Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1985

Thesis Director

Robert C. Wiseman

Abstract

This project concerned repair of equipment in school media centers. A survey was designed and distributed to area media specialists and administrators.

The author found that media specialists, in general, view repair as a coming fact of life -- something of a necessity for the future. On the other hand, some administrators said that they didn't want their media specialists involved in repair work. The author's recommendations included:

  1. Media specialists, increasingly, need to have at least minimal skills in maintenance and repair of equipment.
  2. In order to acquire these skills, school districts will need to A. provide workshops (training), and B. release time for their media specialists.
  3. A unit on repair be added to an already required course in the curriculum.
  4. Addition of a graduate level course on repair -- to be taken only after working in the field of media.
  5. This course should be flexible, and hands-on, practical and useful. The media specialist should go away from the course with the feeling of confidence -- a feeling that "I am capable". The media specialist should be comfortable with minor repairs, and should learn to tell if the repair is minor, or if it should be sent out for service.

A recommenation was made that this study be repeated in larger scale, perhaps statewide. If the study were repeated on a larger scale, and put into effect, media specialists can be prepared for the future, instead of preparing after the fact.

The main reasons media specialists would need to repair equipment themselves are; 1. To save money (or to keep machines running that otherwise wouldn't be repaired) , or 2. To get it done faster and thus not have the machine out of commission for long periods of time.

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