Family And Consumer Sciences BS (Food Science And Nutrition)
Goal
Knowledge And Skills
To graduate students with the necessary foundation, knowledge, skills, and competencies outlined in the American Dietetic Association's (ADA) Commission for Accreditation of Dietetics Education (CADE) Handbook.
Objective
Demonstration Of Knowledge And Skills
Food Science and Nutrition students will demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary to meet the standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education (CADE).
Indicator
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills
The Exit Survey for food science and nutrition majors includes multiple-choice and short-answer sections that test retention of course material; it is graded on a pass/fail basis. (Each program area has questions that are specific to that program content.) To develop this instrument, faculty in the content area reviewed course and program objectives and chose questions from exams that reflected important concepts that students should retain. The test is used repetitively and the scoring is consistent. For security reasons, the test portion (multiple-choice, short-answer questions) is not attached. However, this document is available in the chair's office.
Criterion
80% Of Students Pass Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills
80% of the students who complete the food science and nutrition program's Exit Survey will score a grade of Pass or High Pass on the content portion of the exam.
Finding
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills
100% of the students who took the Exit Survey (50% of program graduates completed that instrument) scored a grade of Pass on the content portion of the exam. One weakness of note is that students tend to better display their knowledge in the essay portion of the exam than the multiple-choice format. Yet, licensing exams are typically multiple-choice.
Action
Knowledge And Skills
Although 90% of students actively enrolled in the program are following the prescribed curriculum that meets CADE's Standard Two, the action will focus on bringing the other 10% of students up to that level. Some of this apparent discrepancy is due to the strict way in which the program should be implemented, and some leniency may have been allowed in the past in terms of meeting prerequisite requirements. The program now is strictly enforcing prerequisite requirements; therefore, this situation should be corrected within the next year or two year time period.
Those students who took the content portion of the Exit Survey did well, and the focus for the future will be to ensure that all graduating seniors take the Exit Survey. Students generally complete this instrument as volunteers, and the department cannot hold them to this requirement, so encouragement is needed in that regard. The predicament will be studied more closely during 2010-2011.
Additionally, deeper learning and multiple-choice format testing skills will be a focus.
Goal
Becoming Registered Dietitians
To graduate students who will successfully complete dietetic internship programs and pass the national credentialing exam with the goal of becoming Registered Dietitians.
Objective
Demonstrating Knowledge And Skills Required Of Registered Dietitians
Students will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level dietitians.
Indicator
Registered Dietician Exam
The information concerning passage of the credentialing exam can be verified by a quarterly report sent to program directors by CADE.
Criterion
80% Passage Rate For RD Exam
At least 80% of students will receive a passing score on the Registration Examination for Dietetics.
Finding
Passage Rate For RD Exam
Of those graduates who took the Registration Examination for Dietetics, 100% passed the exam. Weaknesses will be analyzed and this entry updated 9/2010.
(Please note that the faculty member responsible for this area left unexpectedly and did not complete the analysis. All efforts to retrieve the information have been unsuccessful.)
Action
Passage Rate For RD Exam - Two-Year Survey
While the faculty and administration are pleased at the excellent passage rate for the national exam (100%, well above the ADA's 80% requirement), there is a need to work on increasing the percentage of program graduates who are admitted to dietetic internship programs. Maintaining this high level of achievement will be the challenge for futue assessment cycles.
Goal
Dietetic Internship Programs
To guide and direct well-qualified students toward admission into a dietetic internship program.
Objective
Increase Percentage Of Didactic Program In Dietetics (DPD) Graduates Admitted To Dietetic Internship (DI) Programs
Students will demonstrate knowledge and skills to be deemed well-qualified to enter a dietetic internship program.
Indicator
Percentage Of Program Grads Admitted To DI Programs
The program will increase the percentage of students graduating from the Food Science and Nutrition Program who are admitted to a Dietetic Internship Program.
Criterion
30 % Of Program Grads Admitted To DI Programs
Over a two-year period, 30% of students who graduate from the Food Science and Nutrition Program will be admitted to a dietetic internship program.
Finding
Percentage Of Program Grads Admitted To A DI Program
Over a two-year period, 18% of students who graduated from the Food Science and Nutrition Program were admitted to a dietetic internship program.
Action
Percentage Of Program Grads Admitted To A DI Program
The new DPD director is working to develop a handbook that will serve as a guide for students through the application process. In addition, she encourages students to spend time with her one-on-one or in small groups so that she can appropriately mentor students through this process. While the results of these efforts are not apparent in this assessment cycle (it was late in the application process when the new DPD director arrived), it is hoped that the meeting of this goal will be greatly improved in coming cycles.
Goal
Computer Literacy
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences will graduate students who have performed satisfactorily in the area of computer literacy through computer-based assignments in courses that are required of all FCS majors.
Objective
Computer Literacy
To assure competency in this area, students will complete specific assignments in FCS 268 (a written assignment requiring use of a word-processing program and a budget assignment requiring the use of a spreadsheet) and FCS 462 (a presentation using PowerPoint). Satisfactory completion of these three assignments will indicate achievement of computer literacy skills that students are projected to need as they graduate from FCS programs and enter the world of work.
Indicator
Computer Literacy
Students who graduate from undergraduate programs in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences will satisfactorily complete three assignments in courses required of all undergraduate majors in the department: a word-processed assignment and a budget prepared using a spreadsheet in FCS 268 Consumer Education and a presentation involving use of PowerPoint in FCS 462 Presentation Techniques.
Criterion
90% Of Students Will Score At Least A 3.0 On Assignments
90% of program majors who take the courses FCS 268 and FCS 462 during the 2009-2010 academic year will score 3 or better on a 5-point scale with 5 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest score on the three assignments that are required to meet this computer literacy competency. Examples of assignment sheets for these three assignments and rubrics for grading them are attached.
Finding
Computer Literacy
In FCS 268, undergraduate students complete an assignment using an Excel spreadsheet to organize information related to a monthly budget analysis. 80.6% of students enrolled in FCS 268 met the rating of 3 or better on a 5-point scale. In FCS 462 undergraduate students complete several writing assignments that use a word-processed format and develop three visual presentations using a PowerPoint format. The writing assignments require students to use titles, page layouts, justifications, appropriate fonts, spacing, spell-check, bullets, bolding of fonts, italics, and underlining. 100% of students met the rating of 3 or better on word-processed assignments. The PowerPoint assignments require the students to design the background; use text, illustration and clip art; and incorporate animation. Students also must be able to present the PowerPoint assignment in class to an audience of their peers. 89.8% of students met the rating of 3 or better on a 5-point scale.
The percentages indicate that students struggle most with the Excel spreadsheet assignment associated with managing a budget. Next, they struggle with PowerPoint presentation creation. They seem to have little difficulty with word-processing.
Action
Computer Literacy
This goal was not met in its entirety, although over 80% of all undergraduate students in the two courses during the 2009-2010 academic year were successful in the areas that impact computer literacy competency. At least some of the problem was seen in the collection of the data. Beginning with the Summer I 2010 session, the department chair will work with those teacing FCS 268 and FCS 462 to determine that data are collected in a way that they can be easily sorted to determine whether the computer literacy requirement is met for each individual program and at the level set by the criterion. The faculty will determine how to support students in their struggle with database management and PowerPoint presentations.