How to run Peer Advising

How to run Peer Advising

The Peer Advising sessions are definitely the best "community service" that the clubs provide for the wider body of CS / CNIT students. Typically run the first or second full week of classes each semester, but always before the Drop/Add deadlines.

Returning club members serve as "advisors" to other students, talking about:

• what specific classes really cover
• different professors' teaching style, expectations, volume of work, etc
• the real prerequisites for the classes (what background students should have to be most successful & to get the most out of the class)
• which classes should be taken together, and in what order (typically recommending additional classes beyond the certificate requirements)

Why?

• Students can talk about classes / professors while they have some time to change their schedule
• Students find all the existing student clubs:
  • Coders: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ccsfcoders
  • Hackers: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ccsf-hacking
  • Linux Users Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ccsflug
  • She Who Codes: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wwc-ccsf
  • Web Developers & Designers: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ccsf-wddc
• Clubs get the required 12+ student ID numbers they need for their ICC renewal paperwork
  • https://github.com/CCSF-Coders/club-how-to/wiki/How-to-Restart-the-Club

When?

• Typically this would be held either Tue/Wed or Wed/Thu at 4-6pm or 4:30-6:30pm to catch both the day & evening students, and to catch students who have created Mon/Wed only and Tue/Thu only schedules.

Where?

• Usually in BATL 451 or SCIE 037 as the largest spaces.

How?

• The faculty advisors probably have access to money to pay for pizza & drinks as food really increases attendance.

• Club officers need to actively recruit returning students to volunteer to be "advisors" and especially make sure they recruit students from all the certificate tracks (programming, databases, linux sys admin, web dev, security, etc)

  • Pro Tip: individually ask returning CS/CNIT students you know to participate as individual asks are more effective than simply a Google Group post (individual asks = yes/no, group broadcast = no response / thinking someone else will do this)
  • Really if you've taken any CS or CNIT (or VMD or ENGR or MATH or ...) classes at CCSF, you have an opinion about:
    • what these classes really cover
    • different professors' teaching style, expectations, volume of work, etc
    • the real prerequisites for the classes (what background students should have to be most successful & to get the most out of the class)

• Getting students there: https://github.com/CCSF-Coders/club-how-to/wiki/How-to-publicize-events-at-CCSF

  • Past flyers: https://tinyurl.com/flyers-peer-advising