Help Students Help Themselves - CS291/CS490 Mentoring Program Lisa L. Fan, Ph.D Department of Computer Science, University of Regina

CS291/CS490 in U of R Started winter 2000 Basically followed the Stanford model – senior undergraduate students are selected – introductory CS course (CS210) has been targeted for the mentoring program – one mentor student is assigned to a group of CS210 students

CS291/CS490 in U of R (cont.) Enrollments for the program: Winter 2000 Summer 2000 Fall 2000 Winter 2001 CS210 (students) CS291/CS490 (mentors) Students/mentor (4.1)

Very Positive Comments from Students about the Program Why students have this positive response to the program?

History of the Program Started in 1983 at the Computer Science Department in Stanford University – at first, partly as a cost saving measure to address large enrollments for CS introductory courses – many other benefits soon became obvious – matured and standardized in the mid 90s Other universities started to offer similar program in the 1990’s

Benefits of the Program Benefits to the CS210 students: –individual attention –less intimidating learning environment –available help whenever needed Benefits to the CS291/CS490 students: –opportunity to have teaching experience –3 credit hours –help themselves to enhance the knowledge Benefits to the CS department: –training ground for future teaching staff –improved learning environment

Philosophy of the Program Knowledge is jointly constructed and transformed by students and faculty. Students are not only “passive vessel to be filled” Cooperative learning and team work, provide a less intimidating learning environment More direct and continual interaction and feed back on course work and programming techniques Increased communication and enhanced opportunity to learn more about computers Mentors provide role models for junior students

The Stanford Model

The U of R Model

Section Leader Selection Responsibility: the course instructor Must have taken CS210 –grade should be above average Two parts interview: - technical skills: analytical, programming, and debugging - interpersonal: team player with fellow mentors, instructors, also can independently work with a group of students

How to Organize the Program Training: lectures to train teaching skills Organization and Coordination: – weekly meeting – weekly journal to report activities – require draft solutions before IG – discussion group on Yahoo – informal evaluation around midterm – final course report: summarize learning and teaching experience

Marking for CS291/CS490 Professional conduct and attitude – attendance for the weekly meeting – students evaluation Professional competence – C++ coding skills – presentation of the lab material Comprehensive learning: Course Report

Should the Program Continue? CS210 student responses: 87% Yes – “Yes, much better asking environment.” – “very helpful when you have to learn C++ on your own.” – “it provides you with a personal, casual atmosphere to learn.” – “it helps because we can ask questions that I might feel a kind of simple or stupid.” – “Yes, less intimidating.” CS291/CS490 student responses: 100% Yes

Students Comments on Interactive Marking: Positive “gave us an idea on how to get higher marks” “If there is anything questionable it can be explained” “gives people a chance to justify choices” “being able to see mistakes and understand mistakes” “allow you to find out where things went wrong” “it makes one know if the student did the assignment or not”

Planning for Improvements Marking consistency within mentors - quality control Screen process for mentor selection Workshops: more training contents

Teaching is a life long art, that … involves continuous learning not just for the students but for the teacher as well. - Joseph Katz and Mildred Henry

Questions?