologies in sport.

To ensure those comfortable and those not so comfortable in using IT received an opportunity to experience the full potential of ICT in sports coaching we combined training on a range of sport analytical software packages with the use of ICT and video technology when monitoring sport performance. This was further combined with traditional methods in coaching in developing session plans for training and practice based on our observations.

We also utilised the combination of technology to develop educational material for our trainee coaches. Students were able to transfer their learning by using the methods described in the following paragraphs under the heading of ‘Development of Educational Resource’ to develop educational material for their own athletes. The educational resource focused on a skills assessment tool whereby a sequence of images where produced with corresponding text highlighting the key points/angles/data of performance to use a visual reference and comparison for future performances.

Development of Educational Resource

As sport itself has evolved the education of coaches at all levels has had to adapt to ensure we meet the demands of our future athletes. “Video technology has significantly developed lately, and it is often a niche source of visual and auditory information for coaches and athletes” (Hughes, M. and Franks I.M. 2008, p.42) and therefore can have a major impact on all stages of the coaching process.

Diagram1: Traditional Process.

The traditional process above is exposed to a range of subjective data that can influence the coaches and athlete’s opinion on performance at all stages. Sport is without any doubt a game of opinions. We all believe we know best when it comes to selection and tactics and can’t understand why coaches can’t see what we can see. Think of how many different opinions an athlete has to contend with; the manager, coaches, fans, board members, parents, media and so on. Very often all these opinions will differ even though they have all witnessed the same event.

Diagram 2: Technology based Process

In comparison, the diagram above shows how technology is used to enhance the traditional model by providing objective data throughout the process. Video and technology based analysis removes the majority of subjective data and helps us only deal in facts.

With the introduction of this video technology into our education programme we produced a resource designed to help coaches support their athletes to evaluate and mimic good techniques. Hughes and Franks, 2008, suggested “Imitation of an observed movement might actually reduce the complexity of the motor learning process” (Hughes, M. and Franks I.M. 2008, p42) and therefore it may also speed up the development stages of athletes. With this in mind we produced the skill assessment tool that is developed using sport video analysis technology combined with supporting ICT technologies such as sport specific analytical applications and Microsoft Office applications.

The process of creating the resource is to first video record specific skills being executed by a competent athlete. The video is then downloaded into specialist analysis software where you can edit footage add features such as markers, angles, directional arrows etc. to create key images that can be input into the skills assessment tool. The skills assessment form can be populated with one or more key images of the skill being observed and edited to include the various stages to execute a particular skill. Additional information such as equipment required, risk factors, specific details of skill (Teaching Points) and specific information based on the coaches’ philosophy can be included.

The coach can then observe and evaluate an athlete’s execution against the skill assessment tool completing the evaluation boxes (Assessment of Actual Performance panel) to provide a permanent record of development and execution of specific skills. Furthermore, “using video, coaches can pinpoint… relevant information” (Hughes, M. and Franks I.M. 2008, p42) by recording the actual skill being executed the coach can create a comparison image (Actual Performance Image) using the same technique we used to create the key image and skill assessment tool.

Key feedback points can be recorded (Technical Report on Performance) and fed back to athletes using the supporting images and visual references to enhance the learning opportunities during the feedback process.

How Effective is the Skill Assessment

The skill assessment is still a relatively young resource for our students and as of yet as not been fully evaluated to make a comprehensive objective reflection from the basis of a wide sample of users. Having said that, the initial indicators are the resource may have an effective impact on a coaches’ ability to enhance performance by speeding up the development cycle of athletes.

One thing that we identified early from feedback and observing its use is the skill assessment tool when used in isolation is not as effective as when used with supporting technology such as live video analysis. “Video feedback for example can be provided at the training site to the extent that comparisons are immediate” (Hughes, M. and Franks I.M. 2008, p42), this when combined with the key image skill assessment tool provided an opportunity to evaluate against the visual markers and actual performance to provide effective on-going comparisons immediately to improve practice.

It also seemed clear a positive motivational factor existed for the athletes from seeing

themselves on video and being able to compare their skill to that of elite or other athletes. The students (trainee coaches at various levels of experience and competence) encouraged their athletes to mimic the high standards set by the elite/other performers and then observe and evaluate performance together using the skill assessment tool and features of a video analysis application.

My evaluation was based on interviews with five student coaches who have used the resources. While four of the five found some benefits one of our coaches with more traditional views stated he doesn’t see the benefit of video or statistics in sport. He also pointed to a technical problem that occurred during the use of video technology on one occasion. Hartley, 2005, suggested that “we are deterred from using technology if it does not work or requires considerable additional effort to make it work” (Hartley, P. et al, 2005. p.158) which was reflected in the response and views of this particular student. When probed about his view he also pointed to the fact it took more time to prepare the resource than just telling someone what they are doing right or wrong which shows that “incorporating ICT frequently challenges well established ways of teaching and learning” (Sutherland, R. et al, 2009, p.6), and also suggests, “if one is already skilled in doing something in one way it is likely to seem pointless initially to do it in a different way” (Somekh, B. 2007). Somekh and Davies 1991 identified we must “develop the ability to accept occasional failures of technology as a expected phenomenon which teachers and pupils learn to deal with” (Somekh, B. and Davies, R. 1991. p.158). When we combine this with other theories from Hartley, et al, and Sutherland I feel they suggest lack of confidence in the use of technology may be the primary factor in getting those from a traditional stand point to engage and see the benefits and opportunities ICT and technology provide to the learning and development cycle.

Four other students fed back they had identified a potential benefit in so much the quality of feedback is improved significantly and the resource provided them with a simple and effective reference tool when observing a skill. There was consensus on a major drawback that technology actually increased time needed to evaluate performance and produce

feedback material. In my experience I have found people rightly or wrongly assume the introduction of technology into a process automatically speeds things up. On reflection, the idea behind the resource was not to speed up any element of the actual coaching process but to speed up the development process of the athlete. Franks & Millar in 1991 identified accuracy is critical to effective feedback. The resource improves the quality of feedback by providing athletes with a visual reference during practice and accurate factual data on performance. Technology such as analytical systems take time to set up and therefore the introduction of technology in this process may well increase time needed in the preparatory stage and therefore slow down the coaching process. While the quality of performance data is improved the question remains, is it worth the additional time input? Only each individual coach can answer this based on their own experiences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sutherland, R. et al, 2009, found “learning is enhanced when teachers analyse and understand the potentialities of different ICT tools as they relate to the practices and purposes of their subject teaching”, a key finding in our reflections identified that we must be careful “that these tools are deployed appropriately” (Sutherland, R. et al, 2009. p. 6). I think it is very easy to become fixated on the technology and forget the primary objective is to enhance the learning experience. When we get exposed to new technologies we sometimes over estimate its benefits and tend to try and overhaul traditional methods to the point that they we totally replace them by technology. There is no reason to suggest that traditional methods are flawed, out dated or technology will by anyway replace them in their entirety.

Hughes and Franks stated “computers and video taping tools allow for almost limitless storage, retrieval and analysis of data” (Hughes, M. and Franks I.M. 2008, p.5) which is clearly a huge positive. Having said that there is a significant drawback in the increased time it takes to produce specific types of resources using IT for teaching and coaching in sport.

Although the use of technology has improved the coaches ability to provide objective feedback I must be careful not to place an emphasis on technology that suggest to my students technology is the main reason for enhanced sporting performance. Technology must be seen as one of many tools we have at our disposal to enhance teaching, learning and athlete performance and we must avoid using technology in favour of more traditional methods but use it to compliment them.

Jason Lear

Bibliography

Boud, D. et al. (1995) Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning. London: Kogan

Franks, I.M. and Millar, G. (1991) Training Coaches to Observe and Remember, Journal of Sports Sciences, 9, 285 – 297

Hartley, P. et al. (2005), Enhancing Teaching in Higher Education: New Approaches for Improving Student Learning. London: Routledge

Hughes, M. and Franks, I.M. (2008) The Essentials of Performance Analysis: An Introduction. Oxon: Routledge

Somekh, B. and Davies, R. (1991), Towards a Pedagogy for Information technology, Curriculum Journal, 2, 153 – 167

Somekh, B. (2007), Pedagogy and Learning with ICT: researching the Art of Innovation. London: Routledge

Sutherland, R. et al. (2009) Improving Learning Series: Improving Classroom Learning with ICT. London: Routledge

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