[GSoC] Fwd: [GSoC Mentors Announce] GSoC 2021 is on with a few chages

[Peter Cock]

You probably all got this directly from Google, but just in case you
didn't, I'm forwarding this to the OBF's main GSoC mailing list for
students and mentors.

Peter

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'Stephanie Taylor' via Google Summer of Code Mentors Announce
List <gsoc-mentors-announce at googlegroups.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 26, 2020 at 9:30 PM
Subject: [GSoC Mentors Announce] GSoC 2021 is on with a few chages
To: Google Summer of Code Mentors Announce List
<gsoc-mentors-announce at googlegroups.com>


Hello GSoC Mentors and Org Admins,

We are pleased to announce Google Summer of Code 2021, the 17th
consecutive year of the program!

As many of you might have heard if you attended the Mentor Summit a
couple of weeks ago (or chatted with someone who did) we are making a
few changes for the 2021 program. We’ve spent a lot of time evaluating
the GSoC program and have been looking at where we can make some
changes to help meet the #1 goal of GSoC - bring new, diverse
contributors into your communities that stay in your communities after
their GSoC program ends. And with the challenges of the pandemic and
the strains it has put on everyone’s time (students, mentors and org
admins alike) we are looking to provide more flexibility in 2021.

What are the changes for 2021 from 2020?

Smaller project size - all students participating in the 2021 program
will be working on a 175 hour project (instead of a 350 hr project).
This change will also result in a few other changes including the
student stipend being cut in half.

Currently we are missing out on many wonderful students who could
never commit to such a huge project and time commitment but would be
great contributors to your community. This is a significant change as
we now are no longer strongly encouraging students to focus only on
GSoC over their summer. Students have many other responsibilities
especially during the pandemic that make it hard for them to spend 30
hours a week on a project.
We realize this is going to require all of you to think about smaller
projects and update your project ideas which is why we wanted to give
you 3+ months to start talking it through with your communities.
The mentor stipends will be adjusted to $400 per student mentored. In
feedback from the mentor summit it was pointed out that the effort
from mentors will not be half as much even though the project size is
cut in half so we adjusted from $250 to $400.

Shortened coding period - the coding period will be 10 weeks with a
lot more flexibility for the mentor and student to decide together how
they want to spread the work out over the summer. Some folks may
choose to stick to a 17-18 hour a week schedule with their students,
others may factor in a couple of breaks during the program (for
student and mentor) and some may have students focus 30 hours a week
on their project so they wrap up in 6 weeks. This also makes it a lot
easier for students with finals or other commitments (weddings, etc.)
to adjust their schedules.

2 evaluations  (instead of 3) - There will be an evaluation after 5
weeks and the final evaluation will take place after the 10th week. We
are also no longer requiring students complete their first evaluation
(though we encourage them to do so), so if a student doesn’t complete
the first evaluation they will not automatically be removed from the
program. They are still required to complete the final evaluation.

Eligibility requirements - In 2020 there are many ways students are
learning and we want to acknowledge that so we will be allowing
students who are 18 years old AND currently enrolled (or accepted
into) a post-secondary academic program as of May 17, 2021 or have
graduated from a post-secondary academic program between December 1,
2020 and May 17, 2021 to apply to the GSoC program.

What this means is that now the program will be open to folks
participating in a variety of different academic programs, not just
accredited university programs. This includes licensed coding camps,
community colleges, and many other programs that may not be accredited
yet but are post-secondary academic programs.

These changes were made to help find more diverse students who we hope
will stay involved in your communities after their GSoC ends. We look
forward to these changes and will definitely be getting feedback from
all of you as the 2021 program goes on to see what is working and what
we should consider adjusting for any possible future program.

The program announcement, timeline, marketing materials (slide deck,
flyers), FAQs, and short videos with tips for mentors and students are
all available. You'll also notice the 2020 program has now been
archived.

Organizations -- If you would like to apply for the 2021 program
please start thinking about the ~175 hr projects you would like
students to work on and also reach out to your community members to
ask if they would like to be mentors for the program. Having a
thorough and well thought out list of Project Ideas is the most
important part of your application.

Encourage other open source orgs to apply -- Please also consider
encouraging other open source projects to apply and be a first time
GSoC org - we’re hoping to accept more orgs in 2021 than ever before
with a good number of them being first time orgs. When orgs apply they
can put your org down as a reference.

Please note that Org applications will open on January 29th.

We are looking forward to another exciting year of GSoC!

For any questions about the programs please email us at gsoc-s... at google.com

Best,

Stephanie Taylor

GSoC Program Lead


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