The Impact of Combining Coaching and Mentoring Skills for Successful ATE Grant Proposal Development

This article describes how combining coaching techniques with mentoring skills can positively impact the quality of grant proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE). The research findings are based on (1) a foundational pilot study conducted through the National CyberWatch Center that ended in October 2020 and (2) an independent follow-on mentoring project named Fortifying Cybersecurity and Computing Education through ATE Grants (FORCCE-ATE) mentoring project. The FORCCE-ATE model is differentiated from other ATE mentoring initiatives in the method that college faculty mentors are trained with fundamental coaching skills reinforced through multiple practicum sessions (triads). An iterative approach was used to improve the mentor-coach training each year of the project continuously. The mentor-coaches applied their blended mentoring-coaching skills to develop competitive NSF ATE proposals when working with their community college teams. Qualitative data was collected and analyzed by an experienced, independent project evaluator. The evaluator’s results show that training mentors with the coaching skills of careful listening and probing questions improves communication and rapport among mentor-coach and mentee team members.