The following guide is a list of ways you can make sure your team activities are effective and beneficial towards your learning. This list was compiled by feedback from students for students!
- Read the activity BEFORE the team meeting.
- Yes, be caught up on the reading and videos.
- But even if you aren't caught up, still attend and try to contribute.
- Use a google doc or word doc that is collaborative and shared to anyone with the link (or if word, the meeting itself) to update for your notes.
- Not only does this foster better inaction and discussion (as the notes become a study guide), it also helps the TAs and instructors to see what you are working on.
- Your instructor and TAs may leave comments in the notes as they look through to encourage deeper thinking or to help guide you.
- Have someone use "Live Share" (vs code) or "Code with Me" (IntelliJ) to share their screen.
- This allows for better collaboration and understanding of the code.
- It also allows for the team to work on the same code at the same time.
- Make sure it is a collaborative effort and not just one person coding.
- If you are using a different IDE, you can use the screen sharing tool in Teams.
- Try to contribute even if you feel you aren't fully caught up. Chances are other team members will help you understand the concept better.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions and take a bit longer on discussion if needed
The team activity is a guided study session, and it is only as effective as the team. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Your overall goal isn't to finish every task and just go. Your goal is to learn and understand the material, and make sure all your team members better understand the material. This may mean more discussion, more questions, and more time. Other times, you may find the sessions rather quick.
If the team is stuck on the topic, it is alright to @ the TAs or instructors in the chat. If they are around during the activity, they will hop on to give guidance. However, more than likely (due to timing of activities), they will respond later with some resources and answers. If a team is really stuck, they may also ask to schedule another meeting to help you all get caught up - this is good! Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Grades for team activities will be based on attendance and notes. You must attend, and as a team you need to generate notes that we can confirm your work. Ideally, you upload the notes as a PDF to the team meeting after you build them out.
[!TIP] Good notes become a study guide for you and your team! Make sure they include everything you need to help better understand the weekly material.
In addition to the weekly material, team activities will present new ideas and concepts that relate to the material. These ideas are more the practical application of the material, or how it may appear in industry discussion. They are meant to give you deeper insight and understanding of the material.