The mentoring calls are weekly catch-up calls between the trainers and the participants to discuss their progress, problems encountered, things they need help with, and what to do next.
The mentoring call should not be used for the participants to do work as participants are expected to work on their projects outside of the mentoring calls.
Depending on the number of groups, the mentoring calls should last no more than 30-45 minutes per group per week.
At the end of the mentoring calls, the action points should include the next steps that the participants need to take in order to progress or finish their projects.
The trainers and participants can decide what schedule works best for the mentoring calls when both the trainers and participants are available—e.g. afternoons only, mornings only, Thursdays and Fridays only, etc.
Record the mentoring calls especially if they contain technical explanations, examples, and walkthroughs that the group might need to recall or watch again.
Scheduling mentoring calls
Services like Doodle (https://doodle.com/) can be used so participants can easily schedule a mentoring call with the trainer. Alternatively, you can ask participants to inform you of their preferred schedules.
Once a schedule is booked, create a scheduled meeting on Zoom and copy the link.
Send a calendar invite to the participants with the link to the scheduled meeting in the description.
Add/invite an OKF email to the mentoring calls as well. This will be useful for monitoring the mentoring phase.
Weekly email updates
At the start of each week during the mentoring phase, send an email in the general thread reminding the participants about scheduling a mentoring call for the week, informing them of the project objectives for the week, updating them about the status of their projects as tracked in the tracking document, and inviting them to advanced mentoring sessions during the week (if any). Slack may also be used for this.
The individual email threads with the participants may be used to answer specific questions about their projects and as a way for them to update the trainer about their progress or things they need help with. Slack may also be used for this.
Advanced mentoring sessions [optional]
Advanced mentoring sessions are useful for discussing relevant topics to multiple groups at the same time.
Optional advanced mentoring sessions can be done during the second and third weeks of the mentoring phase.
Scheduling of the advanced mentoring sessions should be done at least 2 weeks prior.
These can involve topics that were not thoroughly discussed during the live training and that the participants might need in their projects.
Examples of this include:
Advanced QGIS visualization and map-making techniques
The final presentation activity should be about what the participants learned through the process rather than showcasing the projects. If they have finished their project, they can show it. If not, they can share what they learned and what they plan to do next with that knowledge.
If the participants and the Meta coordinator agree, a final presentation showcasing what the participants have learned can be scheduled a few weeks after the end of the mentoring phase. The schedule for this can be finalized during the mentoring phase.
If a common time cannot be identified, participants may send a recording of their final presentation (10-15 minutes) that will be shared with everyone.