Unit: Family & Consumer Sciences
Program: Apparel Product Design and Merchandising (BS)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 - 6:40:46 am

1) List your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs).

I. In an exit portfolio that includes examples of projects, papers, assignments, or other work developed over the course of the program, the student will provide evidence that he/she has achieved each of the following learning outcomes:

Industry Processes

  • Outcome 1: The student can integrate knowledge of industry operations, theories of consumer behavior and quantitative skills to prepare comprehensive research-based manufacturing and merchandising plans that include creative design components and typical industry documents based on quantitative data.
  • Outcome 2: The student can conduct evaluations of apparel product quality using industry standards, regulatory agency criteria, and appropriate industry terminology.
  • Outcome 3: The student can conduct professional ASTM or AATCC industry tests for textile performance.
  • Outcome 4: The student can discuss current issues and concerns in the textile and apparel industries, including global issues regarding labor conditions, social responsibility and environmental impacts, and can evaluate the social and ethical consequences of these.

Appearance and Human Behavior

  • Outcome 5: The student can conduct, interpret and present the results of research that integrates historic and socio-cultural data with knowledge of the role of dress in human behavior.

Aesthetics and the Design Process

  • Outcome 6: The student can conduct systematic assessments of the use and significance of design elements and other aesthetic factors in fashion-related products and personal appearances, and in industry promotion and image-related materials.

Global Interdependence

  • Outcome 7: The student can integrate current political, cultural, and economic data with economic theories, practices and policies to produce research-based reports on international trade conditions and practices.

II. At the conclusion of APDM 492: Internship, the student will demonstrate that s/he has met Learning Objectives #8 and #9.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

  • Outcome #8: The student can distinguish between professional and unprofessional behaviors and can describe and critique ethical and unethical industry practices.

Critical and Creative Thinking

  • Outcome #9: The student can employ critical thinking, creativity, and technical skill mastery to prepare a substantive pre-employment portfolio appropriate for an emerging industry professional.

III. At the conclusion of APDM 492: Internship, the student will make a formal oral presentation to faculty, students, and guests, demonstrating that s/he has met Learning Objective #10:

Professional Development

  • Outcome #10: The student can prepare and deliver a well organized oral presentation that exhibits textiles and apparel subject matter knowledge; utilizes presentation tools common to the profession; and that demonstrates poise, confidence, and effective use of visuals.

In APDM 482 & 492, students receive a guide to preparing a portfolio that provides evidence on their mastery of the SLOs. They develop oral presentations to the same end. See Attachment: PREPARING THE SENIOR PORTFOLIO (2/25/2009).

2) Where are your program's SLOs published?

Department Website URL:
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: NA
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:
Other: Distributed in APDM 111 & explained by instructor
Other: Distributed in APDM 482 & 492

3) Upload your program's current curriculum map(s) as a PDF.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2009:

4) What percentage of courses have the course SLOs explicitly stated on the course syllabus, department website, or other publicly available document? (Check one)

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) State the SLO(s) that was Assessed, Targeted, or Studied

Outcome 4: The student can discuss current issues and concerns in the textile and apparel industries, including global issues regarding labor conditions, social responsibility and environmental impacts, and can evaluate the social and ethical consequences of these.

Outcome 7: The student can integrate current political, cultural, and economic data with economic theories, practices and policies to produce research-based reports on international trade conditions and practices. 

Outcome #8: The student can distinguish between professional and unprofessional behaviors and can describe and critique ethical and unethical industry practices.

Outcome #10: The student can prepare and deliver a well organized oral presentation that exhibits textiles and apparel subject matter knowledge; utilizes presentation tools common to the profession; and that demonstrates poise, confidence, and effective use of visuals.

6) State the Assessment Question(s) and/or Goal(s) of Assessment Activity

re: Outcomes #4 and #8: Could students provide evidence that they had engaged with, were in any way challenged to consider, or were tested on their knowledge of the ethical, social, or environmental issues that are of concern in the contemporary apparel and fashion industries? In other words, did faculty actually provide students with opportunities to collect evidence (i.e., reports, assignments, tests, etc.) of their engagement with these issues?

re: Outcome #7: Could students provide evidence that they had learned to integrate data with theories and practices? Could students provide evidence that they could engage in research on topics in international trade? In other words, did faculty actually provide students with assignments, exams, etc. that allowed the student to demonstrate competence in this area?

re: Outcome #10: We have collected ample data on outcome 10 and did not need to assess it this term. However, because the outcome involves students in a making a mandatory oral presentation to faculty, we felt we should appear to be actively assessing their presentations rather than passively listening to them.

7) State the Type(s) of Evidence Gathered

Outcomes #4 and #7 are assessed through examination of students’ exit portfolios. The portfolios contain examples of student assignments, reports, papers, or other tangible evidence.

Outcome #8 can be assessed either through materials in the portfolio or through other vehicles, as determined by the faculty assigned to the APDM 482 and APDM 492 courses. This term, we looked for evidence in the portfolios.

Outcome #10 is assessed through evaluation of formal oral presentations to faculty.

8) State How the Evidence was Interpreted, Evaluated, or Analyzed

Faculty review evidence submitted in student portfolios and serve as audience-evaluators for student presentation sessions. They record their evaluations against simple rubrics with scoring values that are the equivalent of standard grades: 5 = excellent; 4 = good; 3 = acceptable; 2 = barely adequate; 1 = acceptable. Judgments are subjective to the same extent as they are in grading anything other than objectively verifiable exam questions.

We are aware that we should now develop more complex rubrics.

All faculty who serve on the APDM Curriculum Committee are expected to participate in evaluating the evidence. This includes 3 tenured faculty, 2 line faculty, 2 full-time lecturers, and 1 part-time lecturers.

9) State How Many Pieces of Evidence Were Collected

One hundred percent of graduating seniors submit portfolios and make formal oral presentations to the faculty. During the Spring 2009 term data were collected from 30 seniors.

10) Summarize the Actual Results

Outcome #4: 1.57/5

Outcome #7: 3.02/5

Outcome #8: 2.12/5

Outcome #10: 4.53/5

11) Briefly Describe the Distribution and Discussion of Results

  1. The results of the Spring 2009 assessment were submitted to the FCS Department Chair and the CTAHR Associate Dean of Instruction in August, 2009. Both keep assessment results in easily accessible folders in their respective offices. An itemized list of issues that emerged during the assessment or as a result of the assessment typically accompanies the results document. There is typically no discussion of the results at those levels.
However, the report of the 2007 results led to lengthy discussions between the Associate Dean and the Internship Coordinator, and these discussions resulted in revisions in the SLO statements.
  1. The results were disseminated to members of the APDM Curriculum Committee during the Fall 2009 meeting of that group. Committee members postulated reasons for the unusually low scores on Outcomes #4 and #8. The more-or-less adequate score on Outcome #7 was not addressed, as other issues were more pressing.

12) Describe Conclusions and Discoveries

The low scores on Objectives #3, #7, and #8 do not reflect lack of student mastery of or engagement with issues of ethics, social responsibility, environmental responsibility, or international trade theory and/or practice. What they do reflect is that students do not have evidence of their work in these areas. In their portfolios, almost all students inserted disclaimers stating that they either completed no assignments on these topics or that assignments they completed were not returned.

  • The curriculum map indicates that these issues are addressed in multiple classes, across all course levels, and at all three levels of information (i.e., introduced; developed & practiced with feedback; demonstrated at mastery level).
  • It is possible that faculty report that issues are addressed when, in fact, they are not addressed.
  • It is clear that either students are not assigned papers, projects, or examinations on these issues, or that faculty do not return assignments to the students who prepared them.

13) Use of Results/Program Modifications: State How the Program Used the Results --or-- Explain Planned Use of Results

Two proposals were generated from the discussion of results: (a) One faculty member offered to develop a core course on social and environmental responsibility in the apparel industry, and to have that course up and running as a 491: Topics course for the Fall 2010 term. (b) A second faculty offered to restore a temporarily suspended course (APDM 372: Manage Resources/Lead People), to refocus its content on ethics and responsibility issues, and to move that course into the program core.

These are fine alternatives. However, the program is now faced with a 45% instructional budget cut. This renders it highly unlikely that we can implement either of these proposals. What we can do is attempt to find means of making faculty responsible for developing student assignments on social, ethical, and environmental issues, and/or for making faculty responsible for returning those assignments to the students who prepared them.

14) Reflect on the Assessment Process

We will experiment with a new procedure relative to the oral presentation next term. In the past, the presentation has been assessed against criteria dealing with primarily with the form (i.e., exhibits poise & confidence; exhibits subject matter knowledge; support materials appear professional), rather than the content of the presentation. Next term we will provide students with a list of subject-matter points that must be addressed in the presentation, and we will assess the presentations against this subject-matter information, as well as against our usual criteria.

Our experience is that assessment generally goes well because most faculty who serve on the Curriculum Committee are committed to it.

15) Other Important Information

16) FOR DISTANCE PROGRAMS ONLY: Explain how your program/department has adapted its assessment of student learning in the on-campus program to assess student learning in the distance education program.

17) FOR DISTANCE PROGRAMS ONLY: Summarize the actual student learning assessment results that compare the achievement of students in the on-campus program to students in the distance education program.