Technological needs calling for the application of coaching in university advising: Functional proposal

Starting university studies in the field of engineering represents a significant change of habits of study for the majority of students. Throughout this new educational stage, the work of the academic tutor (or advisor) is essential for guiding and accompanying the student. This process should help to prevent problems such as the frustration and insecurity that can appear, mainly among students in the early stages of their studies and usually after the first tests. In this context, resources and techniques from the field of coaching are very useful for the tutor, as those resources influence the student to reflect and be more aware of the situation in which he/she is living. The objective of these processes is for the student to be more qualified to take the appropriate decisions with greater discretion, motivation and responsibility. This paper presents a first approach in the process of applying coaching techniques in the tutoring of students in their first course of engineering, and subsequently presents the design, at the functional level of a technological application, that would make it possible to use resources of the coaching to tutors without a deep formation in coaching.