Group Challenges

Collaborative exercises designed for study groups to work on together. These challenges promote teamwork, peer learning, and collective growth.

How Group Challenges Work

  1. All group members participate in planning and execution
  2. Work together on a shared branch or multiple coordinated PRs
  3. Review each other's contributions within the group
  4. Complete as a team - everyone contributes meaningfully

Available Group Challenges

1. Documentation Sprint

Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Time: 2-3 hours
Group Size: 2-4 people

Objective: Collaboratively improve a documentation file.

Setup:

  1. Choose a doc that needs work (facilitator can suggest)
  2. Divide sections among group members
  3. Each person creates a branch
  4. Coordinate to avoid conflicts

Tasks:

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

2. Peer Review Circle

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: Ongoing (1 hour per round)
Group Size: 3-6 people

Objective: Create a structured peer review rotation.

Setup:

  1. Each person opens a PR for a challenge
  2. Reviews are assigned in a circle pattern:
    • Person A reviews Person B
    • Person B reviews Person C
    • Person C reviews Person A

Process:

  1. Round 1: Everyone opens their PR
  2. Round 2: Everyone reviews their assigned PR thoroughly
  3. Round 3: Original authors respond to feedback
  4. Round 4: Reviewers approve or request more changes
  5. Round 5: Final merges and celebration

Requirements:

What You'll Learn:

3. Accessibility Workshop

Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced
Time: 3-4 hours
Group Size: 3-5 people

Objective: Each person becomes an expert on one accessibility topic and teaches the group.

Topics to Choose From:

Process:

  1. Week 1: Each person picks a topic and researches
  2. Week 2: Everyone creates a mini-lesson (documented)
  3. Week 3: Each person presents (async in issue thread is fine)
  4. Week 4: Group applies all topics in a collaborative audit

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

4. Challenge Creation Sprint

Difficulty: Advanced-Expert
Time: 4-6 hours over 1-2 weeks
Group Size: 2-4 people

Objective: Design, document, and test 2-3 new challenges for future students.

Process:

  1. Brainstorm: What skills are missing from current challenges?
  2. Design: Each person designs one challenge
    • Learning objective
    • Clear instructions
    • Example solution
    • Success criteria
  3. Peer Review: Group reviews each proposed challenge
  4. Refinement: Improve based on feedback
  5. Testing: Have someone outside group attempt challenge
  6. Documentation: Add to challenge list with full details

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

5. Full Repository Audit

Difficulty: Advanced-Expert
Time: 6-8 hours over 2 weeks
Group Size: 3-5 people

Objective: Conduct comprehensive accessibility audit of entire workshop repository.

Division of Labor:

Checklist Per File:

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

6. Mentor Chain

Difficulty: All levels
Time: Ongoing (1-2 weeks)
Group Size: 3-6 people

Objective: Create a mentorship chain where each person mentors the next.

Structure:

Process:

  1. Beginner starts a challenge with Intermediate as reviewer
  2. Intermediate mentors Beginner while doing their own challenge
  3. Advanced mentors Intermediate while doing their own challenge
  4. Everyone learns from teaching AND from being taught

Requirements:

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

7. Accessible Onboarding Flow

Difficulty: Advanced-Expert
Time: 6-10 hours over 2 weeks
Group Size: 3-5 people

Objective: Create a complete, accessible onboarding experience for new workshop participants.

Components:

Division:

Accessibility Requirements:

Deliverables:

What You'll Learn:

Group Challenge Tips

Before Starting

Choose the Right Challenge:

Plan Together:

Set Expectations:

During the Challenge

Communication:

Collaboration:

Coordination:

After Completion

Celebrate!

Reflect:

Document:

Group Challenge Badges

Complete group challenges to earn special badges:

When Groups Get Stuck

Common Issues

Someone not participating:

Merge conflicts:

Disagreements on approach:

Timeline slipping:

Getting Help

Creating Custom Group Challenges

Have an idea for a group challenge?

Open an issue including:

Facilitators will review and may add it to the list!

Benefits of Group Challenges

Learning Benefits:

Social Benefits:

Professional Benefits:

Resources

Group challenges designed to build collaboration skills and community connections. We learn better together!