4. Inspector

1. Description

Good organisation and planning are a basic condition for the successful progress of a project. This is why the coach should check if the the students reach the set goals and make progress in terms of content. This way, he can keep abreast of the state of affairs within the project and act when this proves necessary.

2. Required skills and attitudes

• Possess the didactic skills to act as an inspector during the course of the project.
• Possess insight into the various steps that have to be taken in each project.
• Safeguard progress in the project's content.
• Monitor whether the set planning (and related goals) are adhered to.

3. Guidelines on how to take on this coaching role

3.1 Position in PBL-based EPICES projects

To be able to work successfully on and learn from a project, good organisation and planning are of fundamental importance. It is important that the students learn to deal with problems and draw up a plan of work to do so. As a coach it is important, therefore, to check regularly and see whether the students indeed achieve the set goals, and to intervene where necessary should things go wrong.

In the framework of self-development among the students, it's important that the coach allows the students to explore and grasp their own set of problems, and on that basis to draw up their own planning and related organisation. In relation to this, the coach's main task is to monitor and check whether the proposed planning and related goals can indeed be carried out and achieved and whether all related appointments can be kept. In this way, the coach can keep abreast of the state of affairs within the project and act when this proves necessary.

3.2 Points of attention

An important condition for reaching the project's learning goals is to ensure an open and activating learning environment that stimulates the students' self-development.

To take on this role successfully and correctly in practice, the following guidelines have to be taken into account:

1. To ensure such a learning environment, the coach has to take care that the students feel they can work in freedom to complete the project. Too much control can be pernicious and will give the students the feeling that their self-motivation, the very goal of this educational format, is being limited. So it is important that a healthy balance is struck between monitoring the students and the intended self-motivation.
2. An over-frequent use of fixed structures that serve as control mechanisms, such as too many fixed class hours, is not recommended. It is important that the students themselves ensure a timely completion, or possible readjustment, of the agreed planning and goals. Of course it is also important that the coach keeps abreast of the students' work in order to intervene should this prove necessary. So it is important that a healthy balance is struck between monitoring the students and the intended self-motivation.

4. Influence on the competences to be developed

This overview outlines how and to which extent this specific coaching role contributes to acquiring the different competences, so that you can adapt your coaching to the competence(s) that has/have to be developed:

Significant

• Is competent in co-operating and communicating

Average

• Is skilled in one or more scientific discipline(s)
• Is competent in designing
• Has a scientific approach
• Has basic intellectual skills

Insignificant

• Other competences

5. Influence on divergent educational settings

The role of inspector should be stressed in the following divergent situations:

Size of group

• The role of inspector should be particularly stressed if the group is large (>6)

Level of development

• The role of inspector should be particularly stressed in a group of expert level of development