[Genealib] Rates for genealogy workshop leaders

[Georgeann Malowney]

Regarding the threads about rates for genealogy workshop leaders this month
and last, many of you were referring to half day workshops. Do you have
suggestions on rates for online classes lasting at least four weeks?

I (along with at least two other members of the Genealib list) were among
the first six instructors for online classes at Ancestry.com/MyFamily.com in
early 2001. The MyFamily.com websites were not conducive to online classes
and it was very time consuming. After many suggested changes, I continued
and taught at least 18 more classes for over 4,000 students.

For those of you that speak at conferences, workshops, classes, etc do you
have opinions about the ideal class size. Having 200 or more people in my
online classes was fine if I had 'helpers' because students learned from
interaction and replies to other students questions.

On speciality topics (such as Polish research, Eastern European etc) do you
think it is important to provide the courseware at beginning, intermediate
and advanced levels? Or to divide the material by record type? It seems that
many genealogy presentations assume everyone is a beginner and that is not
the case. Or is it easier to have all levels of specialty topics together,
putting most of the information in PDFs, so the intermediate users might
scan the beginning information. The interaction of more people searching in
the same area has many benefits.  When I visit the Irish townlands my
ancestors lived in during the early 1800s, I meet as many people as I can
and soak up all the information I can. It doesn't matter to me if they have
limited knowledge of genealogy research techniques. Any information they
have (letters, diaries, photos etc) about that townland is invaluable in
trying to visualize the lives my ancestors lived.

There were many online instructors for MyFamily.com before they discontinued
their program as well as other online genealogy instructors. In reviewing
some websites for people well known in genealogy, I see online courses
costing over $350. I am sure they are worth it even though that price might
be out of the reach of most people. One is particular teaches people to
write memoirs, and the instructor reviews the student's writing. That seems
invaluable. However, in my new role as Director of Training for
http://WorldVitalRecords.com we are looking at keeping the initial course
prices between $29.95 and $49.95.

The 'Libraries & Archives' section of my Beginning Computer Genealogy course
was very well received. The second paid course WVR will offer will probably
be 'Libraries & Archives.' I hope to have a 'team approach' to many of our
courses. In the past three years I have researched in almost 100 different
archives & libraries in the US, Ireland, Scotland, and England. For people
researching at distance it is challenging to understand which are the best
libraries and archives they should focus on. And that some state libraries
and archives are combined, while others are not. Some still have little
information about their collections online. I have visited some small
organizations near the PA/WV border that have more valuable
documents/information than have no websites than better known archives.
Eight weeks seems like the minimum length of time for people to absorb a lot
of information about Libraries & Archives. Does anyone have suggestions on
how to find students of library science or librarians that might want to be
among the team teaching a course. Some might not want to commit the time
online, but might want to provide portions of the courseware for
compensation.

Thanks in advance for any comments.
Georgeann Malowney
Director of Training, http://WorldVitalRecords.com


 [Genealib] Rates for genealogy workshop leaders

*Trevia W Beverly* treviawbeverly at houston.rr.com
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I've taught classes for years and find that there is no set pay scale.

Depending on where I teach -

under a school district's Adult Community Services - under a Community

College - under a church sponsorship, they all differ - but it is usually by

the hour no matter how few or how many people you have in the class.  Under

Leisure Learning, I can set the fee but they, of course, get a cut.  With

all I have to figure the costs of outlines, handouts, whatever .... then we

set the price.



The price structure is different still, if I'm asked to present something to

an organized group - i.e., genealogy society.  Then the travel/mileage

expense may come into play; possible lodging depending on the distance.  And

is it for half a day or all day or just a couple of hours?  In this

situation, I furnish a master of my outline and they do the printing for

however many they expect.



I do a lot of classes independently ... I charge each person.  Of course,

the same thing applies in figuring what kind of materials the class will

receive and the costs - and a couple of other items.



** one thing that many people/societies fail to recognize is the fact
of how many hours it takes to prepare ..

and even when the topic is the same, you must still always be sure to
update your material so you are definitely spending many hours prior
to the

presentation.



Trevia Wooster Beverly

Houston, Texas
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