CAC Curriculum

The Academic Certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching involves completing a 15-hour graduate program over three consecutive semesters lasting approximately 12 months. These courses may also apply to the Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Development as a concentration.

The curriculum is organized into three parts:

  • Educational
  • Practicum
  • Level II credential examination

The Level II examination follows the end of the third semester and is only required if the student wishes to obtain their ICF credential.

This executive coaching training program utilizes state-of-the-art distance learning methodologies. Students attend live virtual classes delivered through web conferencing with integrated audio. This technology supports interactivity and collaboration, creating a powerful virtual learning experience.

100% online

15 Credit Hours

Applied to MS LOD

Educational

The educational component of the program consists of a series of topics organized into three main content areas (see below). A topic is a class that meets for four to six sessions during the semester. The certificate’s class schedule is delivered at 5:30 p.m. Central on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Each session lasts 90 minutes. Course requirements include additional readings, short papers, reviewing recordings, fieldwork, peer coaching, and identifying and coaching clients.

Practical

Our blend of academic rigor and monitored practice results in highly trained coaches who are confident and ready to coach professionally upon graduation. In addition to coursework, the curriculum includes a practicum phase in which the art and science of coaching are refined under the direction of a highly qualified ICF mentor coach. UTD partners with national nonprofits to match senior leaders with our student coaches during their practicum period – providing valuable experience. Mentor coaching provides observation and feedback in both small group settings and individual private sessions.

Core Courses

OB 6350 Executive and Professional Coaching (3 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. The class provides students with a study of the origins and structure of coaching. Topics include the current status of coaching, the history of coaching as a profession, basic coaching principles, ethics and standards, the core competencies of coaching, and basic coaching techniques and practices. It also addresses the role of personal style in coaching and how to adjust coaching behavior to fit the coaching requirements of clients. This course is offered in an online format only. Corequisite: OB 6248. (3-0) T

Topics included in this course:

Solution Focused and 4 Square Framework Coaching

This learning module introduces students to a solution-focused approach to coaching. Topics include: the fundamental processes of coaching, the meta-model of communication, solution-focused theory and practice, the trans-theoretical model of change. At the conclusion of the learning module, students will be able to assess a client’s readiness for change and carry out a structured solution-focused coaching session.

The Foundation and Structure of Coaching

This learning module provides an overview of professional coaching and introduces participants to the 11 coaching competencies, their significance, and how to apply them in working with coaching clients. It also provides context for coaching credentials, niches and specialties, professional connections, and organizing yourself as a coach. Principles of Solution Focused Coaching are applied throughout.

The Ethics and Standards of Coaching

This learning module provides an introduction to the role and application of ethics and standards in the professional coaching environment. EC 102 is a foundational class that will assist students in developing the knowledge and resources needed to handle ethical dilemmas that present themselves in the coach-client relationship.

Strategic Inquiry

This learning module provides students with a model for understanding and working with clients at a deeper level; using strategies of effective inquiry to facilitate understanding and self-directed change. Topics include: language and the brain; the Meta Model (deletions, distortions, generalizations); and the use of effective inquiry strategy. At the conclusion of the learning module, students will understand nine linguistic patterns that serve as stimulus for powerful inquiry so that they will be able to move from surface level to deep structure understanding.

Ethics in Coaching/Developing Coaching – Therapy Distinctions

This topic provides an introduction to the role and application of ethics and standards in the professional coaching environment. In addition, this topic teaches how coaching and therapy differ and what they have in common.

OB 6248 Coaching Practice Lab, Part 1 (2 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. Small group practice sessions to apply and deepen the principles and techniques learned throughout the coaching classes. The purpose of this class is to engage in applied learning through peer-to-peer interaction with instructor feedback. This course is offered in an online format only. Corequisite: OB 6350. (2-0) S

OB 6351 Coaching in the Business or Organizational Setting (3 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. This course prepares coaches to work with individuals and teams in a corporate or business environment. Topics include coaching and organizational behavior theories and models that facilitate client change within an organizational setting, coaching executives with an emphasis on achieving business results, coaching methods for groups, and research practices. This course is offered in an online format only. Prerequisite: OB 6350. Corequisite: OB 6249. (3-0) T

Topics included in this course:

Motivational Interviewing

This learning module provides an overview of Motivational Interviewing within a coaching context. Participants will learn the 4 principles of Motivational Interviewing and gain tools to address ambivalence and resistance to change within the coaching conversation while strengthening client motivation. The 4 square coaching framework principles are applied throughout.

Cognitive Coaching

This learning module teaches participants how to apply the cognitive coaching model to their coaching practice. We begin by examining the foundations of the cognitive model and how to identify cognitive distortions. Topics include the A-B-C Model, combating irrational beliefs, and uncovering deep structure automatic thoughts. This module will build on concepts learned in the Solution Focused Coaching module and will include a practice lab.

Mastering Core Competencies

A solid understanding of the distinction between ACC and PCC for each competency covered is the goal for this learning module. By the completion of these classes and peer practice groups, the goal is for students to know their competency strengths and gaps, and leave with a personalized coaching development plan.

Neuroscience in Coaching

Students will be provided with an advanced understanding of the neuroscience undergirding basic coaching skills and the Foursquare Coaching Framework. Students will be better able to identify opportunities and needs for thought and action based on a deepened understanding of what may be going on in their clients’ brains.

Coaching and Appreciative Inquiry

This learning module teaches participants how to apply the Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Coaching principles, model, and techniques to real-world coaching scenarios. This module offers a useful, powerful structure and steps to follow in the coaching process. Participants will also learn how to incorporate systems elements into coaching within organizational settings.

Coaching Techniques and Practices

Real-life coaching issues and challenges are used to demonstrate coaching techniques, and practices. This is an action-packed experientially based class designed to demonstrate the Solution Focused Coaching Model in action AND at the same time demonstrate the 11 Core Coaching Competencies as described by the International Coach Federation.

OB 6249 Coaching Practice Lab, Part 2 (2 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. Small group practice sessions to apply and deepen the principles and techniques learned throughout the coaching classes. The purpose of this advanced class is to engage in applied learning through peer-to-peer interaction with instructor feedback. This course is offered in an online format only. Prerequisite: OB 6248. Corequisite: OB 6351. (2-0) S.

OB 6352 Advanced Coaching Models and Methods (3 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. The course provides students with advanced principles and practices for coaching individuals within the corporate setting. Topics include appreciative inquiry models and techniques, a practical lab in team coaching, a survey of evidence-based coaching models, the use of language to promote change, research practices, and evidence-based positive psychology. This course is offered in an online format only. Prerequisite: OB 6351. Corequisite: OB 6253. (3-0) T

Executive Education Course. The course provides students with advanced principles and practices for coaching individuals within the corporate setting. Topics include appreciative inquiry models and techniques, a practical lab in team coaching, a survey of evidence-based coaching models, the use of language to promote change, research practices, and evidence-based positive psychology. This course is offered in an online format only. Prerequisite: OB 6351. Corequisite: OB 6253. (3-0) T

Topics included in this course:

Group and Team Coaching in Organizations

This module will teach students to understand how the ICF Competencies and Markers are the foundations of Group and Team Coaching, as well as the difference between Group Coaching and Team coaching. Students will experience being coached and coaching in a group or team using the ICF Competencies and Behavioral Markers. Participants will analyze and demonstrate knowledge of Group and Team Coaching through a case study approach of their own experience.

Positive Psychology in Coaching

This learning module exposes students to the science around the burgeoning field of human flourishing, which is now known as “Positive Psychology.” The class will cover the inception of the field in the late 1990s and will track its growth, particularly its successful application in the field of coaching. Special attention will be paid to separating the idea of “happyology” from Positive Psychology, which is undergirded by important findings around how to assess one’s flourishing, why it is important to learn how to identify and apply so-called “positive interventions,” and how the process of goal-setting is intricately wrapped up in the field of human flourishing. Students will learn about many of the concepts that support and encourage emotional flourishing and goal accomplishment, including grit, savoring, resilience, self-regulation, and priming. Takeaways will include the identification of students’ own strengths through the Positive Psychology assessment of VIA Signature Strengths, worksheets on how to identify and encourage positive socially contagious environments, and a deep understanding of why the science of happiness is relevant to every coaching engagement, regardless of the context.

Using Assessments in Coaching

This learning module provides participants with an overview of how to use assessments in a coaching relationship. Assessments are often used in coaching to develop the client’s awareness, jump-start the initial phase of the coaching, and provide data for goal setting and return on investment. Numerous assessments are available to coaches, some at no cost and others costing hundreds of dollars or more. Your decision as a coach to incorporate assessments into your practice may depend on the types of coaching clients you work with, the kinds of assessments your coach has used in your coaching, and your overall familiarity with assessments. One of the most effective ways to explore assessments and their value is through taking some of these measures yourself to evaluate what value they provide.

Transactional Analysis for Coaches

Transactional Analysis (TA) is both a theory of personality and an organized system for understanding the cognitive and behavioral aspects of human interaction. It is grounded on the assumption that, as adults, we adopt ego states and associated patterns of behavior based on early life interactions with parental figures. The goal of working with transactional analysis as a framework for coaching is to support autonomy, which is defined as awareness, spontaneity, and the capacity for intimacy. In the Transactional Analysis for Coaching module, students consider ego states, parallel and crossed transactions, discounting, and transactional dramas or “games” with an emphasis on how these concepts can be applied to coaching.

Advanced Core Competencies in a Solution Focused Model

This module is devoted to understanding and practicing the ICF core competencies and ethical standards at a PCC level, and provides a comprehensive review within the context of Solution Focused Coaching.

OB 6253 Coaching Practicum (2 Credit Hours)

Executive Education Course. Individual sessions with a supervising coach and small-group supervised sessions. For the individual sessions, students will be required to submit recordings for review or provide for real-time attendance by the supervising coach so that an evaluation of their coaching competence can occur. Feedback and guidance will help students develop their coaching skills. A comprehensive exam will be used to evaluate coaching competency. The exam will test for their knowledge, skills, and abilities as an executive and professional coach. Instructor consent required. This course is offered in an online format only. Pass/Fail only. Corequisite: OB 6352. (2-0) T

Level II Exam

The Level II exam is not required for the UT Dallas Academic Certificate. It is required for the completion of the Level II Certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching. Students are required to pass a certification examination that meets the standards set by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

The exam consists of two parts; the review of a recorded coaching session by two qualified assessors and an online exam that exclusively covers the ICF Core Competencies. In order to receive the Level II Certificate from the program, a student must pass both parts. This phase of the program is completed in the 12-month period following the certificate.