Outcomes
Halfway through the year, many potential benefits for the year's class have yet to flower. One early benefit, however, came from exposing the students at the start of the year to the range of courses that ex-students were doing, enabling them to clarify their intended direction of study outside the classroom at a much earlier stage and to focus on specific options in their schoolwork.
The mentoring programme is proving particularly beneficial in reinforcing a culture of collegiality in her classroom. "ICT is growing so rapidly that no-one can be expected to know everything. You've got 25 kids in your room, and each is doing something entirely different, using different software and programming languages, and each has different problems.
Jenny Baker: "My ex-students have been so willing to respond. Some of the questions I've asked have been quite a big ask, but they usually take the time to put some detail in their answers and most are quite comfortable using the email to respond."
"As the teacher you've got to be thinking on your feet all the time about how to solve all these problems, so it's good to have the knowledge of ex-students that you can draw on. It also develops a communal sense of caring, and my students are now feeling comfortable helping one of their peers who is having problems."
A diverse bank of resources is quickly becoming established and proving very useful for providing specific information to focus student practice and to challenge students to broaden their perspective: "When students are getting a bit off-task or reluctant to focus enough attention on something, such as planning, for instance, I can now get an example from the emails. An ex-student can show current students that what they are being asked to do within an achievement standard is exactly what they are being asked to do in the real world. This is proving very helpful."
Jenny Baker: "Sometimes when someone has a problem I'll just ask the class 'can anyone work out how to do this?' And with the younger ones especially it becomes a challenge... who can be the first one to work it out. In this type of sharing they're learning so much."
As an example, a student who left school in 1995 and works as a programmer for a company in Hamilton re-established contact with Jenny on his return to Hamilton this year. She invited him to become part of the mentoring programme and he has contributed a two-page email on the general topic of 'planning' that students are now able to access when required.
"I told him that some students were having difficulty with planning, and asked him to share the sorts of planning he has to do for his work. In the email he explained to the students how he has three days of planning with all of the key stakeholders [of a project] before they can even start to look at a computer. Although it's been a bit longer since he's been at school, he still knows the way the kids think, and how they just want to get in and work at the computer. But he can show them all the advantages that come from good planning."
By emailing specific technical questions to mentors, a bank of up-to-date information is developing, which is readily available to students. This ensures that the time given by the mentors is used effectively and minimises any loss of valuable work time.
Student survey:
How is contact with mentors useful to you?
- Vidur - Year 12
It helps me adjust my technological practice to those of experts or other programmers in the IT industry. - Nathan - Year 12
It allows for easier debugging and a second opinion and ideas and methods of implementation. - Bob - Year 12
It is good because the emails are anonymous. I can learn from others who were just like me, without having to actually talk to anyone and embarrass myself. - Renee - year 13
It gives a realistic view on what each course at Uni actually involves, rather than just reading the course booklets. It also provides an opportunity to become aware of things that are important and you need to know but you aren't usually told or made aware of
