Training Overview Mentoring Model Curriculum Rubrics Roles/Practices/Photos  

Mentors’ roles and practices

Roles:

  1. Giving and facilitating feedback: Mentors are trained to give feedback to students and teams.  The steps for effective feedback include 1) observation of performance, 2) asking for permission to give feedback, 3) delivery of feedback.  Mentors also teach student teams to give feedback.
  2. Reflecting on and improving their own performance: Mentors take their own growth of skills seriously. As a result, they reflect on their performance, ask for feedback, and plan ways to improve their performance.
  3. Being a member of the mentoring team: Mentoring is an individual activity that is based in the larger learning community.  The community sets the standards of performance and monitors mentors’ progress.  The community also provides an identity for the mentors.
  4. Providing feedback to the faculty: Mentors provide the necessary link between students, curricular materials, and faculty.  This link is strengthened by weekly feedback.

 Practices:

1.      Maintaining learning objectives: Mentors keep student teams focused on the learning objectives.  When a team begins to lose focus, mentors redirect the team by using leading questions.

2.      Maintaining a positive and enjoyable learning environment: Mentors are positive and professional about the curriculum and the class.  They welcome feedback about how to improve lessons and performance.

3.      Redirecting simple questions: Our goal is to create independent learners.  Mentors direct students with simple questions to the best resources for answering them.  These resources may include other teammates, class notes, various printed materials, or the web.

 

Practices in action - a photo gallery

 

Nathan Zohner leads mentor training session for ME223

 

Shawn Walker, engineer from Agilent Technologies (at end of table) leads discussion on deployment mechanism for rocket project

 

Byard Taylor, engineer from Agilent Technologies, (at end of table) discusses rocket launch project with ME223 students

 

Steve Zemke, program administrator, (at end of table) leads a review discussion with rocket reentry team for ME223 class

ME223 students meet with Agilent engineer, Shawn Walker, to discuss camera deployment mechanisms in the rocket project

 

ME223 students on the camera reentry team meet with Byard Taylor, an engineer with Agilent Technologies.

 

 

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