Session 8: Facilitator Notes

Duration: 60 min · Deliverable: delivered, peer-reviewed engineering proposal

Before the session

• I've reviewed each student's repo state and logbook to know what they'll present.
• The presentation rubric (starter/evaluation-rubric.md) is shared with students 24 hours in advance.
• Everyone has their course logbook (/logbook) open. It already holds their W1–W7 outputs; we assemble the proposal live from it.
• I have a visible timer ready; I'll need it.
• I've drafted feedback notes per student based on their week-by-week work; have them open during the session for reference.
• Plan a randomized presentation order. Tell each student their slot at the start.

Time budget

Block	Mins	What happens
1. Recap + rubric review	5	I walk slides 1–7 quickly.
2. Assemble proposals from the logbook	15	I demo the structure; we build each proposal live, straight from the logbook (it already holds W1–W7).
3. Student presentations	25	Present + Q&A; set the per-student cap based on cohort size (see scheduling below).
4. My feedback per presentation	(n/a)	Inline as part of block 3.
5. Career Q&A	10	Slides 13–14.
6. Closing reflections	5	Slide 15 + farewell.

Per-presentation scheduling

Phase	Time
Student presents	4–8 min (set the cap based on cohort size)
Peer Q&A	1–2 min
My feedback (rubric-grounded)	1 min
Transition	30 sec

For 7 students × 8 min total each = 56 min, too tight. Budget realistically; consider trimming presentations to 5 min if there are >5 students.

Block-by-block

The core work today is done live, together: we assemble each proposal from the logbook in session, then present. Students do not prepare the proposal alone beforehand; the logbook already holds W1–W7, so the assembly is the live work. Any further polishing of slides is optional, never required.

Block 1. Don't dwell on the rubric; they've seen it. Anchor: "today is about clarity, not perfection. Your job is to make me act on what you found."

Block 2 (assemble from the logbook, live together). I demo the proposal structure on slide 6 using one student's logbook (with permission) or my own worked example. Then everyone builds their own proposal live from their logbook: pull the before/after table, hypotheses, rollout, and the governance docs and enforcement straight out of /logbook and drop them onto the slide outline in starter/proposal-template.md. Walk the room. The logbook does the heavy lifting; this block is assembly and sequencing, not writing from scratch.

Block 3 (presentations). Hard rules:

• Timer visible on my screen, share if possible.
• Cut presenters at the cap, even mid-sentence. They need the experience of being cut off.
• Take notes per student; they'll get written feedback from me within a week.
• Don't compare students out loud. Compare to the rubric.

Block 4 (inline feedback). One minute. Pick one strength and one push. Use rubric language. Example: "Your before/after numbers were crisp [strength: evidence]. I'd push you to acknowledge the cost of caching more directly: what happens when the cache poisons? [push: tradeoffs]."

Block 5 (career Q&A). Slide 13 has the resume bullet template. Have them try it out loud: one student volunteers to say their bullet, I give live feedback. Then open it up. Common questions: how to write about the project on LinkedIn, what to say when an interviewer asks "tell me about a project."

Block 6 (reflections). Slide 14: round-robin, 30 seconds each. End on time. Thank them. End the call.

Anticipated questions

"What if I run over time during my presentation?"

I'll cut you. We assemble from your logbook together in block 2, so you'll know your material; run through it once out loud during that block.

"How will I get individual feedback?"

Written feedback within a week, mapped to the rubric. Slack me if you don't see it by [date].

"Can I use my slides in interviews?"

Yes, and link the repo. Both are portfolio artifacts.

"What's the best way to talk about this on a resume?"

See slide 13. One-line summary with numbers. Don't claim more than you measured.

If you run short

• Compress block 1 to 2 minutes.
• Trim block 2 (assembly) to 10 min; the logbook means most of the content is already there.
• Cap presentations harder: 5 min instead of 8.
• Cut block 5 (career Q&A) to 5 min; push the rest to async chat.
• Don't skip closing reflections. End on a human note.

Post-session

Within one week:

• Written feedback to each student, rubric-grounded, ~1 paragraph each.
• A cohort summary message in the channel: highlights, common strengths, common pushes.
• An offer to write LinkedIn recommendations for students who want one (only for those whose work merits it).

Ending well matters. The fellowship is a long-term relationship; this session is the start of the alumni phase.