We faced a similar dilemma in my last position. After our own focus groups
it was clear that teachers wanted to see everything and make their own
decisions. We solved it by providing one free full copy to each school, and
provided an order form for additional copies for $7.95 each, postage
included.

We also added an attractive cover, called it the Teacher Resource Guide and
included it for sale in the Museum Store. We sold quite a few to other
visitors and teachers from other areas.

Before I left we also had plans to put the whole guide on the website, which
is the easiest solution of all.

Regards-
Sandra L. Harris
Executive Director
The Liberace Foundation and Museum
1775 East Tropicana Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119
702-798-5595 phone
702-798-7386 fax
[log in to unmask]
www.liberace.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeannine Finton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 8:22 AM
Subject: Teacher Guide Dilemma


> Please forgive cross postings.
>
> I've been working with a museum to develop a new, hands-on field trip for
> middle and high school students. We know that the audience for the trip
could
> be Social Studies or Family Studies or Technology Education classes. Early
> work with focus groups indicated that teachers for these grades wanted a
> curriculum guide to go along with the field trip, with a variety of
> multi-disciplinary lessons cross referenced to state and local educational
> objectives, so that they could better justify taking the trip. In
addition,
> they wanted all the student worksheets ready for photocopying.
>
> The guide contains 14 lessons. We don't expect any one teacher to do all
the
> lessons. We have indicated 3 basic lessons that we recommend all classes
do
> in advance of the trip. From there, the individual teacher is free to
select
> supporting lessons relevant to their particular focus. We worked with a
> teacher advisory group throughout the entire process.
>
> We've completed the guide and now are faced with a dilemma. Because it
does
> contain primary source images and documents, all the student worksheets
and
> educational objectives, each lesson averages about 7 pages in length. The
> total guide is around 50 double-sided pages. The cost of photocopying and
> mailing the guide would be around $5 per copy.  While the cost might
> eventually get built into the program fees, in the short term that is a
> significant expense. Some museum staff are also concerned that an
> unsuspecting teacher would receive the guide and panic before realizing
that
> they don't have to do the entire packet.
>
> The suggestion was made that in contacting the teacher in advance of the
> trip, one of the museum educator's could discuss the teacher's educational
> objectives and then select the lessons that the museum educator felt met
> those objectives. This would reduce the size of the mailed packet and the
> mailing expenses. On the other hand, some of the museum educator's believe
> that the school teacher could select the lessons better and might do more
> lessons once they had a chance to see how fun and exciting the lessons
are.
> And once the museum educator's time in discussing the lessons is factored
in,
> the net cost is probably the same as mailing the complete packet.
>
> Another idea was to mail the entire packet, but ask teacher's to return
it.
> They could photocopy any lessons they wanted to and the museum would only
> have to reproduce a limited number of the guides. The potential is that
> teachers won't do it and the museum will have the expense of continually
> reproducing the guides. One suggestion might be to give them a $5 refund
if
> they return the guide.
>
> Does anyone out there have experience in one system or the other?
>
> Jeannine Finton
> Education Consultant
>
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