Audrey St John

astjohn@mtholyoke.edu

Office: Clapp 221

Office Hours: Mon 12:15pm - 1:15pm

              Thu 2:30pm - 4:00pm (starting 9/14)

              and by Google Appointment (12 hour advance booking required)

Barbara Dalton Rotundo

barbara.rotundo@mtholyoke.edu

Office: Room 33, 8 Park Street

Office Hours: Tue/Wed/Thu 11a - 12p

and by Google Appointment

This course provides structure and on-going support for student mentors to gain experience teaching and speaking, confidently and effectively, while synthesizing their experiences with theoretical constructs of learning studied in CUSP-216 (MaGE Peer Mentor Training).

A weekly seminar with instructors and other students engaged in practicum work provides a structured setting in which to share and reflect on these experiences. Through discussion, we will draw connections between the peer mentor experience and existing research and philosophies of peer mentoring and computer science education, to develop effective practical strategies. Written self-reflection is required in the form of an end-of-semester synthesis paper.

Grading is based on active participation, completion of code review responsibilities, and a final reflection paper.

CUSP-216: MaGE Training

This course aims to engage students in analytical and critical thinking, allowing them to gain depth of understanding and methodological expertise (technical and pedagogical).

Students will engage in activities to improve their ability to communicate confidently and effectively (both written and spoken communication), as well as gain practice in self-assessment and reflection.  They will acquire technological skills, particularly the ability to read and analyze programs as well as work with industry-standard code review tools.  Students will also engage in experiential learning in individual and group environments similar to those found in industry and research environments.

You must be serving as a GEM while you are enrolled in the practicum course.  All first-time GEMs must be enrolled in the Practicum course (COMSC-285).  Returning GEMs will not enroll in the course or be graded.  However, they are still required to participate in all Practicum activities.

Practicum meetings are a time for GEMs to practice skills, share information, and reflect on experiences.  While Barbara and Audrey will be present to help facilitate, GEMs are expected to take ownership of the conversations.

You will be assigned no more than 9 PEBLs (Peer Education Based Learners) for the duration of the semester.  For first-time GEMs, your responsibilities are divided into graded course work and paid work.  While they are divided into two separate categories, you will not be able to adequately complete one set of responsibilities without also completing the other.

Information will be provided through the course site and the GEM Handbook.  You are responsible for keeping yourself informed about the tasks you are expected to perform and inquiring when you need further information.

If you have questions, need additional information or resources, or notice a mistake in the materials provided, please contact Barbara via email (barbara.rotundo@mtholyoke.edu) or office hours.

50% - Code reviews of PEBL submissions and modular practicum assignments

20% - Participation in weekly MaGE Practicum Meeting

15% - Completion of meeting reports, reflections, surveys, and logs

15% - End of semester written reflection

For each assignment submitted by your PEBLs, you will complete a written review of their code using the Upsource code review tool. After completing a written code review, you will create a PDF of your feedback and send it to your PEBL. You will then meet with that PEBL in person for 10 minutes to discuss your feedback on their code. These in person 1-on-1 meetings provide you with an opportunity to give them more detailed explanations and provide them with an opportunity to ask questions.

Since completion of your code reviews is a significant part of your grade for this course, we will be performing review audits throughout the semester. Providing GEMs with feedback on their code reviews will assist with the evolution of their review skills and will help us maintain a consistent experience for all PEBLs.

During weeks when there are no new submissions to review, GEMs will sometimes be expected to complete modular assignments. These assignments will provide GEMs will an opportunity to reflect on their own experiences or assist in shaping the program's materials.

Each GEM will be expected to lead discussion on at least one topic during the semester.  More information about this can be found on the Facilitating Discussion assignment page.

Active Learning provides students with an opportunity to step away from the computer and explore course material at a more conceptual level. By adding active learning to the beginning of each lab period, the activities will also promote bonding within lab sections.

GEMs will lead a different active learning module for the students in their assigned lab section every week. Each week's module will be selected to complement recent lectures and the concepts explored in that week's lab. Assuming that PEBLs are attending lecture, they should not be encountering concepts for the first time during active learning sessions.

To help GEMs prepare to lead these modules, we will devote a part of our weekly meetings to reviewing the following week's ALMs (Active Learning Modules).

In addition to leading the active learning session at the beginning of their assigned lab period, GEMs will remain during the rest of the lab period to assist in answering questions as students work through that week's lab exercises.

Reflection is an essential part of the MaGE Program. Through feedback from their GEMs, PEBLs strengthen their coding skills by reflecting on completed assignments. By reflecting on their experiences, GEMs further their teaching and mentoring skills.

Regularly throughout the semester, we will provide GEMs with reflection prompts to help them understand and get the most out of their experiences in the MaGE Program. GEMs are also expected to complete an End of Semester Reflection.

We will set aside time during our weekly meetings for GEMs to discuss the state of their respective courses (either CS101 or CS201) and how their PEBLs as a group are doing with the material and the workload. Each week the Lead GEMs for each course will lead this discussion and create a brief report for the course instructors.

All GEMs are expected to participate in this discussion so that the Lead GEM(s) for the course they are assisting will be able to provide instructors with an accurate and complete picture of how things are going.

GEMs are expected to keep records of how much time they spend each week on their various tasks and how their PEBLs are doing. After each 1-on-1 meeting, GEMs should complete an entry in their report spreadsheet indicating how they think that PEBL is doing in the class. Report spreadsheets are created by the Program Coordinator and shared with individual GEMs. GEMs will not have access to each other's reports. Comments made within reports will be shared with instructors when warranted, but will not ever be shared with PEBLs. As class sizes continue to grow, instructors rely on GEM reports to indicate students who might require additional help or attention.

To help us better understand your experiences, continue to improve the program, and provide progress reports on the current state of the program, we will occasionally ask you to complete online surveys. We want you and future GEMs to have the most rewarding experience possible, so please take these surveys seriously and consider them an opportunity to help the program evolve and improve.

We expect all GEMs (graded and ungraded) to attend all weekly practicum meetings. If you will not be able to attend, please let us know in advance whenever possible. If you miss a meeting, you will need to schedule a time to meet with Barbara to check in and review what was covered during the meeting.

While we understand that different students have different levels of comfort speaking during class discussions, we will be looking for signs that you are engaged even when you are not speaking.

Unless we are doing an activity that specifically requires the use of electronics, we expect all students to put away laptops and cell phones during our weekly meetings.

If you have a disability for which you require accommodations, please make an appointment to see an instructor within the first week of classes so that we can make appropriate arrangements.

You will need to have a letter from the AccessAbility Services Office, located in Wilder Hall B4 (phone: 413-538-2634, accessability-services@mtholyoke.edu).