The mentoring phase

The mentoring phase

The mentoring phase is a 4-week phase after the live training where participants will be mentored and supported by the trainers to complete a simple project that showcases what they learned during the training and how these can be used in their organizations.

When deciding on what project to pursue, both the trainer and participant must consider the feasibility of the project in terms of the time and effort needed to complete them.

Objectives

The purpose of the mentoring phase is:

• To help participants complete a short project that utilize the things they learned during the live training sessions
• To augment the skills and learnings from the live training sessions

Time commitment and expectation from participants

• Participants are expected to allocate one day (8 hours) per week to work on their projects.
• Ideally, it should be feasible to complete the projects selected by the participants in four days of work. This includes finding and getting the data, deciding on the analysis to use, performing the analysis, and creating the data presentation (if needed).

Time commitment for trainers

• A total of 8 hours per week is allotted for the trainer/s during the mentoring phase. This time allocation can include:
  • Mentoring calls with groups/participants to track progress of their projects. See Project Tracking document.
  • Advanced mentoring sessions.
  • Answering emails/questions, preparing materials, etc.

Mentoring calls

• The mentoring calls are weekly catch-up calls between the trainers and the participants to discuss their progress, problems encountered, things they need help with, and what to do next.
• Depending on the number of groups, the mentoring calls should last no more than 30-45 minutes per group per week.
• The mentoring call should not be used for the participants to do work as participants are expected to work on their projects outside of the mentoring calls.
• At the end of the mentoring calls, the action points should include the next steps that the participants need to take in order to progress or finish their projects.
• The trainers and participants can decide what schedule works best for the mentoring calls when both the trainers and participants are available—e.g. afternoons only, mornings only, Thursdays and Fridays only, etc.
• Use the Project Tracking document to document the mentoring calls.
• The mentoring calls should be recorded.
• Scheduling the mentoring calls.
  • Services like Doodle (https://doodle.com/) can be used so participants can easily schedule a mentoring call with the trainer.
  • Once a schedule is booked, create a scheduled meeting on Zoom and copy the link.
  • Send a calendar invite to the participants with the link to the scheduled meeting in the description.
  • Add/invite an OKF email to the mentoring calls as well. This will be useful for monitoring the mentoring phase.

Weekly email updates

• At the start of each week during the mentoring phase, send an email in the general thread reminding the participants about scheduling a mentoring call for the week, updating them about the status of their projects as tracked in the tracking document, and inviting them to advanced mentoring sessions during the week (if any). Slack may also be used for this.
• The individual email threads with the participants may be used to answer specific questions about their projects and as a way for them to update the trainer about their progress or things they need help with. Slack may also be used for this.

[optional] Advanced mentoring sessions

• Optional advanced mentoring sessions can be done during the second and third weeks of the mentoring phase that can discuss more advanced topics that were not thoroughly discussed during the live training and that the participants might need in their projects.
• Examples of this include:
  • Advanced QGIS visualization and map-making techniques
  • Advanced QGIS analysis techniques—e.g. Network Analysis.

[optional] Final presentation showcasing what the participants learned

• If the participants and the Facebook coordinator agree, a final presentation showcasing what the participants have learned can be scheduled a few weeks after the end of the mentoring phase.
• This event should be about what the participants learned through the process rather than showcasing the projects. If they have finished their project, they can show it. If not, they can share what they learned and what they plan to do next with that knowledge.
• Templates for the final presentation can be found below:
  • Spreadsheet of information:
  • Presentation:

Example mentoring phase schedule for the trainer

Week 1 - Mentoring calls (4-6h), Others (1h)

Week 2 - Mentoring calls (4-6h), Advanced mentoring session (2-3h), Others (1h)

Week 3 - Mentoring calls (4-6h), Advanced mentoring session (2-3h), Others (1h)

Week 4 - Mentoring calls (4-6h)

Two weeks after end of mentoring phase - Final presentation (1-2h)

Projects

General considerations for projects

It is important to ensure the feasibility of the projects. The participants should be able to complete the project in the 4 weeks of the mentoring phase while allocating 1 day of work per week. Aside from the feasibility of the project, it is also important to consider how the projects will showcase the things learned by the participants from the training and how the projects can help the participants and their organizations. Given these considerations, we should note the following information about the proposed projects.

• Availability and accessibility of data.
• Analysis to be performed.
• The audience of the project.
• How the results will be presented.

This information should be inputted in the Project Tracking and Monitoring document.

Project tracking and monitoring

Post-training data projects and maps tracking document:

[template] Post-training data projects and maps

General timeline for projects

The general timeline for projects is as follows:

• By end of Week 1
  • The participants must finalize the information about their project as provided in the Project Tracking and Monitoring document.
  • The participants must have the data or at least have an idea where to find and how to get the data needed for the project.
• By end of Week 2
  • The participants must have determined the feasibility of their projects and decide whether to:
    • continue to pursue it,
    • change topic, or
    • write a report about their project which includes information such as:
      • the problems they encountered in doing the project—e.g. lack of open data, data that isn't accessible or in the proper formats, time considerations, etc.,
      • the lessons they learned,
      • their recommendations for making sure similar projects will be more feasible in the future, and
      • what they plan to do with the things they learned during the programme.
• By end of Week 3
  • Continue with the project or the report
• By end of Week 4
  • Finalize the project or the report

What to do if a project does not seem feasible?

• As mentioned above, if the project does not seem feasible, the participants may choose to change topic or create a report highlighting what they learned during the process of doing the project.
• The focus of the mentoring phase isn’t just for the participants to simply finish projects but to learn and experience what it entails to create data-driven geospatial projects that utilize the things they learned during the training. With this in mind, sometimes it is better for participants to write about their experience doing the project and share what they learned than finishing a project that is too simple or one that does not add value to them or their organizations.

Sample projects and their timelines

Data visualization project

• By end of Week 1
  • The data needed for the project have been collected.
  • The trainer provides the participants with options and resources to determine what data visualization technique works best with the project they are doing.
• By end of Week 2
  • Participants send the first draft of the data visualization
  • The trainer provides possible improvements to the data visualization
• By end of Week 3
  • Participants send the second draft of the data visualization
  • The trainer and participants test the draft visualizations by showing it to possible users / audience and getting feedback.
• By end of Week 4
  • The participants and trainers finalize the data visualization based on the feedback from the user test.
  • The short report about the project is finished.

Site-suitability project

• By end of Week 1
  • The data needed for the project have been collected.
  • The trainer provides the participants with options and resources to determine the next steps for doing the site-suitability analysis such as how to pre-process the data, what processing steps to use, and how to compute for the suitability score.
• By end of Week 2
  • The participants have prepared the data for processing.
• By end of Week 3
  • The participants have performed the site-suitability analysis.
• By end of Week 4
  • The site-suitability maps are finalized.
  • The short report about the project is finished.

Network analysis project

• By end of Week 1
  • The data needed for the project have been collected
  • The trainer provides the participants with options and resources to determine the next steps for doing the network analysis such as how to pre-process the data, what processing steps to use, and how to perform the Network Analysis.
• By end of Week 2
  • The participants have prepared the data for processing.
• By end of Week 3
  • The participants have performed the Network Analysis.
• By end of Week 4
  • The Network Analysis maps are finalized.
  • The short report about the project is finished.

Model-builder project

• By end of Week 1
  • The data needed for the project have been collected.
  • The process that will be modelled has been identified.
  • The trainer provides the participants with resources about the different processing algorithms that can be used and the QGIS Graphical Modeller.
• By end of Week 2
  • The participants can perform the process manually in QGIS.
  • The participants send a step-by-step guide or flowchart of how the process is done in QGIS.
  • The trainer shows how a model is made in QGIS.
• By end of Week 3
  • The participants have converted the manual process into a QGIS model.
  • The model is tested and refined.
• By end of Week 4
  • The model is finalized.
  • The short report about the project is finished.