AN ANALYSIS OF THE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN MEDIA CENTER DESIGN AND CLIENT PERCEPTIONS

The purpose of this study was to analyze the discrepancies (differences) between Media Center design and client perceptions. The setting for the study is a preservice, teacher preparation institution, the College of Education of The Ohio State University. Clients in this study refer to college faculty, undergraduates and certified personnel in the field.;Fifteen College of Education chairpersons were interviewed for their responses to such a proposed center. A non-random sample of 286 undergraduate students in Education was conducted, using a 96 item survey questionnaire, to determine their attitudes, behaviors and knowledge regarding instructional materials and their utilization. Responses were analyzed against the two sets of standards for discrepancies. Responses were then placed at the appropriate level(s) in a Conceptual Model of Media Center utilization, an a priori model designed by the investigator.;Interviews with the fifteen faculty chairpersons revealed: (1) They were in favor of such a Center but they viewed it primarily as a service unit. In only two interviews was the Center understood in its appropriate and integral role in curriculum and instruction. (2) Responses indicated a lack of sophistication, for the most part, regarding the range of activities that could be engaged in such a Center. (3) Interviewees acknowledged that courses would have to be reviewed and in some cases redesigned to include meaningful experiences with learning materials and participation in production activities. (4) Students were not being exposed to a wide variety of materials in differing formats and there was no body of AV materials for loan to students. (5) Few assignments were given that required the use of mediated materials since the faculty knew that students did not have access to these materials. (6) Undergraduates did not have access to production or to viewing/listening facilities with access to K-12 materials.;Undergraduates indicated in their responses that: (1) They were competent to operate only four of the seventeen pieces of equipment listed. (2) They were willing to engage in the use and evaluation of learning materials in spite of the fact that 67% had no formal training in production, evaluation or childrens' or adolescent literature. (3) When they responded as teachers in a K-12 setting they appeared to be more structured and restrictive in their prospective students' use of the K-12 Media Center than they indicated for themselves in the College center. They fell back to what can best be described as "old-fashioned library use.".;The study was a direct outgrowth of the 1975 (Ohio) Standards for Colleges or Universities Preparing Teachers. These redesign standards call for, among other things, the preparation of all teachers in the selection, preparation, and effective utilization of educational media to facilitate learning. They also call for a professionally staffed educational media center that would serve as a laboratory setting, be fully stocked with a wide range of K-12 learning materials and provide full production facilities and consulting services for faculty and students. The College was in the process of designing such a Center during the time of this study. The Edgar Dale Educational Media and Instructional Materials Laboratory was designed to bring together, under one umbrella, all the human and temporal resources necessary to meet both the state teacher redesign standards and the national library/media standards outlined in Media Programs District and School.;Placement in the Conceptual Model of Media Center Utilization of both sets of responses indicate the strongest use at Entry Level in viewing/listening, retrieving and examining materials; only moderate activity in production of materials; and minimal activity at the desired stages of matching materials with learning/instructional problems; and participation in curriculum design and/or adaptation.