Online course on volunteer management

MS 108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs (New course)
Instructor: Karin Hostetter
Dates:
    March 3-28, 2008
    Sept. 2-26, 2008
Cost: $425
Location: <URL:http://www.museumclasses.org>

Description: Volunteers are essential for most non-profit
institutions. But even though they don't get paychecks, it takes
time and money to have effective volunteers. Fundamentals of Museum
Volunteer Programs, new for 2008, is designed to teach the basics of
a strong volunteer program.  Topics include recruiting, training,
and rewarding volunteers, as well as preparing staff. Instruction
continues through firing and liabilities. Participants will end up
with custom forms tailored to their institutions, an understanding
of liability issues and a nine-step process to troubleshoot an
existing volunteer program or create the best one for a particular
institution.

    Course Outline

        Week One

            Introduction
            Laying the Foundation: preparing staff, job descriptions
            Determining Program Structure: who's in charge

        Week Two

            Recruiting Volunteers
            Selecting Volunteers
            Week Three
            Training Volunteers
            Evaluating Volunteers
            Saying "Thank You"

        Week Four

            Keeping Records
            Communicating Information: including handling change
            Liability
            Conclusion

Logistics: Participants in Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs
work at their own pace through sections and interact through online
chats. Instructor Karin Hostetter is available at scheduled times
during the course for email support. Fundamentals of Museum
Volunteer Programs includes online literature and
student-teacher/group-teacher dialog. The course is limited to 20
participants.

Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs runs four weeks. Sign up
at <URL:http://www.museumclasses.org> and pay for the course at
<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>. If you have
trouble completing an on-line order, please contact Helen Alten at
helen<-a t->collectioncare< . >org or Eric Swanson at eric<-a t->collectioncare< . >org

The Instructor: Karin Hostetter, author of a series of articles for
the National Association for Interpretation's Legacy magazine, has
worked with volunteers for nearly 15 years.  She taught the National
Association for Interpretation's two-day volunteer management course
for volunteer coordinators and served on a panel about volunteer
programs.  As the first paid volunteer coordinator for the Denver
Zoo in Colorado, she designed an interview process, developed a
progressive and comprehensive recognition system, introduced
interpretation into training, and restructured the volunteer
organization. Ms. Hostetter now consults with organizations on
structuring and improving volunteer programs. And she volunteers
herself.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:42
                Distributed: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-21-42-006
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