The Educator’s Power Tool
All IHE and Stakeholder EarlyEdU Alliance® members receive free access to the EarlyEdU Coaching Companion.
The Coaching Companion, an online video sharing and coaching feedback tool, is an integral part of the EarlyEdU Alliance approach. The Coaching Companion is built into many of the EarlyEdU courses and Alliance faculty can also use it with any of their own courses.
Contact us for more information about the Coaching Companion!
Activate Intentional Teaching!
The Coaching Companion provides a powerful tool that leverages the power of video analysis, formative feedback, and collaborative learning to support competency-based educator development and learning in Higher Education. With the focus on improving and developing specific teaching practices, faculty can use the tool to hone the observation, implementation, and reflection skills required to become an effective teacher. The tool allows faculty to focus their time on observing student performance and giving quality feedback. The process builds competency in evidence-based teaching practices and fosters valuable coaching skills for early learning professionals.
"Coaching Companion helped me see what I could improve with the children, which activities worked better and it gave me the opportunity to step outside myself and reflect. My lessons became better, I enjoyed being able to review and get feedback!"
Practicum Student, College of the Desert
"This video platform was an essential, easy-to-use tool in helping students develop and refine their interaction skills with children…[and] most helpful in providing students with valuable observations and feedback."
Faculty, University of California, Berkeley
Features for Instructors
Design assignments and rubrics using instructor and student videos. Utilize exemplar videos in the robust media library.
Create student Communities of Reflection and Practice to support peer feedback and develop professionals.
Utilize multiple assignment types, annotation, play-by-play, and time-stamping features for focused feedback.
Features for Students
Design assignments and rubrics using instructor and student videos. Utilize exemplar videos in the robust media library.
Upload video to observe specific teaching practices, promote reflection, and track growth.
Practice peer feedback in Communities of Reflection and Practice.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
The Coaching Companion is FERPA compliant. The EarlyEdU Coaching Companion has numerous features to enable your institution to be fully compliant with FERPA. It is each Institution’s responsibility to manage its compliance with FERPA. Read more about our FERPA and accessibility documents.
How It Works
The Coaching Companion is a tool that helps faculty develop and deliver practice based course work. Using a digital camera, smartphone, or tablet, students film themselves working with children and upload the video to the Coaching Companion. Students watch their videos, reflect on their practices, and write responses within the application. Students receive feedback from their instructors, who can annotate videos within the Coaching Companion. Students refine their observation skills by watching videos of themselves and others, seeing themselves grow professionally over time.
A Community of Reflection and Practice (CORP) feature is built into the Coaching Companion. In small CORP groups, students watch one another’s videos and practice giving one another feedback. They apply their observational skills, learn to give high-quality feedback, and develop as professionals as they problem solve with their peers around authentic problems of practice.
The Coaching Companion is built into many EarlyEdU Alliance courses. Alliance faculty can also use the Coaching Companion with any of their own courses.
"I have used Coaching Companion in all of the on-line courses I teach to help promote professional competencies through practice-based video coaching. Students are introduced to a concept or an evidence based practice specific to infant/toddler and family studies. They then video record themselves demonstrating the principle or practice and upload the video to Coaching Companion. Other students use a rubric to provide peer feedback to the student. Students comment they learn a lot about their own practice and are able to think about continuous quality improvement."
Faculty, Central New Mexico
Coaching Companion for ongoing professional development too!
The Coaching Companion is a web based application designed to help educators and coaches collaborate at a distance to improve teaching and learning. It can be used with a single early learning program and coach-teacher dyad or with a larger coaching system to provide targeted support and coaching for educators and coaches. These versions of the Coaching Companion are built on the Practice-Based Coaching model of shared action planning, focused observation, and reflection and feedback. Both versions come with embedded media libraries and tools to organize coaching and ongoing professional development efforts.
Head Start Coaching Companion
The Head Start Coaching Companion is a free video sharing and coaching feedback application for early care and education staff and providers. It helps coaches and coachees and peer-coaching teams work together, even between coach visits or from a distance. Share video files, ask questions, and exchange feedback.
Custom Coaching Companion
The customized version of the Coaching Companion provides state and large municipalities a video uploading and annotation tool that they can customize to enhance, organize, and deliver coaching throughout their system. The Custom Coaching Companion is built with stakeholders and allows states and systems to adjust the look, purpose, and function of the platform to meet their specific needs.
"Uploading and watching videos of myself, I was able to see both my strengths and weaknesses so that I could figure out what I needed to change and adapt. I appreciate that I can see outside of my own daycare and preschool."
Family Child Care Provider