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Rather a long question, I'm afraid, and I hope this is ok with the forum rules.
My mother-in-law is thinking about using some of her materials. She's an entomologist, and has become an expert on the wildlife in "her" ecosystem; she's married to a botanist, they're emeriti from a state university. They have 30 years of slides and materials from fieldwork and teaching; she worked as the education specialist at an arboretum where her husband also worked. She wants to package stuff up and sell it, or write a grant and make her materials available. Sort of, "I have all this stuff, and it's a shame to let it go to waste" point of view. She loves her subject matter and wants to share; I'm not convinced money's a big deal to her.
Problem is, she did university, not public schools. She's thinking that she'd like to produce video segments, slides and video with voice-over commentary on DVD. Videos would be 10-20 minutes long on assorted topics. Xeriscaping, or desert animal adaptations to heat or dry conditions. She'll do the necessary footwork--track down curricula and texts that are used to make sure she's both relevant and complementary--but isn't sure about a thing or two.
For example: How long should video segments be? 10 minutes too short? 20 too long? Is DVD the best way to go--what kinds of tech do most classrooms have? What kinds of ancillary materials would be best? Is there a single kind of process for procuring such materials--at the BOE level? School? Do teachers have input? Do they have time, or are they so scripted these days that on day 1 in the fall they have a script indicating how to introduce themselves?
I think she's thinking "get them while they're young", so elementary school. But that could change, I think, once she's looked at elementary school curricula.
Suggestions appreciated. I'll check back in a day or two, and periodically after that (since most fora are sparsely populated ... and it's summer vacation :)
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