Teen Volunteer Programs

(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
May 6, 2008 - June 2, 2008

This course is designed for public and school librarians that want to start or improve a teen volunteer program.

• Are you interested in a teen volunteer program but have no idea how to start one?
• Do you have a teen volunteer program but think it needs improving?
• Are you unsure of the value of a teen volunteer program for your library?

If you have ever asked these questions, then this workshop is for you! This course will assist you in designing a dynamic program that meets the needs of your library and the needs of your teens. Topics will include why a teen volunteer program is important, how to recruit, train, retain, and reward your teen volunteers, and will examine some model teen volunteer programs.

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will provide participants with a philosophy, practical advice and guidelines for developing and implementing a volunteer program suitable for various sizes of libraries. Through individual and group exercises you will explore issues of recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding in ways that are especially appropriate to the teen age group. The instructor will provide sample programs, handouts, and a webliography, as well as practical, useful tips that can be applied immediately.

During the course, you will be doing exercises and exploring examples of exemplary model programs. You will also participate in online discussion forums as part of the online learning process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

• Module One: Teen Volunteers - Pain or Gain?
  • What's in it for the library?
  • What's in it for the teens?
  • Weighing the costs
• Module 2: Recruiting, Training, and Retaining
  • Methods of recruitment
  • Guidelines & orientation
  • Motivators
• Module 3: Jobs for Volunteers and Model Programs
  • Exemplary models from outside the library
  • Long-term and short-term volunteers
  • Task Forces
  • On the fly - spontaneous opportunities
• Module 4: Appreciation and Rewards
  • Ways to show appreciation
  • Rewards that appeal to teens

Online Learning Details:
This four-week course will be taught online using the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation that will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and password.

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her own pace. Students should expect to commit to spending a minimum of 2 to 2½ hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, you will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that week's assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: This course is suitable for anyone from the library community with an interest in service to young adults and is considering providing a volunteer program for this age group. This course is suitable for librarians, paraprofessionals and volunteer coordinators.

Prerequisites:
This course is taught over the web. You must:

• Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.
• Be able to save Microsoft Word .doc or Adobe .pdf files to your computer and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for "Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).
• Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a website that uses frames.
• To be most successful in this course you should be willing to share information with your colleagues and be willing to spend time reading and participating in the weekly discussion boards.

System Requirements: The online learning product that Infopeople uses is called Angel. The following are minimum system requirements for using Angel. You will need access to a computer that has at least these specifications to participate in an online course:

• Windows:
  • Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Netscape 7.1 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above
• Macintosh:
  • Mozilla 1.4 and above (which is the same engine as Netscape 7.1), Safari 2.0 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above
  • OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product)

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and $150 for those out-of-state.

Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.