Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
I would strongly recommend something my team did a number of years ago - the "No Mentor" line. Let me explain...
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This is a great idea! As others have alluded too, there is a big difference in the soft skills required to be an engineer and an engineering mentor. In general engineers have a strong drive to get things done, which can occasionally be quite frustrating when the go-to activities for the worker bees is idly chatting. Very rarely do engineers actively leave students out, they just get wrapped up in solving problems (engineering), and forget why they are there!
We had lots of new mentors this year, and there was lots of adults talking early on in our strategy meetings. So we instituted a mentor gag order until the students had thoroughly chatted it out among themselves while we listened. Worked great. Students had a chance to really drive the discussion, and the mentors learned that the best way to get students involved and interested is to let them do the heavy lifting and get invested in the final outcome.