Mentoring High Ability University Students: An Experience with Computer Science Undergraduates

The new educational context poses new challenges for universities. In a situation of continuous innovation, along with the implementation of new methodologies, it is essential to ensure the diversity of the student body. This includes students at varying levels of learning ability. This research has been motivated by the need for more tools to identify students with high abilities. Only in this way, they can be provided with the appropriate attention and adjusted to their learning rhythm. The present work shows an attempt to enhance the learning experience of all students. The starting point is our previous experience on setting up an online judge, in the context of a basic subject and in lab work, both within the Computer Science degree. As a result, a new teaching methodology was created, which allowed us to detect high-capacity students. And secondly, the higher learning rates of these students were enhanced using the new methodology. Along with the detection and intervention experience, the results of a survey, carried out with high-ability and/or high-performance students, are presented. Students share their vision of participation in this initiative of the University of Salamanca.