SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Family and Consumer Sciences BA
Family and Consumer Sciences BA
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 3 Actions
| GOAL: Employer/Supervisor Feedback |
| Objective |
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| The student will demonstrate professional competence and the ability to apply what they have learned (e.g., appropriate product knowledge, knowledge of business procedures, knowledge of industry systems) in various aspects of family-and-consumer-sciences-related positions. |
| Indicator |
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| Supervisor evaluation form for general family and consumer sciences 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-yes, hire with reservations-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 family and consumer sciences students are evaluated in this way except for the teacher certification students who are evaluated by the teachers supervising their methods courses. 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 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 course (FACS 4369). The other programs that use this same form are interior design, fashion merchandising, and food service management. |
| Criterion |
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| 80% of business supervisors of family and consumer sciences 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 |
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| Of the six family and consumer sciences BA graduates for the 2012-2013 cycle, 100% received a rating of 4 or 5 (i.e., greater than 3.5) by the internship employer/supervisor. 100% of the supervisors stated that he/she would hire the intern for a suitable, entry-level position within the company or agency. Therefore, this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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We modified the evaluation form this past cycle to include three options rather than two (yes or no) as there had been in the past. This time we divided the “yes” option into “yes, hire without reservation” and “yes, hire with reservation” in the hope of getting additional feedback for program improvement. However, although we received both "yes" responses, there was little feedback, so we plan to modify the process. |
| GOAL: Student Knowledge Of Content Area |
| Objective |
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| Students graduating from the family and consumer sciences program will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for entry-level management in family-and-consumer-sciences-related positions. |
| Indicator |
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| The Exit Survey for family and consumer sciences 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 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 |
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| 90% of students who complete the family and consumer sciences program's Exit Survey will score a grade of Low Pass, Pass or High Pass on the content portions of the exam. |
| Finding |
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100% of students who completed the BA in Family and Consumer Sciences for the 2012-2013 cycle scored a grade of Pass (4 out of 6 or 66.7%) or High Pass (2 out of 6 or 33%) on the Exit Survey. Therefore, this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
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Because 100% of students passed the Exit Survey, we are working with the idea of abandoning this instrument and instead using the scoring on fourteen professional skills identified as critical to professional success on the Performance Appraisal of Student Intern as completed by the Internship Supervisor. |
| GOAL: Computer Literacy |
| Objective |
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Students will demonstrate computer literacy through specific assignments in FACS 2368 (word-processing assignment and a budget assignment using a spreadsheet) and in FACS 4362 (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 |
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There is a specific rubric for each assignment. |
| Criterion |
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| 90% of family and consumer sciences majors who take the courses FACS 2368 and FACS 4362 during the 2011-2012 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 |
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Seven out of 8 students who completed the course in which the word-processing and spreadsheet projects were assigned made a grade of 5, and the other student made a grade of 2. Therefore, 87.5% of students scored a grade of 3.0 or better so this criterion was not met for these two areas. Two students who completed the course in which the PowerPoint presentation is assigned scored a 5 on that project (100%), so this criterion was met for this area of computer literacy. |
Actions for Objective:
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| With so few students, there is little significance to this finding yet the university requires that we measure and report results regarding computer literacy through this means. Overall, it is obvious that students are entering the university with good computer literacy skills and are further developing these skills during their time as undergraduate students. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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This program continues to do well. Students leave with both knowledge and practical skills needed for employment as event planners, professionals in non-profit and social service agencies, and various types of consumer-oriented businesses. As the business supervisor evaluation form is modified so that we are better able to collect information on areas where program improvement is called needed, the program will be better able to address weaknesses. Computer literacy is adequate for program graduates, but more work on database management is needed. A meeting will be convened of the faculty who teach the budget assignment to determine how student performance in this area can be improved. In general, however, employers and supervisors are very complimentary of the marketable knowledge and skills program graduates bring to their real world professional positions.
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| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Faculty who teach the spreadsheet assignment have seen improvement in student performance. Also, in response to student suggestions, we are offering a course specifically in event planning for fall, and the numbers are encouraging -- 24 students are already enrolled and we are a month out! Employers and supervisors continue to be very complimentary of the knowledge and skills students bring to the internship and which will be translated into "real word" assets as students go forward from the program.
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| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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The plan for the coming year is to improve the assessment piece regarding content knowledge and skills through use of the fourteen professional skills identified on the internship supervisor evaluation form. Students from this program continue to do very well. We are working with Continuing Education to craft a certificate in event planning which should be a major boon to the program and also garner it well-deserved attention from the university community in general.
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