[NHCOLL-L:5275] How to Create and Manage Volunteer Programs - online course starts March 7

[Helen Alten]

Whether you are a conservator, a curator, a registrar or an exhibit 
designer, there is a good chance you will be using volunteers at some 
point in your career. Working with volunteers is a skill that can be 
learned and honed.  Northern States Conservation Center is proud to 
offer a course this March in the fundamentals of volunteer management:

*MS 108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs*
Instructor: Karin Hostetter
Price: $475
Dates: March 7 to April 1, 2011
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org
*
Description:*
Volunteers are essential for most non-profit institutions. But good 
volunteers aren't born - they are made. Even though they don't get 
paychecks, it takes time and money to have effective volunteers. 
Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs teaches 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*
1. Introduction
2. Laying the Foundation: preparing staff, job descriptions
3. Determining Program Structure: who's in charge
4. Recruiting Volunteers
5. Selecting Volunteers
6. Training Volunteers
7. Evaluating Volunteers
8. Saying "Thank You"
9. Keeping Records
10. Communicating Information: including handling change
11. Liability
12. 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. To reserve a 
spot in the course, please pay at 
http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you have trouble please 
contact Helen Alten at helen at collectioncare.org

*Student Comments for MS108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs:*
I feel that this course was an excellent experience that will help start 
my volunteer program in the right direction, thanks.

Articles were useful. Chats were useful times where you could talk out 
ideas.

I definitely liked taking the class online and being able to schedule my 
time around it. The assignments were a good foundation for putting what 
I learned into action. The resources were terrific. And I really enjoyed 
"Hostetter-Outlaw" Commentaries as a "getting to the point" outline. I 
am happy that you have filled a special niche for museum personnel who 
are interested in learning to be the best they can be.

It made me realize that there is more to volunteer policy than just 
asking them to participate. The chat time was really helpful as to the 
direction our policy should follow. (I liked) The availability of the 
instructor and the prompt feedback she gave.

Everything I read and did was helpful and only hope the "people who do 
not like change" can be convinced sometime down the road that we need to 
implement some if not all these procedures. I liked the forums and quick 
problem solving ideas best.

*The Instructor:*
*Karin Hostetter* has over thirty years experience with museum 
education. Karin has worked with volunteers throughout her career, 
becoming the first paid volunteer coordinator at the Denver Zoo. Ms. 
Hostetter taught the National Association for Interpretation's two-day 
volunteer management course for volunteer coordinators and served on 
their panel about volunteer programs. She authored a series of articles 
for the National Association for Interpretation's Legacy magazine, 
providing guidelines for developing and maintaining a volunteer 
organization. Ms. Hostetter now consults with organizations on 
structuring and improving volunteer programs. Karin Hostetter is owner 
of Interpret This, a consulting company specializing in interpretive 
writing, program and curriculum development, and volunteer program 
management. When she is not consulting with other museums, she likes to 
volunteer and contract teach at them with a special love for preschool 
and family programs.

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