Visitation Teams
Site Visits: What’s Involved?
Gathering Evidence: Student Work Display, On-site Interviews
Interim Visits
Probationary Visits
Getting to the site visit stage of the accreditation process necessarily involves many hours of internal analysis by an interior design program to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in relation to meeting Council Standards. Yet it is the peer review portion of the Accreditation Process that provides the critical personal assessment of a program—the first-hand examination that, in the end, is what makes accreditation by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation a significant accomplishment.
Peer reviews are conducted by professionals who willingly take time away from their personal lives to play an essential role in the accreditation process. Site visitors are responsible for gathering evidence and developing informed judgments regarding an interior design program’s compliance with standards. They must be willing to participate in a huge undertaking in a short amount of time.
Site visitors are quick to say that their involvement comes with many invaluable rewards, a belief underscored by the fact that most site visitors remain in the program for a number of years. For some, being a site visitor provides an opportunity to give back to their profession in a way that helps advance the professionalism of the field. Others enjoy the excitement of working and talking with students and learning more about various interior design programs.
Each program seeking accreditation undergoes a three-and-a-half-day site visit (typically Friday night to Tuesday morning) from a team consisting of three members (at least one educator and one practitioner). One of the three team members is assigned from the Evaluation Committee and serves as team chair. All site visitors undergo thorough training that addresses Council procedures, standards and expectations.
The Site Visit: What’s Involved?
During the time spent visiting a program, site visitors must evaluate student work and course offerings; interview faculty members, students, and administrators; and inspect program facilities. The schedule is prepared and approved well in advance of the actual site visit. Additionally, site visitors are given a copy of the program’s self-prepared Program Analysis Report to study ahead of time, as well as any formal feedback from alumni, internship sponsors, employers of graduates and community members, such as the program Advisory Board, who are surveyed for their unique perspectives of the program’s achievements.
The following is a typical site visit schedule, although modifications are made for each visit to accommodate specific aspects of the program being evaluated.
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| Day Two |
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| Day Three |
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| Day Four |
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More detailed information about the site visit can be found in the Accreditation Manual.
Gathering Evidence
The site visit as described above is comprised of a number of specific activities to provide evaluators with a comprehensive overview of the interior design program in its entirety. Site visitors specifically seek to understand and consider program inputs (information, exercises, project assignments and experiences provided by the program) and outcomes (evidence of learning revealed in student performance).
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Student Work Display: The curriculum is regarded by the Council as the core of the interior design program and must present the common body of knowledge in interior design as reflected in its Educational Program Standards. Through an intensive review of student work, site visitors seek evidence that required levels of student learning are being met. The work on display is arranged in progression according to the sequence followed in the program and must be actual work completed in courses for the program being reviewed. Additionally, the work must represent all courses that address the Standards, including required professional program courses that are taken in other departments. (More information about the performance criteria used to evaluate student work can be found in the Council’s Professional Standards.)
Because this review is a major source for the visiting team’s evaluation of the educational program, the Council requires that the display include a wide variety of elements including but not limited to: course information located with the work produced from that course; course syllabi and handouts; assignments including purpose/objectives and requirements; blank exams or tests; required course texts; evidence of the design process such as matrices, bubble diagrams/schematics, sketches/drawings, study models, concept development, exploration of a variety of design ideas, design refinement; two- and three-dimensional basic creative work; design proposals and programming documents; papers, completed exams, and/or a compilation of exam results for history, theory, etc.
As a result of reviewing student work, the visiting team may ask questions about particular projects or courses, request help in locating examples of outcomes for specific standards, or request additional work.
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On-site Interviews: Each site visit is planned to gain as clear an insight as possible into the full scope, content, effectiveness, and intent of the educational program and its participants. Thus, the visiting team interviews program administrators, faculty members, staff, and students.
Interviews with faculty members may be conducted individually or in small or large groups. Generally greater candor, objectivity, and forthrightness are possible when each faculty member meets individually with the team. On the other hand, greater interaction and a broader viewpoint may be possible in discussions with a group of faculty members. Either option, or a combination of both, may be used.
Interviews with students allow the team to gain insight into the program and student population and are another way the visiting team evaluates student learning. Students interviewed by the team are selected by faculty members, by fellow students, or individually by the site visit team. Sometimes a group interview is conducted with an entire class. Student interviews are conducted in private without the presence of faculty members or staff.
An exit interview to review team findings with upper-level institutional administrators (president, provost, chief officer, dean, etc.) is scheduled for the morning prior to the team’s departure.
Interim Visits
The Council may require an interim site visit as a condition of accreditation if the Commission deems it necessary to monitor improvement in areas found to be weak at the time of the last accreditation review. In this case, the Accreditation Commission will determine the scope of the visit and the composition of the team (if possible, one team member from the original review will be included). In addition to an expected Progress Report, the interim visit is scheduled to occur three years after the date of the accreditation decision. Procedures followed for an interim visit are the same as those followed for an accreditation review. The Accreditation Manual offers more information regarding interim visits.
A visit may also be required if evidence of a significant change or a complaint raises questions about a program’s compliance with standards.
Probationary Visits
If an accredited program is placed on probation, critical weaknesses have been identified and the program has been granted a specific period of time to improve those areas in order to maintain accreditation. Probation may be granted for a period of not more than two years at the discretion of the Accreditation Commission. Probationary status may require a site visit by one or more representatives of the Council to review evidence on site and report to the Accreditation Commission. The scope of the probationary review is typically focused on the educational program. The Accreditation Manual offers more information regarding probationary review.