MENTORS

Step 1. Complete your registration

On my.technovationchallenge.org ensure you finish the mentor training, sign the consent form, complete background check, and fill out your profile (bio and a photo).

Step 2. Find a team to mentor!

You can search for teams in your region/timezone and send requests to join the team. Make sure your profile is complete so the team can get to know you a bit before they accept your invite.

Need help finding a team? Contact us at info@technovationgirlsbc.ca.

Step 3. Review the curriculum & resources below, pre-season checklist and schedule your first team meeting

Kick off the season by reviewing the pre-season checklist! In your first email to your team be sure to include the parent or guardian email addresses. You may find it helpful to send the mentor communication form for parents to sign so that you have some guidance on preferred ways to communicate with your team.

Coaches

Step 1. Complete your registration

Register as a Coach using the Mentor Application on the Technovation Girls/ UBC Geering Up website. 

Step 2. Choose your Coaching Availability

We have a variety of virtual Coaching sessions and live events planned where you can help provide feedback, guidance & motivate teams. You can view the dates and sign up for sessions below or use the Coaching Session Signup Form.

Check out our playlist of coding and AI tutorial videos just for Technovation. 

Alternatively, here are a few other resources for tips on specific platforms. 

MIT App Inventor: 

• Getting Started with MIT App Inventor

• Make a Simple App with App Inventor

• Make a Motivational App

• Build a Translation App

Thunkable:

• Code Your First App

• Code an App in Thunkable

• Code a Social App

• Building a Motivation App

AI:

• Using number data to make an AI model

  • Finding a public dataset

  • Using a public dataset to train an AI model

  • Using the trained model in a Scratch project

• Using image data to make an AI model

  • Training the AI model

  • Adding the model to App Inventor

  • Coding the app using the model

.For encouragement and guidance, we collected advice for mentors from the people who know best: actual Technovation mentors. Here are some of our favorite “mentorisms”:

1) Remember what you learned from your own mentors and teachers.

• • If you’re a first-time mentor, it might be overwhelming. But remember the mentors and teachers you’ve had, and think about the tools they used to inspire and motivate you.

2) Build their confidence.

• • Much of your role as a mentor is building your mentee’s confidence and helping them recognize their ability to solve problems and overcome challenges.

  • “To mentor the girls, the first thing I did was to make them believe in themselves and their abilities to change their communities with ideas. As a mentor, my job ends in showing the way, the will is invented by the girls, and this is what I make them clearly understand.” – Ugi Augustine

3) Remind them that failure is normal.

• • Failure can be discouraging, but is a normal and valuable part of learning and growing. As a mentor, help them see how failure can provide a learning opportunity.

  • “I also taught [my team] to see failure as a normal thing, and understand that a lot of people fail, but then get better after they try again. I have failed so many times in trying to set my company up, so I use my life experiences to inspire them. “ – Ugi Augustine

4) Point the way but let the students lead.

• • Your job as a mentor isn’t to solve your mentees’ problems for them, or find all the answers, but rather help them come to their own solutions, build their confidence as problem solvers and encourage them to keep going.

  • “As a mentor, my philosophy is to give guardrails and be a cheerleader, rather than roll out instructions. Therefore, as a Technovation mentor, my goal has always been to lead the team towards a shared vision for the app they wish to build, and enable them with technical guidance and encouragement as appropriate to help them realize their full potential.” – Ananya Sen Gupta

5) Remember that you have things to learn – and to teach.

• • Offer your guidance and support, but allow your mentee decide how to organize their work and tackle solutions. If they get stuck or find themselves off track, help them find their way back by modelling planning, critical thinking, and project management skills

  • “My first year was a humbling experience when I realized the girls I was mentoring knew far more about current mobile apps than me. The hard part was keeping their efforts and talent streamlined towards a successful project rather than letting them run wild like kids in a candy shop. I mostly achieved that by letting them splash around the first couple of weeks, and then set deadlines, goals, and individual responsibilities, from technical to project management tasks. It worked. The team, diverse in their abilities and personalities, took on parts of the project and worked together towards a shared vision.” – Ananya Sen Gupta

6) Remember you’re modelling more than just technical skills.

• • A mentor’s job isn’t only about helping your mentee develop skills, solve problems, and become more confident, it’s also about sharing your experience with them and showing them what professional success can look like, even if it’s different from how success is normally defined.

  • “I was a virtual mentor to a team of four young women at a high school... and I had dilemma: I was supposed to mentor this team over Skype while taking care of my infant daughter. So, in absence of precedents, I just decided to skype in with Harriet on our first meeting, and told the girls that I would need to multi-task. They were not only supportive, but enthusiastic to see that it is possible to have a kid and pursue science at the same time.”

7) Remember why you’re doing this.

• • When the going gets tough or you feel overwhelmed or underqualified, reflect on why you decided to become a mentor in the first place. Remember the skills you’ve developed, and your own experiences.

  • “We all know that we have been through a lot (even though we don’t usually say it out loud) just because we are women in technology. This is one way of changing the future so these girls can stand up to things we have never done because they will be more confident than we were. Because we are telling them they can be the best coder, video game developer, designer – or start up their own companies and solve the problems they would like to solve.” – Ozge Yeloglu

8) Ask lots (and lots) of questions.

• • And encourage your mentee to ask lots of questions too! Get to know your mentee and truly understand their problems or challenges so you can provide better advice. And ask questions about their work and projects to encourage them to ask questions too – show them that it’s okay not to know everything and that you can find answers together.

  • “Ask lots and lots of questions! Even more importantly, make sure you get answers you are satisfied with. Make sure you get an answer you understand. Sometimes this may require you to do some digging on your own, but who knows? That question may turn into your career one day!” – Madeline Foster Martinez

9) Be Passionate.

• • Let your enthusiasms and passions shine through, and help your mentees tap into their own.

  • “Be passionate about what you’re working on. No matter how many competitors you may have, your team and the execution will differentiate you. People may be able to replicate your ideas or features, but they won’t be able to replicate the enthusiasm you can bring to the product or the community that will rally behind you because of it.” – Trish Fontanilla

Source: Advice for mentors: 9 tips to help you become a better mentor for girls in tech | Technovation