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Assessment : 2012 - 2013 : Educational Programs :
Family and Consumer Sciences BS (Interior Design)

3 Goals    3 Objectives    3 Indicators    3 Criteria    3 Findings    3 Actions


GOAL: Internship Supervisor Evaluation

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 skills including appropriate use of knowledge from the program content). Both questions from this form used as indicators are derived from 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 design assistant position.
Criterion  
Employer/Supervisor Evaluation 3.5+ 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 Evaluation Of 3.5+ And 80% Would Hire If Possible  
Of the six interior design graduates for 2012-2013, 100% received a rating of 4 or 5 (i.e., greater than 3.5) by the internship employer/supervisor.  100% of supervisors stated that he/she would hire the intern for a suitable, entry-level position with the company.  Therefore, this criterion was met.
Actions for Objective:

Action  
Employer/Supervisor Evaluation  
We modified the evaluation form this past cycle to include three options rather two (yes or no) as it had been in previous cycles.  This time, we divided the "yes" options into "yes, hire without reservations" and "yes, hire with reservations" in hope of getting additional feedback.  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  
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
Criterion  
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills - 90% Pass Or High Pass  
90% 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  
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills  
100% (six out of six) of students who completed the interior design program's Exit Survey scored a grade of Pass or High Pass on the content portion of the exam (50% scored a Pass and 50% scored a High Pass).  Therefore, this criterion was met.

Actions for Objective:

Action  
Exit Survey - Knowledge And Skills  
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  
Computer Literacy
Students will meet university requirements for computer literacy through assignments in FACS 2368 and FACS 4362 that are required of all undergraduate majors in the department.

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 FACS 2368 Consumer Education and a presentation involving use of PowerPoint in FACS 4362 Presentation Techniques.
Criterion  
Computer Literacy Assignments - At Least 3.0  
90% of program majors who take the courses FACS 2368 and FACS 4362 during the 2012-2013 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  
Three interior design students completed the course in which the spreadsheet and word processing assignments are assigned.  All of these students received the highest score (5/5) on these assignments.  Three students from the BS program in Interior Design completed the PowerPoint assignment in FACS 4362.  All of them scored 5/5 on this assignment.  Therefore, this criterion was met.
Actions for Objective:

Action  
Computer Literacy Assignments  
With so few students, there is little significance to this finding yet the university requires that we measure computer literacy through this means.  There SHOULD be a significant number of students for this measure for the coming cycle (2013-2014 based on the numbers we are seeing).  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"

We are keepiing the Exit Survey criterion for next year before retiring it if the percentage remains as high. Instructors teaching in the area of budget management will be requiring additional assignments in the area of database management to improve this skill. We will be updating our Internship Handbook to reflect a revision of the Supervisor/Employer Evaluation form in order to glean more specific data to use for program improvement.
Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"

The program received notice of CIDA accreditation during the Summer of 2012. This was a major accomplishment and positions this program for significant growth. Although we believe the number of majors declined during the two years when the accreditation preparation was the most intense, we are beginning to see an increase in the numbers in the lower-level courses.

Plan for Continuous Improvement

We are planning to evaluate the options for the "yes" and "yes, hire with reservations" response given by employers of student interns as part of the evaluation process.  We are planning to use the fourteen professional skills noted on the evaluation instrument as a means of evaluating content area knowledge and skills.

The Department of Family and Consumer Scineces received some marketing funds from Enrollment Management and we worked with them to produce brochures, appropriate advertising specialties, videos and other marketing materials. We believe that some of the growth in this program is due to these marketing efforts, and we will be able to continue them with the materials that have been developed.

The Interior Design Program is participating with the Department of Art (that department is taking the lead) in pursuing NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design) accreditation. Dr. Laura Burleson, Program Director for Interior Design, has been involved in the writing of the interior design portion of the self-study document in anticipation of a site visit in October of 2013. This is a university-wide accreditation and must include every program within the university that offers art or design.


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Sam Houston State University
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