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At Science Central, we use simple cardstock time cards that the
volunteers use to log their hours, and while we certainly have some
volunteers who don't like them, most seem to enjoy it, at some level:
next to date and time, we also have an "hours worked today" field and a
running total for Hours, and when volunteers get to those
500/1000/2000-hour marks, they get pretty excited, regardless of their
age. It's an incentive all it's own, and the paid staff share in that
enthusiasm as well. 

The log book sounded great, but on reflection I wasn't sure how easily
volunteers could see their running totals grow in front of their eyes,
so to speak. 

In 12 years, I only had one volunteer who seemed to be padding his
hours, in a noticeable way, and he was 75, and getting more confused
with time. All in all, I've found it very easy and appropriate to trust
the volunteers to use time cards accurately.

Shane Pickett
Science Central

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Evanna Morris &
Len Litowitz
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 9:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Volunteers punching in?

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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*****

I am the Volunteer Coordinator of the Lancaster Science Factory in
Lancaster PA.  We are getting ready to open our doors to the public on
Jan 22 and getting ready to do volunteer training.  We thought that
getting a time clock would make documenting hours easier but some of our
people  think that it might make the volunteers feel that we don't trust
them and should just use a log book instead.  What is the general
practice?  Is this an insult to the volunteers?
Your wisdom is appreciated!
Thanks,
Evanna

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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
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