In Spring 2017, the SPARC project developed a new training course for our experienced, highly effective, yellow sashes. The training progream entitled them to become Peer Computing Experts (PCEs).

PCEs will take on more advanced roles in our courses. They will train new yellow sashes, help students in the classes at a higher level, create videos and other educational materials, and exercise more independence during classes and labs. New PCEs receive a signed certificate, a great additional bullet to add to a resume, and a guaranteed promise for future recommendations from their instructors.

PCE candidates must have already completed one semester as a SPARC yellow sash, and received a nomination from one of the classroom instructors. They completed a half-day Certification Course and created a 1-minute video summarizing one concept from the course.

We gratefully acknowledge the materials shared by Heather Pon Barry and the MaGE project at Mount Holyoke College.

Our training course for the Peer Computing Experts lasts about four hours and is very interactive. We hope the materials may be useful for other institutions, thus freely distribute them.