Group coaching may facilitate individual learning and change over time through the social processes of learning vicariously and learning through feedback. While anecdotal evidence shows there may be potential benefits of applying group coaching to a graduate school learning environment, there are several challenges which warrant consideration. After examining the findings of Ostrowski's ( 2018) study of the individual learning and change processes involved in group coaching, this paper outlines the role of group coaching in the design and implementation of a three-course series in a graduate business program. The personal reflections of students in the program shed light on group coaching's potential benefits, yet research is needed to substantiate their claims. The paper concludes by considering some of the challenges of applying group coaching in the classroom.

Throughout the eukaryotic tree of life, amoeboid organisms have evolved that aggregate upon starvation and form multicellular fruiting bodies, consisting of a ball of spores atop a stalk. This chapter discusses the remarkable convergent evolution of a stalked fruiting body in these different taxa. It then discusses a well-studied group of aggregative fruiters, the cellular slime molds, in more detail. These organisms exhibit substantial variation in their stalk formation and composition, which allows a better understanding of the evolution, maintenance and possible functions of stalked fruiting bodies, but also points to potential costs and benefits of different types of stalks.