Having recently wrapped up my 5th license class of the year (total of 6 planned) and at least the 21st class since 2006, I am again pondering thoughts surrounding the ARRL license materials and the instructor support materials. I'll start by saying that the new Tech book (and the Q and A) are very well thought out. The changes to the material, particularly the inclusion of the question number within the text, make a real difference. I think they make it easier to teach, as well as easier for students to zero in on the question pertinent stuff, while still being able to absorb some of the useful and important information that isn't asked in any exam questions. I'm proud that we can produce such good quality instruction tools. We seem to be moving in the right direction here. Some of the support material on the web site is very useful as well. If you can just get to it before being tempted to give up. We still seem to be finding 'issues' with the web site content. As an example: Select "Licensing, Education & Training" at the top of the page, then select the "learn more" hyper link in the "Volunteer Instructors/Mentors" box from the 'six-boxes' area in the center. Then select the "learn more" hyper link in the "Find Resources for Instructors" box (same 'four-box' area.) That should take you to a page entitled "Current ARRL Resources for Amateur Radio Licensing." Most of the good resources and links are "below the fold" as we have been discussing elsewhere. I missed the fact that there was stuff below, when I first looked at the page and I've had to direct instructors to check to see that there is a slider bar and stuff below. So, once you slide down, there are both "Additional Resources" and "More Resources" areas.... If you go into the More Resources, you will find a lot of 'sections' that expand when you select them. If you select "Educational Activities Forum" the text says in part: "...The best articles from the Educational Activities Forum newsletter are here." Yet there is NO link to anywhere, nor does a search of the whole page appear to offer a link or further explanation. I offer this as a single example (of which there are many) that I discovered while pulling down the update to the book. Speaking of books, I need to comment on the fact that we released a new tech license book in June and yet (as was just announced in this past month's QST), we won't have an instructor support book or materials until January .... I have to ask myself why anyone thinks it is ok to produce a new study manual and wait six or more months after that to release the instructor supplement (book.) It's not like it's a surprise that the new book came out or what is in it. We publish both. Further, it's not like there won't be people teaching the class and even ones teaching it for the first time. By waiting so long, we force instructors to develop their own material, which results in lower sales of the supplement book since the instructors no longer need it. I know that my team of instructors (about 12 instructors) as well as some other groups we share materials with have decided that we're set with what we need to teach the Tech class. That means the delay cost the sale of at least 10-20 books in the Puget Sound region. That might not be huge, but 1) presumably we publish it to try to make a little money while at the same time providing tools to the instructors, and 2) multiply that times all the "regions" of the nation (or at least 71 sections) and it adds up to a significant number. It seems to me that since we publish both, we could do a better job of planning and coordinating the editing of the license manual and the coordinating parts of the supplement. Actually, I see a lot of room for upgrades in the sort of support material that is contained in the current book and CD. I for one would pay to not have to re-create some of the tools that I make for each new book/question pool. Sadly, they just aren't contained on the CD. Maybe that will change with the new book, but regardless, there shouldn't have been a gap between releasing the two. I hope we can do better when the new General book is produced in 2011. 73, Grant Hopper, KB7WSD ARRL Northwestern Division, Vice Director