Feedback from Students and Mentors

Background

First iteration of classroom implementation.  Three mentors were used in Junior Design Seminar during the blimp project Fall semester 2002. The blimp project was a design competition with six, student teams given one month to create a remote control blimp that could complete a course. (Summary paper January 2003)

This is a summary of free writes from students and mentors at project completion 12/02/02.

   

Student Feedback

Mentors assisted my learning, design, teaming because:

  • They were there to answer questions about the project
  • They helped us find supplies
  • Helped focus on goals
  • Encourage our group for our performance
  • Helped communication, more people to ask questions of, more approachable, more available, peers, new what we were going through, in touch with our schedules and conflicts
  • Set a standard of how to work as a team
  • Experienced at solving similar problems with similar knowledge level
  • It was helpful to get there feedback during review
  • Drew out design questions and goals that were overlooked
  • Made sure we understood concepts in components to help avoid mistakes in later designs
  • Encouraged social teaming, peer to peer, class as a team
  • Helped solve simple problems so we could concentrate efforts on the larger issues, expedited the process this way
  • Will to answer all questions, Answered any questions we had
  • Gave us positive support that we were on the right track, helped regroup when all seemed lost
  • Posed answers in the forms of questions to help us learn more
  • Understood material/supplies so we did not waste time on other problems, avoid pitfalls, smooth out the process, avoided fatal errors
  • Helped with techniques that were project specific, technical assistance
  • Gave us test equipment to benchmark our project and help debug it, helped in fine tuning
  • Directed our team to resources needed
  • Helped keep energy high and on task, asking us project status, helped avoided stuck teams
  • Did not interfere with our design
  • Valuable Blue sky ideas
  • Offered outside perspective to problems
  • Supplied materials, offered a large option of materials, low out of pocket expense to students
  • Brought some structure to a messy problem, helped focus
  • Mediating conflicts between team members
  • Walked us through hands on applications
  • Encouraged KISS
  • Never spoke negatively about a design or something they new would not work, pointed out strong areas of performance
  • Let us bounce ideas off of them
  • Suggesting formats and directions to go technically (Reports, documentation, testing)
  • Provided an environment in which I can build and design without distractions or fuss
  • Reviewing work and discussing performance

 

The use of Mentors can be improved by:

  • Assign them to a specific team, or 2-3 teams

      (leading to team bond, ownership/connection for the mentor)

      Caution: make sure the team does not become dependent on mentor; team should not be led by mentor

  • Having a weekly sit down meeting with a team, daily, prescheduled
  • More interaction between students and mentors
  • More mentors
  • More involvement early on in the project
  • Organize the distribution of materials, divide resources
  • Give more input on past experience
  • Make available at more times
  • Encourage blue sky ideas
  • Suggest direction more often, i.e. “next I would iterate this…”
  • Have a better division of the work, give mentors specific roles
  • Have better contact info for the mentors on the assignment so we can better communicate with them and know what they are supposed to be doing
  • Make them available at weird hours (mornings and Saturdays)
  • More scheduled time for mentors rather than them just being around
  • Have them work more with a team so they can understand how the team works and give suggestions
  • More involvement with the Math modeling
  • Give more examples (referenced to documentation)
  • Having final competition posted earlier
  • Do not hesitate to be honest or give feedback, be outspoken “are you sure that works”
  • Promoting “friendly-style” assistance
  • Interaction should come off as a guide, avoid being the “taskmaster”
  • Equal help available to all teams; Resources: Mentors, material, professor

 

“I liked their amount of involvement. They were around for advice, but were not trying to implement their own ideas into our designs. They allowed us to work through our own problems and learn from our mistakes rather than correct us before ever making any.” ~ ME 323 Student

Mentor Feedback

Students helped me mentor by:

  • Asking questions outside of class
  • Coming to me for information both technical and conceptual
  • Bringing me into there teams
  • Requesting feedback for design ideas and proposals
  • Giving me info on there progress
  • Giving me info on my progress and suggestions on how to better help and work with them
  • Raising project concerns
  • Being professional and casual at appropriate times
  • Letting me bounce my ideas for the project off of them
  • Giving forward focused feedback, plus/delta
  • Remembering that I am a peer and not an expert, understanding that this a learning process for me too
  • Were open to input and suggestions
  • Became a friend, socialized, had fun
  • Did their own work and did not ask us to do there work for them
  • Worked hard
  • Preformed to high standards making me look good
  • Teaching me how to work with different types of teams

  

The professor helped me mentor by:

  • Regular mentor/professor meeting to review and focus
  • Give positive feedback
  • Training and pre-project workshop
  • Provide examples
  • Worked the iterative process
  • Provided some structure for the project despite the first iteration
  • Kept enthusiasm up
  • Proper balance of casual and professional
  • Team, and one-on-one review
  • Led great teaming

 

Next time mentoring can be more effective by:

  • Assign a mentor to a design team or a direct connection time between a mentor and a team
  • Mentor/Professor meeting or email that gets everyone on the same page for the current short term goals (today’s objective)
  • Have specific goals for mentors to achieve, have mentors provide evidence of performance
  • Involve mentors early in semester during team bonding exercises
  • Learn every students name and make a personal connection
  • Give more real time feedback
  • Review more often
  • Give mentors executive power
  • Facilities that enhance performance
  • Time line kept upfront and on track

 

 
Grant # xxxxxx-xx funded by:

Scholars Community Leadership

    Steve Beyerlein    Don Elger    Dan Apple