Supporting complex skill learning with digital tools in tertiary education: educator’s perspective

Introduction Skill acquisition is a multidisciplinary subdiscipline of sport and exercise science (Fransen, et. al. 2021). Understanding the principles underlying the learning of complex sports skills remains limited. This is partly due to challenges of applying rigorous scientific methods to complex real-life tasks outside laboratory environment and limited transferability of findings from simple laboratory-based tasks to real-life complex sports skills learned through years of practice (Yarrow, et. al., 2009). Best practices and experiences of practitioners therefore represent an important contribution in the development of the field. Educators teaching practical lessons in tertiary education play a crucial role in translating research into practice and sharing knowledge with future sports professionals. However, research into their practice approaches remains an underrepresented field. Main aim of this research was therefore to bridge this gap to support evidence-based research by investigating best practices of educators in tertiary education in skill acquisition and their support for students’ autonomous skill learning. Methods Following an invitation for participation, twenty educators from various European tertiary sport science institutions agreed to participate in semi-structured interviews. Interviews consisted of practical case of skill acquisition, followed by further discussion on educator’s general teaching approaches and how skill learning is implemented and supported. Educators were presented with a video of a student performing a sports skill in suboptimal manner to prompt a discussion on their approach to optimize student’s movement. This case specific discussion was followed by broader discussion of their overall teaching approaches. Interviews were transcribed and transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), with an inductive approach. Results Results showed diverse teaching approaches with application of various traditional and contemporary approaches among the participants. Use of digital tools in teaching was widely reported and various experiences with their use cases, usability and barriers to implementation were described by the participants. Time limitations reflecting on contact time with individual students was the main constraint reported by educators. To counteract such time constraints in amount of practice, varied and innovative approaches in supporting student’s learning outside the lessons were reported among the participants. Learning resources in various forms such as infrastructure and materials availability, additional courses and online learning resources were main resources reported as added support for student’s learning. Discussion/Conclusion Our research obtained first-hand reports from underrepresented field of skilled educators in order to identify applied, practical solutions practitioners apply in their daily practice, contributing to development of the knowledge in the field and guiding further experimental exploration of best practices.