Diane Gower

dgower@mtsu.edu

Connie Jones

Elementary and Special Ed.

Discipline specific equipment

Kirksey Old Main, Room 101

N/A

N/A

The audio-visual lab located in KOM 101 provides services to all elementary and special education majors, and early childhood majors who need to complete projects, make teaching aids, and develop hands-on materials required in their professional courses. Methods courses and practicum classes make heavy demands on students in terms of student-made teaching aids. The lab provides a free service to those students. Over fifty (50) elementary and special education courses and ten (10) human sciences courses are listed in the Spring Schedule, 2007. Students enrolled in those courses may be required to utilize the lab. The lab also services the Milk Plant, the Curriculum Library, and the Department of Educational Leadership. The lab offers free use of only four (4) computers and no printers. Extra computers and printers will make the lab more accessible to more students at a given time. With updated equipment, faculty and staff could also find merit in utilization of the lab. At present, there are not enough computers to meet the needs of students and no printers available. The lab also offers free use of die cuts and laminating machines. The funding of this proposal will replace two often-broken/outdated laminating machines and provide funds to purchase a smaller laminating machine for use with smaller projects, thus saving waste of lamination material. Funding is also requested for materials that accompany the development of projects such as additional die cuts for the Ellison press. At present the machines are not adequate for the large number of students who utilize the lab. During the month of February, 2006, over 300 students were documented as users of the lab. The age of the machines makes them less productive than the demand would warrant. The purchase of computers, printers, and laminating machines through TAF monies would greatly enhance the capacity of the lab to serve the technological needs of students within the College of Education.