[OSCTC-planning] mentorship and other ways to follow up with Open Source Comes to Campus attendees

[Heidi Ellis]

+1
But I’m working on a paper for the next few days….

From: osctc-planning-bounces at lists.openhatch.org [mailto:osctc-planning-bounces at lists.openhatch.org] On Behalf Of Shauna Gordon-McKeon
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 1:35 PM
To: Planning for Open Source Comes to Campus
Subject: Re: [OSCTC-planning] mentorship and other ways to follow up with Open Source Comes to Campus attendees

Hmmm.  We could write a guide or blog post about this.  Perhaps invite contributions/suggestions from people who've done online mentoring about what to look for?  I imagine people who do OPW and GSoC would have a lot to say about this.



On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 11:33 AM, sheila miguez <shekay at pobox.com<mailto:shekay at pobox.com>> wrote:

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:19 AM, Shauna Gordon-McKeon <shaunagm at gmail.com<mailto:shaunagm at gmail.com>> wrote:
I think it probably depends on the mentee - there are certainly introverted people who'd prefer a calmer, quieter approach than I'd instinctively provide them - but yes, I think *generally* speaking the ability to be outgoing and actively engaged, is important.  Is it more important than other abilities, such as empathy, creativity, and the ability to explain things well?  I'm not sure.

I also think you're right to differentiate online and in person mentoring on this dimension.  I think more quiet, passive mentors might be able to push themselves to interact and ask questions via online mediums in a way that's hard to in person.  One can also introduce easier-to-evaluate metrics that way, by asking a mentor, "How many email threads have you initiated?" "How many questions has your mentee asked you?" "What kinds of questions does your mentee tend to ask?" etc.  There's more opportunity for reflection because you have the record of communication.

I'd definitely love to learn more about this. I find it much easier to talk to people online, and can help in that manner, but that is not to say that I don't want to get better at in-person interactions.

If people know resources for building up that skill for people who may be shy or have confidence issues (like myself), please share.
One thing I've been trying is watching how other people do this. I don't often get a chance to do this since I'll end up helping instead of watching. This means I am not sure how effective watching other mentors is.


--
shekay at pobox.com<mailto:shekay at pobox.com>

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