mentoring, thoughts post project

so.  after my first stint mentoring, what do I think?

I had a great time doing it and was very happy to be the overall coordinator.  if anything, I wish I had MORE info/documents/feedback from the students.  I would have liked to be even more involved. 

I found myself treading the line between being involved enough and pestering them.  I didn’t want to burden their workload with extra reports or additional work they didn’t need to do, but I would have liked to be kept in the loop a little more.  as the “sponsor,” are we just there to provide a project idea and step back or to be fully involved with the students?  obviously the answer lies somewhere in between, but where?  there’s no handbook on this one.

I think in the future I would have a separate conversation with the professor ahead of the semester and find out what his/her vision of our involvement would be.  if I have some sort of idea ahead of time, then I can try to make decisions on how much to bug the students.  this semester there were times when I’d go two or three weeks without hearing from them.  that’s not unreasonable, but in a short semester, that’s actually a chunk of time.  it’s not so much that the students veered off course at all.  it’s more that I am so curious and excited about the projects and progress they make.  I’m sure that, in reality, it will depend on the character of the professor and the class and the particular students, but anyway, that’s something I want to give more thought to next time.

I’ve gained much from this experience and have gotten some confidence that I have something to offer the students.  even if it’s not pure technical expertise, I can certainly help with project management and engineering-type reviews.  I started out the term just being a spokesperson for ATC, giving guidance on what I thought our clients would want/need and what would be available in those areas.  I slowly grew into giving more advice on their strategy and approach.  I even got up my courage to give a pep talk about writing and its role in their future careers.  in the future, if I can feel comfortable doing it, I would love to be able to give them more “life experience” advice.

when I do it again, I will get to know more about the structure of the class and the students’ requirements.  I’d like to get a syllabus and the paperwork describing the assignment and expectations from the professor.  I’ll push for more frequent updates and ask more nosy questions.  and if possible, I would love to get to know the students better.

hopefully I’ll get that chance.  Dr. Thompson won’t be teaching that class again next semester, unfortunately.  but I would love to work with him again in the future.  we have some contacts at Michigan which could pan out, or there are various other schools with which we work.  ATC have said that they would like to have me do it again, so now it’s just a matter of finding a need and developing a reasonable project scope for it...