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The need for strategic planning to ensure future leaders led to the development of the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) Leadership Academy. Leaders envisioned an approach to identify and strengthen future leaders from within the organization. Based on transformational and servant leadership precepts, the Academy includes a proven curriculum, mentorship, and projects at the affiliate and national levels to develop leadership skills of participants. The skills learned in the Academy are applicable in all family and consumer sciences (FCS) settings and beyond including, but not limited to, secondary and higher education, business, research, and Cooperative Extension. The development process of the AAFCS Leadership Academy serves as a best practice model for professional leadership development.

COVID-19 ignited a revolution in retail. Family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals, including students of retail and consumer sciences, can be the change agents that create the post-pandemic retail future. Massive disruptions to traditional retail practices for both consumers and retailers will result in changed retail environments as the United States and the world recoil and enter a new era changed by the global pandemic. Consumers have experienced panic and product availability anxieties, especially in food and grocery products. Shelves have been devoid of toilet paper, antibacterial products, and flour. Online shopping, including delivery and store pickup, is the new reality, with online sales at full-assortment grocers up 325% for March 12 and 13 in the midst of the panic (Melton, 2020). Retailers, especially grocers, have scrambled to maintain inventory and boost employment to feed the population, while non grocery brick-and-mortar retailers closed their doors and lost revenue to pay employees, leases, and outstanding invoices. How long until familiar times return--or will they? Forging ahead and influencing the post-pandemic retail world presents an opportunity for FCS professionals and consumers.

Universities are under pressure to produce work-ready graduates. This study analyzed 130 job advertisements to identify skills required by environmental science employers in Australia. For degree-related criteria, the most frequently required were content knowledge, a tertiary qualification and experience. Other desired skills were an understanding of environmental legislation, and an ability to undertake Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analysis, fieldwork, ecological surveys and species identification. For generic skills, more than half of advertisements required strong interpersonal, communication, writing and project management skills. It was concluded that universities should prioritize skills that occur most frequently in advertisements, and students should be given opportunities to participate in work experience. This would involve nurturing oral and written communication and teamwork skills, while equipping students with the ability to undertake ecological surveys in the field, identify important plants and animals, and conduct data analysis using GIS approaches. Senior undergraduate and postgraduate programs should include content on environmental policy and legislation, and the opportunity for students to hone their project and time management skills.

Funded through a grant from Texas Workforce Commission, DesignHER Code Camps were created to use the fashion interests of underserved middle school girls as springboards to interest them in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Results were generally consistent with the achievement of camp goals--(a) increase the interest of middle school girls in coding and other STEM fields, and (b) provide hands-on experiences related to the fashion industry that simultaneously foster interest in STEM-related careers--although changes in interest in STEM careers were not statistically significant. This type of experience contributes to the growing recognition that FCS content can play a vital role in the development of STEM concepts for youth.

Exit interviews of university graduating seniors have been used to a very limited extent when evaluating academic programs. It is our belief that developing and implementing an exit interview plan stimulates faculty dialog and improves ongoing feedback for department program assessment. From 2001 to 2007, the Accounting Department at Towson University has conducted exit interviews with all graduating seniors as part of the annual internal department assessment activities. The exit interviews have served to assist the Department of Accounting in evaluating its performance as judged by the students served. The positive comments assist to reinforce the quality activities of the department, while the negative comments permit the department to become aware of areas of perceived weakness that are in need of improvement. By receiving annual feedback from a valuable, relevant source, the department is able to continuously monitor, adjust, and improve its performance.

The field-dependent cognitive styles of 44 professionals in customer service occupations provided a benchmark to interpret data for 239 secondary marketing education students. Results suggest that males have greater access to analytic traits such as restructuring skill, problem-solving interest, and skill with abstractions. (Contains 38 references.) (JOW)

To track the quality of instruction delivered at the University of Western Australia, the university surveys all units using its Students' Unit Reflective Feedback (SURF) metrics, and faculties use these metrics to benchmark student satisfaction. Consequently, teaching staff are actively encouraged to adopt teaching practices that will increase the average levels of these metrics. Using a 'before-after' approach, we compared these metrics before and after the implementation of improved teaching practices that addressed specific weaknesses identified through student responses for two undergraduate units. Despite the implementation of improved teaching practices, SURF scores did not increase significantly for the two units assessed, due possibly to the components of the academic programme covered by the SURF questions, the field-based nature of the units, and the difficulty in measuring an increase in the SURF scores of units which already score highly. This poor sensitivity of the SURF metrics to the implementation of improved teaching practices could have implications for their use for performance assessment by the university.

Bronchoscopic evaluations revealed that some children have double branching of bronchi (designated "doublets") in the lower lungs airways, rather than normal, single branching. Retrospective analyses revealed only one commonality in them: all subjects with doublets also had autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That is, 49 subjects exhibited the presence of initial normal anatomy in upper airway followed by doublets in the lower airway. In contrast, the normal branching pattern was noted in all the remaining 410 subjects who did not have a diagnosis of autism/ASD. We propose that the presence of doublets might be an objective, reliable, and valid biologic marker of autism/ASD.

Case studies informed the development of a checklist for use in determining whether to engage in online educational practices whereby the family and consumer sciences (FCS) instructor teaches from a location distant from campus.Objective and subjective case details were recorded and analyzed for commonality and variance. From cross-case analysis, lists of enabling factors, benefits, communications issues, and challenges were created.These were further divided into categories relating to (a) administration,(b) curriculum and instruction,and (c) faculty characteristics. Additionally,a list of benefits of the use of offsite faculty was created to form a composite tool for use in decisions regarding using off-site faculty for online instruction.

Case study methodology was used to describe the challenges experienced in the development of a virtual component for a freshman-level undergraduate course. The purpose of the project was to use a virtual environment component to provide an interactive and engaging learning environment. While some student and faculty feedback was positive, this pilot was riddled with challenges. Five categories of challenges were identified and included: (1) shared meaning, (2) software and support, (3) programming, (4) implementation, and (5) student support.

This report presents a cross case analysis involving faculty teaching online from off-site international and interstate locations. The study yielded enabling factors, benefits, communication systems, and challenges in the areas of administration, curriculum, communications, and faculty characteristics. The benefits included the opportunity to be involved in an online teaching and learning model where both the student and the faculty members were at a distance from the physical campus. Retention of experienced faculty, continued utilization of faculty with critical expertise, expansion of the faculty teaching pool, faculty development, and enhanced program visibility were judged to be additional benefits. The major challenges primarily involved communications.

Purpose: There is wide variability in how spouses providing care respond to their care situations. Few studies focus on the roles of both intra- and interpersonal factors in long-term spousal care, particularly in the context of Parkinson's disease (PD). The current study uses longitudinal data over a 10-year period to examine the roles of optimism, pessimism, mutuality, and spouse gender in predicting role strain in PD spouses. Design and Methods: A longitudinal design was used to study 255 spouses of persons with PD over a 10-year period, with data points at baseline (Year 0), Year 2, and Year 10. A series of multilevel models were used to examine four role strain variables--global strain, strain from worry, strain from feelings of being manipulated, and strain from increased tension. Results: Female spouse gender predicted both higher Year 10 role strain and faster increases in role strain over the 10-year period. In addition, high mutuality and optimism and low pessimism at baseline played important protective roles against increased role strain at Year 10. Implications: This study focused on early-stage spousal care in a primarily physical disability context. Findings suggest that gender differences place wives at greater risk for negative outcomes, even in the absence of dementia. Additionally, clinicians have opportunities to target interventions early in the care trajectory based on intra- and interpersonal risk factors.

Four cases relating to the efforts of e-learning teams in valuing adult learners in their e-learning solutions were examined to better understand how e-learning teams value their adult learners within corporate settings. Two questions guided the analysis of the cases, they are: (1) What is the nature of the e-learning solutions in these cases? (2) What strategies did the e-learning teams use to value adult learners? The nature of the e-learning solutions in these cases resulted in descriptions about e-learning context, e-learning format, types, and numbers of courses. The strategies that e-learning teams used to value adult learners related to front-end analysis, content selection, content sequence, and presentation, interactions, standards, assessments, locations, and transfer. The analysis illustrated that e-learning teams and their efforts to value adult learners in their e-learning solutions are influenced by factors such as team size, team talent, company size, and technology. The results of the cross-case analysis offer a synthesis that e-learning teams can use for benchmarking and evaluation. (Contains 3 tables.)

ChemPrep was developed to be a stand-alone preparatory short-course to help students succeed in general chemistry. It is Web-based and delivered using the OWL system. Students reported that the ChemPrep materials (short information pages, parameterized questions with detailed feedback, tutorials, and answers to questions through the OWL message system) permitted them to work independently without the need for textbook or lecture. On average, students who completed ChemPrep had higher grades in the subsequent GenChem, Nursing, and Honors chemistry courses, with a greater percentage achieving a grade of C- or higher. Participation in ChemPrep was voluntary, and more women than men responded. Students in the Honors course enrolled in ChemPrep in higher percentages than students in GenChem and Nursing. SAT and departmental math placement exam scores were used as proxy measures of prior achievement and ability. Based on these, Honors chemistry ChemPrep users were on par with their peers but performed better in the course than non-users. In GenChem and Nursing chemistry courses, ChemPrep helped students of high prior achievement and ability perform better than their achievement scores would predict. Weaker or less motivated students did not respond to the voluntary offerings of ChemPrep in the same numbers as stronger or more motivated students, and we are seeking alternate ways to reach this population. (Contains 2 figures, 8 tables, and 8 notes.)

Family and consumer sciences programs in higher education operate in a dynamic environment of self-evaluation. One common component of the process is the evaluation of teaching effectiveness. This study reviewed some of the critical perspectives on student surveys of teaching effectiveness and then tested a portion of that dialogue by investigating whether contextual factors, including motivation to take a course, student major, expected grade, student grade point average, and level of the course influenced student surveys of teacher effectiveness scores within a university setting. The findings indicated that motivation to take a course and level of the course were influential and grade point average and major were not.

The Taskforce for Higher Education Program Advancement (TFPA) represents five family and consumer sciences organizations, boards, and administrative groups. Its mission "to proactively and collaboratively strengthen FCS higher education programs" has yielded multiple initiatives including a new database. The TFPA Web Interface System (TFPA-WIS) provides information on all FCS programs including program structures within institutions, degrees and certifications offered, accreditations, and contact information to enable dialogue to support and advance FCS programs. Components key to structural integrity of FCS units were identified and are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 3 footnotes.)

Faculty collaboratively developed an on-line Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Science and Merchandising (CSM). Part-time faculty and technical support services supported the four-member team. Small grants assisted in the creation and redesign of all CSM major courses for on-line delivery. Issues of appropriate learning strategies, student access, technical capabilities, curriculum design, resources, and assessment were addressed. The case illustrates the opportunities, challenges, and benefits college professors can face when developing an on-line degree program.

This case explored the use of a collaborative team to develop a virtual course component to increase educational experience. As students continue to engage in recreational video game activities, incorporation of such applications into their learning environments becomes important to allow them to connect and interact with course content in a manner to which they are increasingly accustomed in daily living. One module of a general education core course, Family Ecosystems, was selected for the incorporation of a virtual component. Project stages included curriculum and technical design and interface, pilot testing, and evaluation.

Purpose--To investigate how the adult learner is valued in e-learning corporate settings. Design/methodology/approach--Case study methodology was used for this research. Four Fortune 500 companies that had active e-learning initiatives for a minimum of four years were selected. Data for the development of the four cases were collected via semi-structured telephone interviews. The questions that guided data collection and case development are: what is the e-learning context in your organization?; How is the adult learner valued in the e-learning environment?; What considerations must be addressed when valuing the adult learner in e-learning environments within corporate settings? Findings--Four case studies emerged from data collection and revealed that adult learners are being valued and supported in corporate e-learning settings. A comparative analysis of the case studies with the Waight and Stewart conceptual model showed that the e-learning teams are complying with all factors for the exception of transfer and return on investment. Research limitations/implications--A primary limitation inherent in this study is its inclusion of only four large corporations. Future investigation can extend understanding of how the adult learner is valued by researching more companies and their e-learning teams. Practical implications--These cases provide evidence that adult learners are being valued. They can serve as models for e-learning teams in their efforts to value the adult learner in e-learning within corporate settings. Originality/value--Although a body of literature related to valuing adults in academic settings exists, little investigation has been done in corporate contexts. This study confirms that adult learners are valued in e-learning in corporate settings. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)