How Lighthouse Labs is Expanding Its Mentorship

Professional mentorship is the backbone of student success at Lighthouse Labs. Senior Manager of Student Success, Chetna Robinson, shares how the expert mentorship program at Lighthouse Labs is expanding with a bespoke chatbot, Larry AI, and live online dockside session events. Learn how these new additions to student support are boosting student success and reinforcing the power of community at Lighthouse Labs. Plus, Chetna shares her tips for incoming bootcampers on making the most of these new resources. 

With the rise of AI tools, in what ways is Lighthouse Labs incorporating AI into the classroom and teaching approach?

We're aware that AI is a part of the world now and that students will use AI on the job, so our efforts are rooted in teaching AI literacy and how to use AI responsibly. By teaching students AI literacy, we’re emphasizing that AI is not the final answer. You still need to be able to think for yourself and know that AI is not flawless!

Why was it important to release the new AI chatbot, Larry AI, at Lighthouse Labs this year?

We know that students use AI but we wanted to simplify the experience and prevent misinformation or academic discouragement. It’s common for students to feel overwhelmed in our intense program and get mentally blocked. We thought it was time for us to introduce an AI assistant that was trained on our curriculum and able to respond to students in a way that was appropriate for a school setting, which would encourage them rather than potentially be another discouraging step. 

At a high level, what was Larry AI created to do? 

Larry AI was created as a supplement to our phenomenal mentorship program. The problem we faced as we extended our in-person teaching into the digital learning space was the wait time for students requesting support. We created Larry AI as a tool to help students troubleshoot while they’re in the queue to speak to a real-life mentor. We also found it helpful to students to receive support when they’re working on projects at odd hours of the night when mentors aren’t available.  

Will the AI chatbot be available to students in all tracks? 

Yes! It's available to all Lighthouse Labs students. 

Will students in different tech tracks interact with the Larry AI chatbot differently?

The bot is the same but students will interact with it differently based on the content they’re discussing. For example, a student in the Web Development Bootcamp will talk with Larry AI more about coding and debugging, whereas somebody in the Cybersecurity Bootcamp would ask more high-level questions about organization and frameworks. 

Will the Larry AI replace mentorship at Lighthouse Labs?

No, Larry AI is not designed to replace the existing mentorship program! Larry AI couldn't replace mentorship because it doesn't replace the key skill of speaking with industry professionals. Mentorship at Lighthouse Labs is about talking to other professionals about what you’re doing on the job. The main purpose of our mentorship program is building a student’s industry jargon and confidence, which enables future collaboration with teammates on the job. 

How will the combination of mentorship and the AI chatbot improve instruction and support at Lighthouse Labs?

Students have the option of using Larry AI, and ideally, they wouldn’t spend more than 15-30 minutes troubleshooting before spending time engaging in conversations with mentors. There are no “dumb” questions at Lighthouse Labs, so students are welcome to ask the chatbot or an actual mentor anything. Larry AI may also help our students work their way through initial questions to evolve their thoughts into more informed questions when they’re later speaking with the mentor. Even if our students are initially shy about speaking with our mentors, we push them to build their confidence to have these face-to-face interactions and get the most out of their bootcamp experience.

Students should also keep in mind that Larry AI is an AI just like any other and runs the same risks of misunderstanding a question or hallucinating. Hopefully, Larry AI will help students be more in tune with what they're asking and be able to push back when Larry AI doesn't give them the answer they want, instead of assuming it’s correct. 

Lighthouse Labs is also working to host more events through its dockside sessions. What exactly are dockside sessions at Lighthouse Labs?

Dockside sessions aim to facilitate what organically happened during our in-person cohorts: group conversations among students, instructors, and mentors. We love the personalized support students can receive from mentors and instructors, but it can also be very individualistic. While we have encouraged students to collaborate and talk to a mentor together, we didn't find that that was happening. Now we’re offering two types of mentorship support, individual and group, through these dockside sessions. Different mentors and instructors facilitate the sessions based on their availability. 

What is your team’s goal in hosting dockside sessions?

We know that group discussions facilitate learning because it expands the focus. It allows students to hear about other’s problems, consider solutions as a group, and be challenged. We're hoping that it improves conversation within the online cohort and creates more collaboration and community. 

What topics have been covered in previous dockside sessions?

Topics will range from broad to very focused, based on what the class is considering. This week we had a one-hour session on job prospects and the kinds of careers in the cybersecurity field. We also had a separate session on a small feature in a student project. 

Are these sessions for current students and alumni? 

At the moment it’s a part of the mentorship process for current students but we’re considering including alumni in the future!

What is your advice to incoming students on making the most of these new, student support resources?

Students will often start a bootcamp with the mindset that asking for help means they are a bad student. I encourage incoming students to reframe that entire concept! You are not failing by utilizing these mentors, dockside sessions, and Larry AI. Remember that all of this is included in your tuition and you’re only doing yourself a disservice by not getting your money’s worth from the program and using every resource we have for you. 

Find out more and read Lighthouse Labs reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with Lighthouse Labs.