OATdb Archive

2010 - 2011

Family And Consumer Sciences BS (Interior Design)

Goal
Intern Evaluation
The Interior Design Program will graduate students who meet the expectations of employers in the profession of interior design.

Objective
Demonstration Of Applied Professional Competence
The students will demonstrate professional competence and the ability to apply what they have learned (egs., appropriate product knowledge, knowledge of business procedures, knowledge of industry systems) in various aspects of interior design.

Indicator
Employer/Supervisor Evaluation
The supervisor evaluation form for interior design interns evaluates three skill areas (personal skills, interpersonal skills, and professional characteristics including appropriate use of knowledge from the program content). Both questions from this form used as indicators are essentially overall supervisor ratings of the intern. One of them rates the interns on a Likert-type scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest rating and 5 being the highest rating. The other is a "yes-no" indicator of whether the employer would hire the intern in the company for an entry-level management position. Internship is a requirement for degree completion in this program, so all interior design students are evaluated in this way. The instrument, which includes the supervisor rating of the intern that will be extracted and reported, was developed by the department faculty as a whole. Instruments used by other family and consumer sciences/interior design colleges and departments were reviewed in the development of the instrument. The attached instrument was designed to be generic for all programs in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences that require this type of internship and is published in the Internship Handbook, which serves as the textbook for the internship courses (FCS 469). The other programs that use this same form are food service management, general family and consumer sciences (without a teaching certificate), and fashion merchandising.

Criterion
Employer/Supervisor Evaluation 3.0+ And 80% Would Hire If Possible
80% of business supervisors of interior design interns will give the intern a rating of 3.5 or higher on a 5.0 scale and 80% of business supervisors will indicate that they would hire the intern given the availability of a suitable entry-level management position in the company.

Finding
Employer/Supervisor Responses
Of the three students who attained the BS in interior design during the time period of August 2010 through May 2011, all were considered eligible to hire into a suitable entry-level position in the company where they interned.  The two who completed internship within this time period received supervisor rating scores well above a 3.0 -- one received a rating of 4, and the other received a rating of 4.5  The third completed her internship several years ago, and data from her performance appraisal was not available, but the company with whom she was working hired her even before the internship was completed.  In general, feedback indicates that students showed some weakness in the areas of product knowledge and business processes.

Action
Employer/Supervisor Responses
The finding associated with this goal indicates that interior design interns going out into the job market are well-prepared and are deemed worthy of employment by their supervisors in the interior design industry.  However, there is room for improvement in areas of product knowledge and business processes.  Internship coordinators from SHSU will strive to identify ways in which the program can be improved through extended conversation with the business supervisors. 

Goal
Student Knowledge Of Content Area
Students graduating from the interior design program will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level interior design positions.

Objective
Demonstration Of Content-Area Knowledge And Skills
Students graduating from the interior design program will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level interior design positions.

Indicator
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills
The Exit Survey for interior design majors includes multiple-choice and short-answer sections that test retention of course material and a case study that applies directly to interior design; it is graded on a pass/fail basis. (Each program area has multiple-choice, short answer, and other 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 questions, short essay questions, and case study) is not attached. However, this document is available in the chair's office.

Criterion
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills - 80% Pass Or High Pass
80% of students who complete the interior design program's Exit Survey will score a grade of Low Pass, Pass or High Pass on the content portions of the exam.

Finding
Student Knowledge Of Content Area
100% of students (3 out of 3) who earned the BS in interior design during the period of August 2010 through May 2011 attained a score of Pass or High Pass on the content portion of the Exit Survey.  Students seem to do well on the case study which is an essay format.  However, they do less well on multiple-choice items which require adequate knowledge to identify appropriate solutions to the given situation.  Analysis of response to individual items indicated some student weakness in the areas of product knowledge and business processes. 

Action
Student Knowledge Of Content Area
This finding shows that this goal was met.  Although last year we said we would revisit our rubric to determine whether would provide more information, we were not able to do so.  Thus, this will remain our goal this year as well.  Faculty will work on areas of product knowledge and business processes throughout the interior design curriculum.

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
Students will meet university requirements for computer literacy through assignments in two courses that are required of all undergraduate majors in the department. When it was decided to eliminate the requirement of a basic computer literacy course as part of the undergraduate core at SHSU, faculty in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences decided that, to assure competency in this area, students would be required to 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 basic computer literacy skills that students are projected to need as they graduate from FCS programs and enter the world of work.

Indicator
Computer Literacy Assignments
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
Computer Literacy Assignments - At Least 3.0
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 Assignments
These students did well with the computer literacy assignments.  The data collection process was changed so that a single score on each student was calculated, using Excel spreadsheet-based assignments, word-processed assignments, and PowerPoint assignments.  100% of students met the rating of 3 or better -- of the three students graduating in this program, one scored 4, one scored 4.5, and one scored 5, all on a 5-point scale.

Action
Computer Literacy Assignments
100% of students in this program met the university's requirements for computer literacy as part of the undergraduate curriculum.  However, the instructors who teach the courses involved believe that additional work in the area of database management is needed.


Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement The interior design program has been through a curricular review and more realignment of course content is likely to be forthcoming.  The Council of Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) site visit has been completed and the decision will be forthcoming later in the summer.  Recent legislative changes in the State of Texas mean that the national licensure is no longer a requirement to use the title of interior designer, so that there is less concern about whether a program is accredited than has been the case in the past.  However, the program continues to see the importance in having/pursuing this accreditation.

Commitment to professionalism and lifelong learning about the profession are factors that must be emphasized throughout the curriculum.  Business supervisors continue to indicate that graduates are prepared to enter the industry as entry-level design professionals.  More instruction on data base management will be included in the courses used to assess computer literacy.  Faculty will be working to improve student product knowledge and knowledge of business practices.