SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Family And Consumer Sciences BA/BS
Family And Consumer Sciences BA/BS
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 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 21 students who graduated with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences (BA or BS), 4 were in the FCS/Teacher Certification Program, so they were not subject to a business supervisor's evaluation through the department's internship program. Of the 17 students were subject to that evaluation, data was available for 12 of them. Of the 12, 10 (83%) received a rating of 5, 1 (8%) received a rating of 4, and 1 (8%) received a rating of 3. Therefore, this criterion was met since 91% of students received a rating of 3.5 or higher. The portion of whether or not the supervisor would hire the intern was not included in this year's analysis because the numbers for the last several years have been so high that it is believed that the supervisors are not wanting to give any answer other than they would hire the interns. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| The main action that is needed for the coming year, based on this statistic alone, is another way of assessing program effectiveness. We are working on a rubric whereby we can receive input from students' logs that will lead to curriculum changes that will result in more effective programs. |
| 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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| Of the 21 students who received the BA or BS in Family and Consumer Sciences in August, December and May of 2013-2014, there were only 14 for whom an Exit Survey score was available. Of these 14 students, one (7%) scored a High Pass, nine (64%) scored a Pass, three (21%) scored a Low Pass, and one (7%) Failed this Exit Survey. Therefore, this criterion was met. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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In recent years, we have struggled with how to handle this Exit Survey. It is difficult to remember to update the survey every time a change in the curriculum occurs (programs and courses in the department must continually be updated because they are pre-professional programs that serve fields that are constantly in flux), so we get to the point of administering it and realize that it is needs updating. Dr. Laura Burleson is working on a rubric whereby we would access students' logs during the internship process to determine effectiveness of course content as students applied it to the internship activities and problems. We are going to try it for a cycle with the expectation that it will lead to curricular changes and improved program effectiveness. |
| Previous Cycle's "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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| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Students in this program continue to do well, often receiving position offers through the internship. However, last year's plan was not carried out to completion. Rather than use of the fourteen professional skills identified on the internship supervisor evaluation form, Dr. Laura Burleson is working on a rubric whereby the students' logs written during the internship would be used to determine the effectiveness of the various courses in the curriculum.
We need to get back with Continuing Education regarding the certificate in event planning. |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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One of the things we can see through the 2013-2014 cycle findings is that each program needs a specific person charged with its oversight. In the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences we have a large proportion of adjunct faculty and they tend not to take responsibility for program oversight, for obvious reasons. They are paid to teach a specific course or courses. Period.
It appears as though we have lost the opportunity to work with Continuing Education to craft a certificate in event planning which would have been a boon to the department, but perhaps we can re-open that door. We will continue to request faculty positions so that we will have adequate faculty and staff for program oversight. |