Identify Peer Mentors

Schools must first identify students to become Peer Mentors.  A 10-1 ratio of participating students to Peer Mentors is recommended.  Schools may use their Brigade Bestari clubs, allow volunteers, or have teachers select students. Peer Mentors should ideally be meeting once a week to work on their own projects, go through the Peer Mentoring units of the TechYES curriculum, and any other leadership or mentoring activities the Program Advisor has found.

Peer Mentors should be introduced to the program components as well as trained on technology literacy issues and proper evaluation and tutoring techniques. Some of this will be done in on-site trainings  and the Advisor can use Unit 0: Preparing Peer Mentors in the TechYES curriculum as well.

Introduce TechYES to the Students

Hold a meeting for all students starting the TechYES program and distribute copies of the TechYES Student Guide. At this meeting, the TechYES Advisor and any peer mentors should introduce the TechYES concept and answer questions. If TechYES is happening in multiple classes with different teachers, make sure all sections are getting the same information.

Students Plan and Complete their Projects

Using the Student Guide, the online tools and curriculum, and the resources on the TechYES.net Web Portal, students plan, design, and build their projects. The Online Project Evaluation Form in will help them prepare for their project evaluation.

Peer Mentors and the TechYES Advisor help students with projects

As students plan and work on their projects, they may choose to do it themselves, or ask for help from the Peer Mentors and the Program Advisor. By having open hours in the computer lab and Peer Mentors available, these students can get the help when and where they need it.

Project evaluation

When a student completes a project, they first review it themselves. Next, a TechYES Peer Mentor reviews it to see if it meets the requirements for TechYES Certification. An activity in Unit 0: Preparing Peer Mentors in the online curriculum specifically addresses the issue of training the Peer Mentors on how to evaluate a TechYES project.

Once the student has filled out their own evaluation and gotten a successful Peer Mentor’s evaluation as well, he or she goes to the TechYES Advisor, who will also evaluate the project. The TechYES Advisor is guided by the same evaluation standards as the Peer Mentor. The TechYES Advisor completes the Project Evaluation Form and signs off on the project.

These three evaluations for each TechYES project is done using the online evaluation forms.

Each student must complete two full project planning, building, and evaluation cycles to become TechYES Certified. In addition, each student is required to certify that he or she understands Internet safety and ethics issues, and how to evaluate web resources. This can be done by using the existing ICT Curriculum in the schools or by using the online TechYES Curriculum.