Mentor Training: Mentoring as an Alumna

Supplementary Mentor Training Mentor Training: Mentoring as an Alumna

Welcome to the Mentor community!

We're thrilled to have you supporting girls in the Technovation program this season. Your experience as a former participant will be invaluable in guiding your team through their learning journey. Your insights and encouragement can make a significant difference and inspire them to reach their full potential.

Technovation Alumnae were Mentors during the 2024 season
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As a Technovation alumnae, I remember the excitement and sense of possibility that ignited within me when I first joined the program. It was a chance to explore my passion for technology and entrepreneurship while making a tangible impact on issues I cared about.

With five years of experience under my belt, I’ve understood firsthand the value of this program. I’ve had the opportunity to mentor three teams, including a beginner team, a junior team, and a senior team. I am rooting for my teams and can’t wait to see what they accomplish.

Virginia

Technovation Mentor, Ambassador, and former Program Participant

FROM STUDENT TO MENTOR: TIPS FOR SUCCESS

  • Share your Technovation experience to help the girls understand what to expect. Remember, you only have to share what you feel comfortable discussing with the team. Keep in mind that your students’ experiences may be different from yours.
  • Focus on encouraging them, offering guidance, and being a good listener. Highlight both the challenges and successes you faced, and remind them that every journey is unique. Most importantly, be supportive and patient as they navigate their own learning journey.
  • Mentors facilitate curriculum and support students throughout the season, but they don’t do the work for them.
  • Your role is to provide a structure for your team to work through the curriculum. Involve your team in planning and listen to their ideas to foster greater engagement.
  • Encourage open communication and create a positive, collaborative environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to contribute.
  • Providing constructive feedback and celebrating small successes can also help build confidence and keep the team motivated.

You were once a student participant—now you’re a Mentor! Reflect on the key differences between these roles. As a participant, you chose the problem you wanted to solve. Now, your role is to guide and support your students as they tackle an issue that’s important to them.

Here are some additional tips for first-time Mentors:

  1. Set Boundaries: Establish clear boundaries to maintain a healthy balance between Mentoring and your personal and professional life. Ensure that your students know when and how to reach out for support, and be clear about your availability.

  2. Be Patient and Adaptable: Understand that the process may take time and things might not always go as planned. Be flexible and patient as your team works through challenges.

  3. Encourage Collaboration: Foster a team environment where every member feels heard and valued. Encourage open discussions and teamwork to solve problems.

  • Mentors don’t do everything on their own – they are part of a community! Consider recruiting a co-Mentor to support your team, and review the resources available to you in the Mentor Resources training module. 
  • Additionally, connect with other alumnae by sharing and engaging on the #mentors Slack channel.

Once an Alumna, Always an Alumna

Alumnae Resources

As a Technovation Mentor, you're now also a valued member of our Alumnae community! There are many ways to stay connected and discover special opportunities tailored for Alumnae. Join our Alumnae LinkedIn group and subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on leadership, education, and professional opportunities worldwide.

Learn More

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

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Mentor Training: Prepare for your First Meeting

Supplementary Mentor Training Mentor Training: Prepare for your First Meeting

PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST TEAM MEETING IN 5 STEPS​

  • Pick a location/online platform to meet
  • Create an agenda
  • Review the activities
  • Keep your team informed
  • Get excited!

USE THIS RESOURCE TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST MEETING

The Mentor Curriculum will be your best resource to prepare for your first, and all future meetings!  The Mentor curriculum is a Mentor project management tool.

Each unit of the student curriculum has this companion guide for mentors to help you feel more confident and prepared to support your team. Learn more about the Mentor curriculum ->

DECIDE WHERE TO MEET

In-Person Meeting

Find a central and public location that is accessible to all team members, for example: public libraries, community centres, coffee shops, etc.

Have at least one of the parents remain for the meeting

Send a calendar invitation, with the parents included, that includes the address of the meeting location

Determine a video conferencing software that will let you meet for the determined time

common video conferencing tools have time limits on the free version:

-Google Meet 1 hour

-Zoom 40 minutes

Send a calendar invite with the parents included and include the meeting link

Some teams opt for a hybrid meeting schedule, which means that sometimes they meet in person, and sometimes they meet virtually. 

It is important to communicate clearly so all team members know when and where they are meeting. Do not assume that students all have access to technology at home. Make sure everyone has a way to access the virtual meeting before scheduling.

Discuss meeting options (click the titles above to learn more) with your team and agree on a time and place.

Send the team an invite so they can refer to it when they need information about the meeting make sure to include parents so they can help the students remember include the location.

Send the agenda with a reminder (24 hours in advance) of when and where the meeting will be.

CREATING SAFE LEARNING SPACES

Below are some important guidelines to review prior to meeting with your team:

  • Review Technovation’s  Volunteer Code of Conduct. 
  • Review our safety page.
    You will find resources for:
    • Creating a safe learning environment
    • Internet safety & privacy
    • Child Safety 
    • Anti-discrimination

Learn more about how to minimize prejudice through Pepperdine University’s Masters of Psychology research.

MEETING PLANNING TIPS

girl working on craft project

Logistics

  • Have team members confirm that they will be attending
  • Have a backup way to communicate with your team
  • Designate a meeting moderator – pick someone different each time
  • Practice online tools before starting a virtual meeting 
girls coding

Collaboration

  • Use free tools like Google Docs for real time collaboration
  • Share your screen in virtual meetings and make sure everyone can see the activities during in-person meetings
  • Encourage students to bring tools to engage and collaborate (ie. notebook, laptop, etc.)
girls getting help at computer

Team Building

  • Start the meeting with Ice Breaker questions to get students comfortable
  • Make it fun with themed meeting, games, etc. 
  • Have everyone take turns speaking, including your quieter sutdents. 
  • Be a positive, encouraging voice and provide constructive feedback when needed

REVIEW UNIT 1 CURRICULUM

Our online curriculum is designed to equip students with cutting edge skills through project based learning.

  • 45 lessons in 12 units with 60+ hrs of content
  • Step-by-step guide to build projects
  • Self-paced and flexible design

The curriculum can be adapted to fit within a variety of timelines. We recommend that students are given 40-60 hours of time to use the curriculum and build their projects.

Lessons include:

  • Videos
  • Interactive features
  • Activities with worksheet guides
Access Student Curriculum

MAKE AN AGENDA

Use the Mentor Curriculum to get comfortable with the goals of the activities. You'll also see if you need to prepare any documents or slides.

FACILITATE YOUR FIRST MEETING

You want to set a standard for the next 12 weeks, where the team will feel safe and comfortable, and trust one another. Below are activities to include in your first meeting: 

The internet is a great resource for a wide range of icebreaker activities

Go through submission guidelines and key dates

    • This helps the team understand what they will be building and the potential pacing of the program

Pick a video(or two!) from the app gallery to watch 

    • This show girls what they are capable of doing, what problems have been solved by other teams, what they are working towards

This agreement will help you and your team openly talk about: 

  • expected behaviors of other team members
    • of their mentor(s)
    • mentor(s)’s expectations of the students
  • scheduling
  • time commitment
    • be honest about how much time you can commit to mentoring
  • communication tools you all will use

Use the Mentor Copy of this agreement for guiding questions to support this process. 

The completed agreement does not need to be sent in to Technovation.

Go through the content in Unit 1 of the curriculum

Guide your team through completing each activity

  • Avoid giving immediate solutions when students are stuck on a concept. Instead, ask questions that guide them toward finding the answers themselves.
  • You are learning alongside the students. It is OK for you not to have all of the answers about the program as you get started! 
  • Recap the key goals that the team was able to achieve.

 

  • Assign the tasks to team members that need to be complete before the next meeting. Reminder: multiple team members can work together on a single activity.

 

  • Confirm a consistent time to meet in the future, so students can expect the meeting and are less likely to miss it

FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

  • Encourage students to send you updates of their work in advance so you are prepared to give feedback during your next team meeting

  • Focus your efforts! Determine what students need the most help with and what they already know

  • Embrace failure and mistakes, and turn them into learning moments. These will lead to breakthroughs and discoveries!

  • Send reminders about upcoming meetings and tasks that need to be done before the next meeting.

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

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Mentor Training: Connect with your Team

Supplementary Mentor Training Mentor Training: Connect with your Team

YOU FOUND A TEAM, WHAT'S NEXT?

girls in green uniform and white shirts overlook a man in a white shirt working on a laptop
Send them an Email!

Introduce Yourself

Give a short introduction of who you are and why you decided to be a Mentor. Tell your team what you are looking forward to this season. You can even include a fun fact about yourself! 

Gather Relevant Information

Ask them to share the mentor communication form with their parents send back to you (optional, but encouraged). Review the resources available to prepare for your first meeting.

Schedule Your First Meeting

Suggest some times you are available to have your first team meeting, Ask students to share when works for them from that availability.

USING THE MENTOR COMMUNICATION FORM

Mentor Communication Form

The Mentor Communication Form is a useful tool for you to use with your team: 

  • It is a method to collect consent from parents/guardians to use a communication tool/platform chosen by the team.
  • It gives parents/guardians the option to share their contact information to be included.
  • It helps find a common method of communication for the team for the mentor, student and parent records to keep.

This form is for your team’s use, and does not need to be sent to Technovation. 

COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT TOOLS

Video Conferencing

Google Meet - Zoom -Big Blue Button

Written Communication

E-mail - Whatsapp -Discord (if students are 13+)

Brainstorming

Google - Jamboard Miro - Figma MindMeister - Padlet

Documentation

Google Docs - Google Sheets - Dropbox - Notion

DIDN'T HEAR BACK FROM YOUR TEAM?

Don’t worry! This may be the first time your team has participated in a program like this. Email them a reminder that you’d like to set up your first meeting.


If you haven’t heard back after three contact attempts, you can visit the platform to find another team to mentor. 

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

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Mentor Training 5: Find a team

Mentor Training Mentor Training 5: Find a team

FIND A TEAM

Once you have finished onboarding (completing your Mentor profile, completing training, and, if required, a background check), it’s time to look for a team! There are about 5 ways that you can look for a team to support this season. 

  • 1. You know the team, but there isn't a team made on the platform
  • 2. There is a Chapter or Club Ambassador local to you, that you can connect with
  • 3. Searching already formed teams on the platform
  • 4. Teams invite you to join their team on the platform
  • 5. Connecting with girls in your community

Below, we share in more detail how you can use each of the above listed strategies to find a team. Select the tab on the left that you are interested in learning more about to bring up the corresponding information.

If you know the students who will be on your team but they have not created a team yet, you as the Mentor can create one.

series of screenshots directing a mentor where to find the option to create a team on the Technovation platform

Once, you have created the team students can search for the team. They can then send a request to join the team, which you will need to accept.

If you are near a Chapter or Club, you can work with them to find a team!

 Technovation Girls Waterloo listed on the mentor dashboard with the button "Meet your chapter ambassador" outlined in a yellow box

Find your local Chapter or Club ambassador on your dashboard (pictured above) if there isn’t one listed, you may not be near a Chapter or Club, not to worry the information on tabs 3, 4, and 5 will help!

If you know a team has been created by the students you plan to support OR are looking for one to join, you can search existing teams through the platform.

The video below will show you how to search from your Mentor dashboard.

The same way Mentors can search for teams, teams can search for Mentors! You may log on and see “Invites from teams” on your dashboard under “Build your team”.

When looking through invites sent to you, think about:

  • Are you in or close to their timezone? – time zone converter
  • Are you comfortable supporting beginner, junior, and/or senior teams?
  • Are you likely to share a common language to make communication easier?

There is no pressure to accept every invite that is sent to you. The Technovation Team would prefer you support less teams really well than more teams poorly.

And please decline invitations you are not interested in. This helps teams figure out if they need to reach out to other Mentors.

There may not be enough girls registered in your area for you to find a team. You can tell girls you know about the program! Share it with:

  • coworkers who have kids
  • family members & friends
  • local schools
  • members of your community
  • other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)

Sample message you can send:

I’m volunteering with Technovation Girls as a mentor for young women ages 8-18 building skills to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders! 

The program uses a hands-on learning model that brings youth and adults together to solve their most pressing problems with technology tools they build themselves. With the support of volunteer mentors, girls work in teams to code mobile apps or build AI prototypes that address real-world problems they’ve identified.

If you know a someone who would like to sign up, please pass this information on to them!

EFFECTIVELY USING THE PLATFORM TO FIND A TEAM

The Technovation platform is a great way to find teams. There are a few things to keep in mind, to make the most of the tool.

  • Responding to an invitation:
    • if you are unable to work with the team for any reason, simply click “Decline Invitation“. This will let the team know that are you not available and they should look for another mentor.
    • If you are able to work with the team, click “Accept the invitation“.
  • toggle discoverability: Under ‘My Profile’ there are options to help you control how you appear in searches on the platform. The table below explains when you would want to check and uncheck a setting option
Label of the setting
Check the box if you...
Uncheck the box if you...
Allow teams to find you in search results and invite you to join
want to receive team invitations
do not want to receive anymore team invitations
Indicate to teams that you can be an online, remote Mentor
can be a Mentor to teams virtually
are only interested in being a Mentor to a team in-person
Allow other mentors to find you in search results and connect via email
would like other Mentors to be able to reach out to you, potentially to co-Mentor a team with them
do not want other Mentors reaching out to you

SAFETY GUIDELINES

When looking for a team through the platform, you can search for teams near you or anywhere in the world!

Different countries have different expectations about how they interact with Mentors they don’t know. Teams may not respond to your request if they aren’t familiar with who you are — and that’s okay.

Do your best to outline who you are in your bio. It should be 3-5 sentences and talk about your professional work, why you want to be a Mentor, and maybe 1-2 hobbies or personal interests.

Once you have teams you are comfortable supporting, you can cancel your other outstanding requests and update your discoverability as noted above. This will prevent you getting additional teams you cannot support and take some pressure off of teams who may have other requests to consider.

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

This is the final lesson of the required course, congratulations!

There are additional lessons to help you further prepare to be a mentor in:

  • Connecting with your team
  • Preparing for your first team meeting
  • Mentoring as an Alumnae
  • Learner Friendly Language

Go to the next page to indicate you are done training, by clicking “Next Topic” in the bottom right.

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Mentor Training 4: Mentor Resources

Mentor Training Mentor Training 4: Mentor Resources

SETUP FOR SUCCESS

Mentors have access to a range of resources to support their experience in the program, click the arrows on the carousel below to browse the available resources to Mentors:

Here you will find the mentor curriculum, resources organized by each part of the season, coding resources, and more! 

Under ‘Newsletter Archive’ you’ll also find newsletters sent so far for the season and resources on discussing challenging situations with students. 

The ‘Getting Started’ section is a great first stop for preparing for the season.

 
Mentor Resource Page

Mentors will receive regular newsletters with:

  • new and recommended resources
  • upcoming event information, local stories
  • deadline and milestone reminders

Be sure to add [email protected] to your safe sender list, so you never miss an email.

Instructions to add to safe sender for: Outlook | Gmail | Other

Connect, share best practices and ask your fellow mentors questions through our Technovation’s Volunteer online communication tool. You can also reach out to Technovation team members!

 

Join Slack

Ambassadors are local volunteer program leaders who recruit and support local students & Mentors. Referred to as either a Chapter or Club Ambassador, depending on if the program is lead by an organization (Chapter) or an individual (Club).

This person is your go-to contact for questions about team matching and events in your area. If there is an Ambassador in your area, you’ll see them on your platform dashboard. 

If you do not have an Ambassador local to you, you can always reach out to the Technovation Volunteer Engagement Team. (We’re here for you even if you have a local Ambassador)

Coaches are topic specialists that teams can book time a 1-hour meeting with to get answers to questions about a specific topic. 

This is a great way to get support for your teams in topics outside of your expertise as a Mentor.  

Coaches will be available for bookings starting in late January 2025. 

USING SLACK TO CONNECT GLOBALLY

Slack is a great place to connect with our global community of Mentors and Technovation staff! You can ask questions, celebrate successes, and share best practices. You can view our full Slack guide here. 

Here are the channels you’ll have access to in our Slack workspace:

  • #announcements: updates from the Technovation Team for all volunteers
  • #mentors: the main channel for Mentors to share questions and successes
  • #help-appinventor, #helps-thunkable, #help-ai: channel for all volunteers to ask and answer questions about MIT App Inventor, Thunkable, and AI
  • #mentors-needed: the channel for Mentor – team matching! Mentors looking for a team and Ambassadors looking for Mentors can share availability and connect

COACHES FOR ADDED EXPERTISE

Coaches provide feedback and guidance to teams on their projects in a 1-hour session. Teams will come prepared with the question(s) they have and provide the context of their project in advance.

Conversations will be focused in one area of the program:

  • Ideation/Brainstorming
  • Coding – MIT App Inventor, Thunkable, Python
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Business
  • Pitch writinG

Mentors will be notified via newsletter when Coaching appointments become available to book! 

FROM MENTOR REGISTRATION TO TEAM FORMATION

This checklist will take you step-by-step as you prepare for your Mentor journey.

There are many resources available, and this list will ensure you are familiar and connected with those that are important and relevantas you start your season.

Pre-Season Checklist

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

Keep going through training, by clicking “Next Lesson” in the bottom right

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Mentor Training 3: Pre-Season Checklist

Mentor Training Mentor Training 3: Pre-Season Checklist

GETTING STARTED

The ‘Getting Started’ section of the Mentor Resource Page has everything you need to be prepared for the season.

This training will go through some of the key steps and accompanying resources, including:

  • Pre-season checklist
  • Mentor curriculum
  • Volunteer Slack
  • Team Agreement
screenshot of the mentor resource webpage, title in bold says Getting Started

PRE-SEASON CHECKLIST

This checklist will take you through the steps to prepare for a successful season as a Technovation Mentor. Bookmark this page to easily come back to and help you figure out next steps!

Complete your Mentor profile

  • add a photo and write an engaging personal summary to help you match with a team on the Technovation platform
  • review and sign the consent waiver
  • mentors in the U.S., Canada, and India only, complete a background check (in the dashboard)
  • if you are a returning Mentor, go to “Your Profile” and update any out of date information
Mentor Dashboard

Learn about the Mentor role

  • review the Mentor training lessons to understand the roles and responsibilities
  • review the Volunteer Code of Conduct to understand what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour as a Technovation volunteer
  • review this Safety lesson to help you keep student safety top of mind

Completing this and the previous step means that you are officially onboarded as a Mentor.

Read More

Understand the program and timeline

Build your team

  • Find a team

    • reach out to your Chapter or Club Ambassador (found on your mentor dashboard) in your local area to see if there are in-person teams, OR
    • search for teams on the platform and see if they are in your time zone

  • Find a co-Mentor

    • ask a colleague or friend to co-Mentor a team with you to help make the season more manageable. Try to find someone with complementary skills to you
    • join our Volunteer Slack to interact with the global Mentor community and get advice on leading the program from other Mentors.
Learn More

Connect with your team

More on this in the lesson Connect with your Team

Explore the curriculums

  • review the student curriculum to gain an understanding of the content your teams have access to
    • there are Mentor tips that will help you gain better context about the content and guiding questions you can use to guide your team through discussions while staying on track
  • use the Mentor curriculum to help you put together the agenda for your first meeting
Mentor Curriculum

Now that you are through this checklist, you should be ready to start the season.

Make a copy of the checklist (in Google docs) and watch our video guide below!

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

Keep going through training, by clicking “Next Lesson” in the bottom right

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Mentor Training 1: What is Technovation Girls?

Mentor Training Mentor Training 1: What is Technovation Girls?

MISSION POSSIBLE: Empower 25 Million Female Future-Shapers

We empower girls to become leaders, technology innovators and real-world problem solvers around the world.

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girls registered in 2024

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countries represented by students and volunteers in 2024

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tech-based solutions submitted in 2024

The world is missing out on powerful ideas by excluding half of the population from the rooms where ideas are shared and decisions are made. 

Through AI and tech entrepreneurship education, Technovation aims to empower 25 million girls and young women.

Together we can equip the next generation of girls with the skills they need to solve real-world problems and shape the future.

0 %

of Technovation Girls demonstrate a basic understanding of programming

0 %

of Technovation Girls Alumnae go on to pursue a STEM degree

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of Technovation Girls Alumnae are working in STEM-related fields

What do girls do in this program?

Girls ages 8 – 18 work with Mentors to develop technology-based solutions & businesses to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs using the following actions:

  • Identify a problem in their local or global community

  • Design a mobile or web app to address a community problem

  • Code the app

  • Create a business idea around the app

  • Record a pitch video and technical video to showcase their ideas

  • Submit their project to Technovation's global competition

Student’s projects include: 

  • Project Name & 100 word description
  • Pitch Video and Technical Video
  • User Adoption Plan (Junior teams only) or Business Plan (Senior teams only)
  • Technovation Learning Journey 
  • Mobile or Web App 

For later reference: Learn more about our Submission Guidelines and Judging Rubric 

Submission Guidelines
Judging Rubric

ATTENTION!

Any apps, prototypes or businesses developed for Technovation are the intellectual property of student participants. 

Participating mentors and Technovation do NOT have intellectual property rights to the ideas, apps, student-generated databases, business plans, and user adoption plans.

Program Implementation Model

Recruitment

Recruit students to participate on your team. See if a colleague or friend will serve as a co-Mentor with you. 

Planning

Connect with your team and, review the resources available to you to plan your first meeting and understand the curriculum activities. 

Mentorship

You will support your team as they work through our 12-unit curriculum that teaches coding, entrepreneurship & teamwork

Submission

Girls submit a pitch, tech demo, and business plan for a mobile or web app addressing a community problem. 

Competition

Judges from around the world provide feedback on team projects, both virtually and in person at local pitch events. 

Celebration

Regional and Global winners receive awards, and all participants are invited to a virtual celebration.  Students are invited to be part of our Alumnae community.

Technovation Girls Timeline 2024-2025

2024-25 timeline (English)

Learn more about our divisions

Hover over each card to learn a unique fact about one of our divisions

girl looking intently at laptop

Beginner

8 - 12 years old
8-12 years old

At least one mentor must be a parent and and this division has their own separate curriculum
girls looking at hardware device

Junior

13 - 15 years old
13-15 years old

This division has their own curriculum and teams submit a User Adoption Plan

Senior

16 - 18 years old
16-18 years old

This division has their own curriculum and teams submit a Business Plan

Program Roles

There are two categories of volunteers who support the Technovation Girls participants: Ambassadors and Student Support. To learn more about the volunteer roles that are included in each category, click each of the titles below.

Chapter & Club Ambassadors

Volunteer leaders (Organizations or individuals) in local communities who run the program and provide Mentor support.

Student Ambassadors

Previous Technovation students who support the program through recruitment and engagement activities in their community.

Mentors

Professionals, teachers, parents or university students that support teams throughout the season.

Coaches

Topic specialists that support the teams through a 1 time meeting.

Judges

Volunteers that provide feedback and scores on team's final submissions. 

Being a Mentor in Technovation Girls has been an incredibly enriching experience. Each girl brings something unique, and the process has consistently taught me new perspectives and approaches. The diversity of ideas and the creativity of the participants are truly inspiring.
- Technovation Mentor
Technovation is not just a program—it's a movement that is transforming the lives of girls around the world and shaping the future of technology and entrepreneurship. I wholeheartedly recommend it to any colleague who is passionate about empowering the next generation of female leaders in STEM.
- Technovation Mentor
I am most proud of the significant progress and growth that my Technovation team achieved this season. Witnessing the girls develop their skills, overcome challenges, and collaborate effectively to create a meaningful solution to a real-world problem has been truly fulfilling
- Technovation Mentor
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Technovation Staff Support for Volunteers

The Volunteer Engagement Team works to support volunteers of the Technovation Girls program, namely mentors, club ambassadors, coaches, and judges.

Meet our team! 

 

Want to connect? Find us on Slack or at [email protected]

Bryant Gomer
Sr. Director, Volunteer Programs
Rae Samuel
Manager, Volunteer Programs
Megan Black
Coordinator, Volunteer Programs

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

Find out what’s new for the 2025 season by clicking “Next Topic” in the bottom right.

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Mentor Training: Learner Friendly Language

Supplementary Mentor Training Mentor Training: Learner Friendly Language

Learning new concepts often comes with lots of terminology and jargon. While the terms are equally as important to understand as the concept itself, it can overwhelming for a new learner.

Using language that is approachable, will help build their understanding rather than memorize key terms. In this lesson, we’ll review learner-friendly language and how to create learner-friendly definitions.

According to Steele & Mills (2011) a learner (or student)-friendly definition is written by an adult (SLT, teacher, assistant) and is not constrained by space limitations, as a dictionary definition is. For example:

Word
Dictionary Definition
Learner-Friendly Definition
sympathy
harmony of or agreement in feeling, as between persons or on the part of one person with respect to another
understanding what another person is feeling because you have felt the same way before

CREATING LEARNER-FRIENDLY DEFINITIONS

Through a two-step process shared in Beck’s Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction about creating learner-friendly definitions, you can also create learner-friendly definitions.

1. Determine the word's typical use

Think about how the word is typically used and what meaning you are trying to convey when you use it.

Think about the connotations, or context or assumptions that are made when using the word.

2. Build a definition out of everyday language

Use words that are at the team’s level of understanding, avoiding overuse of formal terms.

The language should demonstrate the correct context.

Include words like “someone”, “something”, and “describes”

EXAMPLE: EXPLAINING DEBUGGING

dictionary.com defines debug as “to detect and remove defects or errors from.”

The word “remove” refers to taking out whatever is causing the error. Teams may get stuck on the removal part and not realize that fixing a bug can involve correcting how something was written in the code. 

A clearer learner-friendly definition could be 

“When someone debugs a computer program, they look for the mistakes in it and correct them or looks for unneeded code and removes it, so that it will run properly.”

The collinsdictionary.com is a great resource for learner-friendly definitions. 

These are a great starting point for you to modify from. Some words have example sentences demonstrating the word’s use and images to help with understanding the word. 

dictionary definition for coding from collins dictionary

If teams need more practice or different ways of learning terms, here are some other ways to make new terms learner-friendly (Stahl and Nagy, 2006):

  • share synonyms and antonyms
  • share examples and nonexamples
  • discuss similarities and differences between new terms and words the team knows
  • word association (have teams share the first word that comes to mind when you share a new word; this can be a fun way to assess team’s prior knowledge on a new concept)

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

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Mentor Training 2: The Mentor Role

Mentor Training Mentor Training 2: The Mentor Role

Mentors are important to a Technovation Girls participant's learning and support throughout the program

Mentors work with teams for the duration of the season to:

  • help the team stay on track
  • manage time and meet deadlines
  • navigate team dynamics, including promoting effective communication
  • connect teams to additional resources 
  • encourage enthusiasm and engagement throughout the program
  • enable the teams to be creative and independent problem solvers

Meet Britta, a Shopify iOS Developer & Technovation mentor who grew up liking science but didn’t pursue it till her 2nd degree!

TASKS AS A MENTOR

There is an assortment of tasks that make up the Mentor role, that list of tasks depends on your team’s needs and desired outcomes for the season. 

Below are 8 tasks that Mentors typically complete in the Technovation Girls program. Hover over each card to flip it and get an idea of how you can build or implement that skill.

Reflection

Think about how you, as a Mentor, want to work with your team.

Am I reaching my team? Are they engaged with me? Can I learn more about what motivates them to better guide them as their Mentor?

Team Building

Promote teamwork and strengthen effective co-operation.

Start each meeting with an icebreaker to help the team settle in and build rapport. Model positive interactions with all team members to show the girls how to communicate.

Empowerment

Encourage self-organization and promote self-confidence of your team. Celebrate all their wins, big or small!

Celebrate all their wins!

The primary goal is learning! If they have learned something new or built a new skill, make sure you and the rest of the team acknowledge that.

Build Transferrable Skills

Share attitudes and values, such as a growth mindset and unconscious bias, with your team. Students will carry these with them beyond Technovation.

Giving your team the answer to a question, helps them in the moment. Showing your team how to find the answer, helps them for a lifetime (and it means you don't have to be an expert in the topic, just willing to find the answer with them).

Hold Space

Create a positive learning environment that allows each student to grow their unique skill set.

Check out the Culturally-Responsive Sustaining Practice at the end of this lesson for more on this!

Expectation Management

Support the team identify and reconcile different expectations about their project.

Be proactive

In your first team meeting, take time to go through the team agreement to set expectations for the season.

Team Agreement Video Guide

Conflict Management

Encourage open and respectful communication in times of conflict. Support the team in finding a solution.

Refer back to your team agreement to help the team find common ground. Remain neutral and make sure all sides are heard. Acting as a mediator who guide towards compromise and understanding.

Forward Thinking

Keep a bird’s eye view of the team’s work and encourage them to progress forward.

Be aware of upcoming milestones and help your team make good decisions in a timely manner.

GROW WITH THE STUDENTS

A benefit of being a mentor is that you get to expand your knowledge and skills alongside the team. Many mentors report feeling re-energized about their work. Getting to work with this generation of changemakers gives you insight into what is important to them, how they perceive and interact with their communities, and how they tackle challenges.

IMPROVED WORK

0 %

of mentors reported that the skills they improved are skills they use in their role at work

LEADERSHIP SKILLS

0 %

of mentors said this experience improved their leadership skills

TEAM BUILDING

0 %

of mentors reported that this experience helped them gain team building skills

BUILDING A SENSE OF BELONGING

The most integral part of your role as a Mentor is helping participants build their sense of belonging. As girls progress in the program, we hope they will feel that they belong in STEM, business, and many other spaces where their voice is so important.

As their Mentor, ensure they are heard and feel valued for what they bring to the experience and what they learn from it. This includes providing guidance and answers to questions that allow them to explore and find the answer on their own, not just giving it to them.

Part of this process is to practice culturally responsive-sustaining engagement with your team.

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE-SUSTAINING PRACTICE

Generally, when we look to broaden participation in technology, this means increasing access. Increased access alone is not enough, we need a multi-pronged approach where students can explore their cultures, experiences, and interests with the new lens of technology. This is a step in closing racial, gender, and socioeconomic equity gaps. 

This framework from the Kapor Centre in the United States, looks holistically at what changes need to occur in educational practices and legislation to improve the learning experience. The framework focuses on computer science, but many of the learnings can be extrapolated to the Technovation Girls program. 

We’ve pulled out some key courses of action, that you as a Mentor may implement while working with your teams; and have modified some of the language slightly to better fit this context. We acknowledge that equity work looks different in each community, so take what you need.

Click through the titles on the left side to reveal more information.

As a mentor, it’s important to explore your own identities and your position of privilege and power. This includes among many others:

  • racial identity
  • gender identity
  • cultural identity
  • ethnic identity
  • linguistic identity
  • religious identity
  • socioeconomic status
  • and more 

You don’t need to share this with your team, this is to help you understand your perspectives. Taking time to understand who you are walking into this experience, will help you better understand who you will be as a Mentor and how you can connect with your team with minimal bias.

Part of building that sense of belonging in STEM, begins with making spaces, like Technovation, feel safe for participants. This content may be new to many girls, they should be free to learn and make mistakes that they can grow from. Below are some first steps you can take:

  • deliberately establish an accessible team dynamic that recognizes, respects, and includes the voices, ideas, needs, and perspectives of all students by consistently checking-in with the team and getting their feedback on how the team is working together
  • incorporate girl’s voices and perspectives throughout the program engaging them as cultural experts, make sure they feel heard
  • actively and intentionally confront and dispel stereotypes and biases about the abilities and skills of students from marginalized groups. Remind them that learning is a journey and technology is for everyone, including them!
  • honor and respect the diverse ways that students process and learn information, striving to be mindful and inclusive in their engagement. If one girl needs a little more time to grasp a concept give her that time; help her find other videos or content that may explain the concept in a way she understands.

Have your team explore their own identity can help them find a community they want to support with their project or help them think of a problem they can tackle. In the ideation content, there is a lesson about communities. This lesson is a great vessel to getting teams to explore and think about their identities.

  • help teams explore their identities to develop tech-based solutions that reflect their passions and interests (this is why Technovation let’s teams pick the idea they want to solve)
    • honor and affirm students’ intersecting identities within curriculum (ideation is a great place to do this!), instructional practices and support team’s navigation of technology and society at large
    • support teams in learning about the history of their respective communities, honor their ethnicities and cultures, and incorporate their cultures, interest, and passions into the learning process

I still have a question

You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at [email protected].

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