This creative project is an approach to assist the Industrial Technology Educators of Indiana in Implementing the Introduction to Construction Technoloay Course. The necessity for high quality instructional materials has set the objectives for a valuable and productive creative project: to research and collect pertinent data from Indiana's state curriculum guides, and recommended texts for the development of transparency masters for the Introduction to Construction Technology Course. The instructional benefits to both prospective and veteran teachers is well worth the effort. / Department of Industry & Technology

The purpose of this study was to develop a test blue-print for a hospitality management capstone course to measure programmatic student learning outcomes. A total of 50 hospitality industry professionals and hospitality management faculty were interviewed through focus group discussions, and a post-focus group survey was conducted to determine a weighted percentage for each of the nine determined content domains. A test blueprint was developed from the weighted proportions determined by this study and a process by which other educational institutions could follow to establish a consistent and accurate evaluation method for a capstone course was described.

When asked to identify what characteristics are needed to fulfill an entry level management position in their companies, recruiters replied they were looking for someone “good”. When asked why they are enrolled in a 4 year hospitality program, a student may say to acquire a “good” job. The purpose of this study was to investigate the word “good” as it relates to hospitality industry recruiters in fulfilling an entry-level management position, as well as the hospitality management students perspective of “good” related to acquiring an entry level management position upon graduation from a four year hospitality degree program. This study investigated characteristics, skills, experience, and education of an entry-level manager, as defined by hospitality industry recruiters and hospitality students as “good.” There are opportunities to ensure that development is relevant and valued by both organization and students, through greater understanding of which competencies the industry recruiter is looking for in a “good” entry-level manager. Examples of good practice that enable development of existing talent should be published, in order that industry, academia and college graduates can learn from each other. Industry will ultimately determine the strengths and weaknesses of each four year hospitality degree program, based on whether or not they are able to recruit “good” entry-level managers from the program’s graduates.

The goal of this project is to create a web application to help people learn about the stock market. The Virtual Sports Stock Exchange (VSSX) simulates market trading based on the world of sports. It allows users to experiment with different economic models. Virtual Sports Stock Exchange (VSSX) uses HTML and Java Server Page to generate the output and calculations and it uses Java Servlet to interact with the Oracle 9i database.

Certain disjunctions exist between the structure, courses, and practices of current textile curricula on the one hand, and the demands of students for entry into diverse creative professions and the demands of the creative industry for qualified new talents on the other. Thus, this research will explore the history, current issues, and emerging trends of academia and the creative professions as these shape the qualifications, aspirations, and expectations of students, academia, and the textile-related fields. The ultimate goal of this study is to comprehend the contemporary issues—social, economic, and cultural shifts—that may impact textile education within art and design colleges, and propose an efficient and engaging BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) textile curriculum suitable for the era of interdisciplinary education and the fourth industrial revolution. Since scholarly study of the effectiveness of art school curriculum is limited and little research has examined the challenges of BFA education, and in particular BFA textile education in the context of 21st century college education, the researcher begins with a survey of existing literature from adjacent fields, including higher education, sociology, business, marketing, apparel, and art education, in particular, adolescent artistic development. The existing literature also includes statistics from government, consulting firms, colleges ranking sites, and annual reports published by each school. This qualitative case study examines how stakeholders in BFA textile education—students, faculty, and professionals—from five selected art colleges in the U.S. perceive their educational experiences and post-college careers. The data were collected through 1) a review of existing literature pertaining to perspectives of general college education, creative industry, and current student generation, and 2) qualitative data gathered through initial surveys and verbal interviews, including two pilot studies. Stakeholder perspectives obtained through interviews are interpreted through the following theoretical frameworks: 1) the business perspective aiming at the success of all stakeholders; 2) the marketing perspective aiming at improving stakeholder satisfaction as a means of enhancing the operational efficiency of organizations; and 3) the educational perspective aiming to create effective teaching and engaging learning environments for the success of today's young creative talents. The researcher contends that the findings strongly suggest curricular and pedagogy change in accordance with societal changes and demands of the stakeholders—current student generation, creative industry, and academia—while at the same time informing the significant value of college education, BFA education, and textile education in the 21st century.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how the current hospitality management curriculum at The International Hotel School contributes to students’ preparedness from their own perspectives. Generic and curriculum specific skills that can be used for curriculum evaluation were identified, a framework of curriculum variables to rate the level of student preparedness was developed, the effectiveness of the hospitality management curriculum from the perspectives of students’ perceptions of preparedness was analysed, and the aspects that contribute most to student preparedness were identified through a literature study and an empirical investigation. The findings were summarised and it was recommended that The International Hotel School needs to review the hotel and restaurant accounting course and the experiential learning components. Furthermore, lecturers of The International Hotel School should receive training on the implementation of more interactive course content delivery methods. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how the current hospitality management curriculum at The International Hotel School contributes to students’ preparedness from their own perspectives. Generic and curriculum specific skills that can be used for curriculum evaluation were identified, a framework of curriculum variables to rate the level of student preparedness was developed, the effectiveness of the hospitality management curriculum from the perspectives of students’ perceptions of preparedness was analysed, and the aspects that contribute most to student preparedness were identified through a literature study and an empirical investigation. The findings were summarised and it was recommended that The International Hotel School needs to review the hotel and restaurant accounting course and the experiential learning components. Furthermore, lecturers of The International Hotel School should receive training on the implementation of more interactive course content delivery methods. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)