Assign an interested and dedicated project leader within the agency.

   Experiences:

One of the Consortium teams attempted autonomous leadership and found it ineffective. All the other teams had strong leaders who directed the project within the agency and were dedicated to working with the teachers in a systematic and organized manner. However, all the teams discovered that working with teachers was more demanding of their time than expected. In order to alleviate some of the time problems, one of the teams hired a retired history teacher to serve as the content coordinator, another hired an outside editor, and a third used in-kind funds to hire a project assistant. Generous use of volunteer and intern help was made in at least three of the projects.

   Recommendations:

• Acknowledge that working with outside contractors (teachers) is a time consuming process.
• Determine the duties of the project leader and weigh them in relation to that person's other responsibilities. Figure out how to deal with any overflow.
• Develop an interdepartmental advisory and/or planning team. Include content experts as well as personnel from the communications, marketing, legal, and technology departments.
• Think about acquiring assistance (contractor/intern/co-op student) to help manage the project.

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