Project engagement

Asking what sort of education and learning our community supports is how we decide what sort of community we become.

For it is through education and learning that we engage with our future colleagues, friends and supporters. ~ Nicholas H.Tollervey, CodeGrades founder

The first step in assessing a candidate's project is for a mentor to engage with the candidate. The initial engagement takes the form of a comment posted by the mentor to the candidate's project page.

The purpose of engagement is to create an opportunity for the mentor to probe more deeply into the knowledge, skill and level of accomplishment of the candidate. The mentor should use the candidate's response to inform the selected levels of attainment in their assessment.

Appropriate types of engagement include (but are not limited to):

• Asking for an explanation of the approach taken to some aspect of the project.
• Suggesting a new feature.
• Reporting a bug.
• Asking that their existing project works in an unforeseen context.
• Requesting the candidate refactor a specific part of their code (with the mentor explaining what they think could be improved without actually revealing how such an improvement could take place).
• Adding a new but appropriate user requirement.
• Pointing out a new source of information or learning and calling for the candidate to revise their project in light of this new information.
• Asking for the candidate to address an aspect of assessment that they currently don't meet (for instance, asking them to write a user guide if there isn't any documentation).

There are, of course, many ways in which engagement could take place. We trust you, the mentor, to use your judgement and experience to decide which type of engagement will reveal the candidate's full potential.

It is important for mentors to remain supportive and helpful ~ while not revealing how to make any necessary changes to code or the wider project.

Most importantly, please guide the ensuing conversation so the candidate demonstrates their fullest skill, knowledge and level of accomplishment without prompting them with ready solutions.

If you're unsure, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the CodeGrades admin team, who'll be pleased to help.