FWIW, Helen Foster @ Moodle handles that -- according to Google's SoC ppl -- is one of the best-run GSoCs. What I hear from students is that the explicit 'expectations' document is very good guidance. All the docs are -- I think -- interesting:
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:GSOC as a mentor, Helen is always there, and sends me brief kind emails in advance of deadlines, calls on meta-mentors to help when I am bogged down and not answering to my mentees in timely fashion, etc. Her approach is really outstanding. As a mentor for 3 runs now, I have so say that the best indicators of success have been... - The time I spend on it -- not just direct irc time -- quality code review takes a lot of time! - How hard the students work, and how skilled they are, *before* the project starts. A student that can't get a checkout and a build going and patch a bug or two without help is of no interest to me (in the context of GSoC). Pretty damn high bar, but there are a lot of people applying for GSoC -- get the best ones :-) -- and it will be valuable dev time diverted from other work. hth, m On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 12:45 AM, David Farning<dfarn...@sugarlabs.org> wrote: > This summer, Sugar Labs had 12 students working under various gsoc, > intern, workstudy, and co-op programs. Overall, the results have been > promising. There are a few things which we can do to improve the > experience for everyone. > > Based on conversations with other opensource project the three keys to > success for working with students are: > 1. Clearly defined expectations for student, sponsor, and project. > 2. Clearly project plan with implementation strategy. > 3. Experienced mentor. > > Below is a very rough draft of a student guidelines document. I would > appreciate suggestions. > > david > > ==================== > Thank you for your interest in working, and learning, with Sugar Labs. > > Sugar Labs has a large number of smart and passionate student > participants. These student often go on to become Sugar Lab's most > important contributors and project leaders. One of the advantage of > being a student is that you can combine your learning experience at > Sugar Labs with your official school activites through intern-ships, > co-ops, work study programs, and privately sponsored contracts. > > The following guidelines are intended to insure that your Sugar Lab's > experience is beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs. > Working with Sugar Lab's as an intern, co-op, or work study student > means that there is a contractual obligation between you, your school, > and Sugar Lab's. This document represents the thoughts and > deliberations which have gone into making your experience at Sugar > Labs beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs.[REPEATED TEXT] > > == project description== > > Experience has shown than the most important factor in having a > successful experience at Sugar Labs is your project plan. The plan > represents the vision of what you want to accomplish and provides > roadmap for how to make that vision a reality. > > Exploration, collaboration, and reflection. Plan provides boundaries > so you can freely explore. > > First big project for many students. > > Done before starting program > > good plan implies investment by student->investment by student results > in good mentor. > > Fail to plan -> Plan to fail. > > The plan should include: > [CHECK LIST] > *deliverable > *learning objective > > ==mentor== > The second most important piece to success is your mentor. > link to community > master -> apprentice > > ==General information== > Below is general information for filling out your school's forms. > > ===Overview=== > Sugar Labs is organized as a member project of the Software Freedom > Conservancy[1]. The SFC is an umbrella organization which handles the > accounting work, financial management, and makes sure the activities > of Sugar Labs fit within the scope of the non-profit status. > > ===Mission statement=== > The mission of Sugar Labs® is to produce, distribute, and support the > use of the Sugar learning platform; it is a support base and gathering > place for the community of educators and developers to create, extend, > and teach with the Sugar learning platform. > > ===Funding=== > Sugar Labs is funded through donations from its contributing members. > > ===Agency Name=== > Sugar Labs (A member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy) > > ===Agency Contact=== > Bradley M. Kuhn > > ===Postal Address=== > Software Freedom Conservancy > 1995 Broadway FL 17 > New York, NY 10023-5882 > > ===Telephone=== > +1-212-461-3245 tel > +1-212-580-0898 fax > > ===Email=== > conserva...@softwarefreedom.org > > ===Addition information=== > For additional information or forms please contact dfarn...@sugarlabs.org. > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep