Students often say that the GPS are the best part of Phase 0, and we agree! These sessions are what make Phase 0 different from the other programs.
Guided Pairing Sessions are designed to do three main things:
- Give students exposure to pairing in a supportive environment
- Help students develop greater technical understanding with assistance from Phase 0 Guides
- Prepare students for being on-site where pairing will be an integral part of each day's experience
Each GPS challenge is designed to reinforce the learning outcomes covered up to and including the previous week's challenges. These sessions are opportunities for you to identify and clarify concepts that were confusing, as well as to get practice pairing. Sometimes GPS curriculum will address new concepts. In these instances, you are expected to research in the session and practice your researching abilities.
Each student is required to attend six Guided Pairing Sessions (GPS) during Phase 0. Each session is only offered during the week it is assigned.
You may sign up for the upcoming 3 weeks' sessions by noon the Friday before the unit starts on the Phase 0 App. There is one small exception: if you are in Week 1, you will be able to sign up for your first GPS the day after your introductory session. We only make one session for each student, so sign up early!
If you do not complete the GPS in the week it is assigned, we cannot guarantee you will be able to stay in the cohort you are currently in. You will be forced to move to the next cohort and re-submit all assignments to that point. Makeup sessions will only given for emergency-situations only.
If you are marked absent from a session you've signed up for, you will receive an email that states you are out of integrity, one of the three agreements, with Dev Bootcamp. It then is up to you to reschedule your session and reach out the the Phase 0 Team to get back in integrity.
The GPS schedule is as follows:
Unit 1:
- Week 1: Introductory Session
- Week 2: GPS 1.1 Git Workflow and Version Control
- Week 3: GPS 1.2 HTML
Unit 2
- Week 4: GPS 2.1 CSS
- Week 5: GPS 2.2 Ruby
- Week 6: GPS 2.3 Ruby
Unit 3
- Week 7: GPS 3.1 Ruby
- Please connect to a reliable Internet network in a quiet place.
- Wear headphones during the GPS to reduce feedback.
- Cancel any sessions you cannot make more than 6 hours prior to your session.
- If you have an emergency come up at the last minute, email your guide, pair, and mailto:phase0@devbootcamp.com to let them know you will not be able to attend the session. Then switch your slot in the Phase 0 app.
- If you need to reschedule, but all appointments are booked, please make an announcement to your cohort asking someone to switch sessions with you.
Guides are Dev Bootcamp alumni at various stages of their web development careers. Some have just graduated from Dev Bootcamp and have an excellent perspective into the experience of being a student. Others graduated over a year ago and have been working as web developers. Because they have all been through the entirety of Dev Bootcamp, they are a great resource for answering your questions!
Each guide has a slightly different guiding style. Some guides are more active in taking you through a challenge with your pair and others focus on observing. If you have a guide whose style is different from what you need, it is up to you to let them know. Each guide should introduce their guiding style at the beginning of the session. If it's not what you're expecting, be sure to discuss that with your pair and your guide.
Guides can be expected to
- observe you and your pair working together
- ask you to pause if they feel you are getting off track
- help with coding conventions, style, communication, and so on
- answer questions (with guidance rather than an answer) and help you ask good questions
Although you have one hour with the guide, the challenges will often take longer. This means you will probably need to set aside another time to finish the challenge with your pair or on your own.
GPS are the main way we evaluate your progress and give you feedback in the program. Evaluations in Guided Pairing Sessions are a good indicator of whether Dev Bootcamp's learning environment is a good match for you.
- Enthusiasm for programming and solving challenges.
- Willingness to check in, connect, and share how you are feeling.
- Curiosity about how things work.
- Ability to show your ignorance and speaking up if you don't know something.
- Ability to balance speaking and listening, driving and navigating.
- Ability to engage the Phase 0 Guide when you and your pair are stuck.
- Transfer knowledge from previous challenges to a new challenge.
- Identify concepts that are confusing and ask for help.
- Demonstrate your comfort with reading and writing code.
- Implement the technical skills you've learned.
- Express your opinions and ideas.
- Appoint a driver and navigator and swap roles with clear communication.
- Seek out and create space for your pair’s thoughts and opinions.
- Ask questions when you don’t understand something (Ask your pair before asking the guide).
- Discuss various options with your pair as well as pros and cons.
- Demonstrate your ability to research methods, use IRB, etc.
- Screenshare when appropriate to include your pair more fully.
- Let your pair know when you need thinking time instead of going silent.
- Experiment with the code and cultivate a spirit of play.
- Display familiarity with learning outcomes.
- Use the knowledge you’ve gained to demonstrate the outcomes listed in the challenge.
- HAVE FUN!
- Let your pair take over completely and “coast” through the session.
- Forget to switch between driving and navigating.
- Act like you understand something when you don’t.
- Do not contribute to the code.
- Do not ask questions.
- Expect yourself to be perfect.
- Expect your pair to be perfect.
- Prioritize completion or speediness over understanding.
By the end of the day of your GPS, you will receive feedback from your Guide in Canvas.
This feedback is not meant to be a grade, even though it will appear as a score. It is meant to give you an better understanding of your current progress and where you can improve. Each learning outcome is technically out of 3 points although a rubric will put it at 5. If you get a 3/5, that is right where you should be.
Grading Scale:
- Exceeds Expectations: 5 pts
- Meets Expectations: 3 pts
- Slightly Below: 1 pt
- Does not meet: 0 pts
You are also required to leave feedback for your pair (in the Feedback App) as well as for your guide. If you end up pairing with a guide, you are not required to leave feedback for a pair (fill in the survey with that information). Include feedback to your Guide in the Guide Feedback form (located in the week's module under the GPS form).