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Add question about learning and growth to internship final application #580

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sagesharp opened this issue Sep 5, 2024 · 2 comments
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core team Issues that can only be solved by the core team of Outreachy enhancement internal policies stage: final application

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@sagesharp
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Outreachy internships are meant to be learning and growth opportunities. We expect that Outreachy interns will learn new skills, including both technical and communication skills. Outreachy internships are not meant to be a contractor-for-hire type of situation, where mentors provide no coaching or learning experiences and expect the intern to simply execute a predefined project plan.

Many Outreachy mentors struggle with how to pick between applicants who have strong contributions. I've heard many mentors express that a candidate has strong skills, but they are unsure whether the internship will help them learn and grow those skills. Sometimes mentors want to pick a less skilled candidate because it would be a better opportunity for that person to learn and grow.

I propose to add a question to the Outreachy final application:

"How will this Outreachy internship project help you learn and grow?"

The help text will say something like:

"What skills do you want to learn or strengthen? Tell us about both technical skills, and other skills like communication, team collaboration, time management, and career/academic network building. Talk about your experiences growing those skills so far. How do you like to learn? How do you like to collaborate with others while learning? How do you set and manage learning goals for yourself? Then talk about how this particular Outreachy internship project and open source community will help you learn and grow those skills."

@sagesharp sagesharp added enhancement core team Issues that can only be solved by the core team of Outreachy internal policies stage: final application labels Sep 5, 2024
@sagesharp
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Coding change details

This question should be an optional character field on the FinalApplication class in home/models.py.

The final application form in home/views.py will need to be modified to ask applicants for that question field.

The final application template view for both interns and mentors will need to be modified to show the field, or display nothing if the field is empty or null.

@contraexemplo
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I really like that this question isn't just focused on the impact it will have on their career—it invites applicants to think about the impact it will have on them as a person as a whole.

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core team Issues that can only be solved by the core team of Outreachy enhancement internal policies stage: final application
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