Course Title: DES 483 Business and Professional Practice
Term: Fall
Course Description
Professional development and the business of interior design, including legalities, financial considerations, project management, professional organizations, and ethics for various interior design practices and careers. Personal marketing packages refined for career preparation. Speakers included.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Interior design majors will justify their design decisions through written and verbal statements.
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Assignments and projects will be completed through various writing types: business formats, charts, and short statements.
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Students will discuss course content, pose questions and state factual knowledge with various course participants.
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Interior design majors will utilize their knowledge and skills to complete entry-level interior design responsibilities.
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Assignments and projects include:
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Designing an internship poster and helping with CIDA accreditation as a professional activity.
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Developing a business plan.
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Learning about the global economy, ethics, and the NCIDQ exam.
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Completing project management documents.
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Expanding personal promotion materials.
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COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Student project outcomes indicate their appropriate development for the objectives above:
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The program includes content that provides guidelines for reflecting upon observations and learning experiences during the student's Internships.
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The program includes content that provides guidelines for completing a Business Plan that requires the student to investigate and plan for creating and operating a design firm, including services, legalities, fees, future employees and job descriptions, location and facilities, competition, and marketing.
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The course requires the student to complete documentation that includes a variety of written formats.
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Development of the course program requires research and synthesis on Project Management, Global Economies, and Ethics.
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Students engage in the development of Personal Promotion and are allowed to experience taking the NCIDQ IDFX Professional Exam.
Project Assignments
Essay Assignment 1- Internship Refection Report: The student completes a 3-4 page paper reflecting on the internship experience. Students are to follow the protocol of writing a well-structured report that identifies the company they interned for, along with the internship description, what was learned in the internship, and what the student will do next.
Essay Assignment 1: Internship Reflection Report.PDF
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Project 1 Assignment - Business Plan: Students Complete a Business Plan that requires you to investigate and state the needs and plans for the business, including an in-depth analysis of location, services, credentials, legalities, fees, future employees and job descriptions, facilities management, competition, industry trends, and advertising associated with market planning, researching, and operations.
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Project Assignment 1 Business Plan.PDF
Project Assignment 2 - Project Management. Students engage in a series of exercises that allows for a general understanding of the various aspect that may affect the designer during the construction phase of a project. Students must reflect on their Internships to identify a Project Manager's critical tasks, generate a project schedule, and review contract documents for performing take-offs for chairs, tables, and carpets of a commercial environment utilizing a standard format.
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Project Assignment 2: Project Management.PDF
Project Assignment 3 - Global Economies and Ethics. In this project, students must complete a series of exercises that include a review of ethical behavior in the workplace utilizing information gathered within Chapter 3 of their book and compare it to what they have observed during their Internships. Secondly, they are required to write a review on world issues related to Interior design from a selection of information on contemporary global topics. Finally, they must create a PowerPoint presentation on the National Certification on Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) exam requirements.
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Project Assignment 3: Global Economies and Ethics.PDF
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Project Assignment 4 - Personal Promotion - In this exercise, students complete a Bio of themselves, revise their Resumes, Digital and Print portfolios, and update their websites with the latest project information. As part of the various exercises required for this project, students are to provide a peer review of their classmates’ resumes. Finally, students must critique the website's effectiveness based on a set of criteria provided.
Project Assignment 4: Personal Promotion.PDF
Project 5 Assignment - Business Terminology - Students are given a list of 93 industry terms strategically chosen from their book in this exercise. They must research each term and provide a brief, clear, concise definition based on industry practices.
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