INNOVATION PROPOSAL: INTEGRATION OF BLENDED LEARNING IN NON-STUDIO INTERIOR DESIGN COURSES

SHASTA BEVERIDGE I JULY 8, 2018

Introduction

The interior design program at Houston Community College is comprised of a diverse student population with a varying range of learning needs. Design students are often much more engaged in project based design studio classes than in lecture based courses that have a more traditional learning environment consisting of in class lectures, quizzes and research papers. Students are often intimidated by the lecture based classes which consistently have a lower success rate and lower grade distribution than studio classes.

We need to rethink how we are teaching non studio curriculum and what we want the end result to be. By incorporating the hands-on aspect and collaborative nature of studio classes to lecture courses through blended learning we will increase student success within the program.

What Do We Know About Our Students?

As a community college we do not have a typical college demographic. In our program we currently serve 240 students at three different campuses. The average student is female with a median age of 30. We have a mix of students that range from first time college students to students with multiple degrees that are in search of a career change. Our students come from a variety of social and economic backgrounds. Many students are also entering the program with low computer literacy levels. As you can imagine this creates a challenge when creating one instructional method to meet the needs of students.

Innovation Goals

The goals for this innovation plan is to create blended learning environments consisting of a combination of station rotation, lab rotation and flipped classroom applications. We want the outcome of these innovations to be:

- Utilization of valuable class time for active learning, peer collaboration and faculty mentoring.

- Giving students choice and ownership in managing their time outside of class meetings as lectures and media resources are integrated into course websites. - Providing students with a voice through online discussions.

- Contextualized learning that connects course work to job skills in the field of design.

- Providing students greater access to online resource materials hosted on the college’s LMS.

- Encouraging collaboration amongst students within the classroom and building a sense of community within the program.

- Fostering critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques.

- Greater involvement of industry professionals within the curriculum through site visits and guest speakers.

The Process

The first step will be to develop a Functional Blended-Learning Team consisting of full time faculty from the interior design program, adjunct faculty on a volunteer basis and a support member from HCC’s Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence Program. Before we begin to develop our blended learning environments we will need to hold training workshops to introduce the concept of blended learning to our faculty. Once the faculty have a clear understanding of the blended learning goals we can move forward to develop work groups for specific classes.

The Proposal

I am proposing that we assess curriculum for the following non studio courses and redevelop them as blended learning environments:

INDS 1311 Fundamentals of Interior DesignINDS 1370 History of InteriorsINDS 2307 Textiles for Interior DesignINDS 1315 Materials, Methods and Estimating for Interior DesignINDS 2325 Professional Practices for Interior Design

We will begin this project as a pilot with the development of INDS 1315 Materials, Methods and Estimating. This course will be a combination of station rotation and a flipped classroom. The format of the class will consist of:

- An online class website hosted in the HCC LMS

- Recorded lectures and additional resources such as videos, websites and product links posted on the class website. Students have the opportunity to view the online resources as often as necessary.

- Short online quizzes over lecture information.

- Class activities consisting of discussions, product show and tell, collaborative projects addressing material estimating and specifications and one-on-one mentoring from faculty.

- Industry experts as guest speakers, field trips to showrooms and hands on demonstrations of construction techniques such as tile installation.

Conclusion

The design of this course will keep students engaged and provide them with opportunities for authentic learning with a connection to real -world situations that they will face in the design field. Upon the completion of offering this redesigned course for the first time, student surveys will be issued to gain course feedback and provide opportunities for improvement as we move forward. This process can be expanded to the other four non studio design courses and on a greater scale, to other workforce programs within the college.