Effectiveness of simulated model office in changing students' perceptions of the office world of work

Vocational education model office programs offer the only means the student has within the confines of the school building to experience the realities of working in an office situation. The purpose of this research was to investigate changes in students' perceptions of the office world of work as a result of their having completed a block office practice course with a model office or a block office practice course with no model office. Data were collected from 159 students enrolled in Vocational Office Education II classes in East Tennessee. The sample was divided into two groups, those who had model office and those who did not have model office. Students completed a pretest and posttest which tested job knowledge, personal qualifications, interpersonal relations, and job qualifications.

Analysis of Variance performed on pretest scores showed no significant difference except in the category of job qualifications. The non-significant F ratios attained in each of the comparisons imply that the students were equally aware of office work perceptions at the beginning of the school year. Analysis of Variance performed on posttest scores for the model office and the non-model office groups revealed a significant difference in the total score and on the personal qualifications, interpersonal relations, and job qualifications categories. Analysis of Variance for individual schools within each group revealed significant differences for each category in the non-model office group and for each category except job qualifications in the model office group. Analysis of covariance revealed no significant differences between the adjusted mean scores of the model office group and the non-model office group when post-test scores were adjusted for experimental mean differences.

The conclusion was that a block office practice course makes a significant difference on students' perceptions of the office world of work but that the changes in perceptions could not be attributed to any single factor.