Identification of Goals and Assessment Criteria for Competency Based Professional Education in Interior Design

Exploring the concept of competency based education (CBE) and its application to professional education for interior design represents a new approach to program planning. A search for alternatives to traditional curriculum development is suggested by the emerging professional status of interior design practice attested to by the recognition of the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER), the national accreditation agency for post-secondary interior design programs, by the U.S. Office of Education, and by the Council on Post-secondary Accreditation (COPA). Participation in the accreditation process of FIDER has challenged professional practitioners to contribute to the improvement of interior design education and to communicate pertinent knowledge to educators responsible for identifying educational competencies. To the educator, improved quality demands curriculum evaluation aimed at meeting standards of educational accountability. Implementing a competency based curriculum (CBC) for a professional program such as interior design seems feasible since many of the competencies and behaviors required in the profession are observable and may be evaluated on the basis of specified criteria.