CST-426S - Module 8

What did I learn in the eighth week of CST-426S?

Reflecting on what I have learned within the service project as a whole, there were some ups and downs given the whole tutoring sessions, as they weren't fully planned out correctly. Basically, the tutoring for the most part went well, as each studying session we did before it prepared us as much as it could to properly help others. 

The one thing I would improve though is the orientation meetings, as the supervisor didn't provide a concrete way in how we should be tutoring students, thus we simply did things on our own and came up with ways to teach students based on our personal preference in presenting information. 

The most impactful part of the whole experience was teaching students how to properly code, as I have never been given an opportunity to teach students about debugging, functions, coding ethics, etc. and they honestly really appreciated it beyond what I was expecting. 

The challenges that came up during the service learning project was again the tutoring, as we needed to fully understand any questions they gave through a document before the meeting, while answering any questions they had on the code that I personally provided to the supervisor, as without it I wouldn't have been able to keep up with what they wanted to have answered.

Finally, for future service learning students, the most important advice I can give is to speak with the supervisor during the orientation meeting to facilitate all expectations, learning outcomes for the students, and the direction to where you should be putting your study hours accordingly. This experience is a great way to understand concepts, code, and personal knowledge but it requires you to proactively advise the supervisor on how you can go about the tutoring, while asking the supervisor what he expects from the tutoring sessions. In the end,  you should also be at least 5 minutes early to each meeting, reflect honestly, and take the opportunity seriously as this will not only impact you but others outside of the course.