As I mentioned earlier, I recently started helping a local developer by doing some mentoring.

Every Friday, we put a few hours aside for the sessions face to face. One thing we found last week was that we spent about 20 minutes going over the assignments set from the previous week. I can certainly talk for Britain at times, but I'm finding that time is golden, and I need make sure I leave enough time to properly cover new topics.

My student has suggested that he send me the assignments before the session, along with any questions he may want answering. Good thinking. Hopefully that will help us make better use of the limited session time, we'll see...

One thing that is working out really well is Google Apps. Their Google Sites feature is brill. I use that to write up lecture outlines for each weeks session (along with images etc), and to upload audio recordings of sessions as well as supporting materials. Of course, the site is shared with my student so he can prepare for the next week and access resources if needed. I can also put other resources like scanned sections of books etc. One thing I like about Google Apps is that it feels like there's very little friction to getting things done. It feels so lightweight and functional. [Pats Google on the back]