We assign mentored pair programming as a coursework assignment throughout the course.

This is different from driver/navigator pair-programming where the pairs take turns.

All of the standard pair programming guidance applies - make sure you’re familiar with it.

Before a mentored pair programming session, learners should decide what they’re going to pair on and share this with the volunteer, e.g. by sharing a link to a particular Codewars exercise, a particular piece of coursework, or some other problem.

During mentored pair programming, the learner should:

• Explain their thought process
• Break down the problem
• Plan what code to write
• Write all of the code
• Check that it works

The mentor should:

• Ask questions to get the trainee thinking. It’s always better to ask than tell.
• Help the trainee think about breaking down the problem
• Support the trainee as they write code
• Help the trainee to debug their code
• Stretch the trainee by bringing up edge cases or complications

This is different from other forms of pair programming (e.g. driver/navigator), where both people may be expected to write code, or people may take turns at different roles. This is because the goal is different: the goal is teaching.