Curriculum Center for Family and Consumer Sciences
The Curriculum Center for Family and Consumer Sciences (CCFCS) has a longstanding and rich history in the College of Human Sciences, with more than 52 years serving family and consumer sciences (formerly home economics) educators throughout the nation. CCFCS supports family and consumer sciences teachers through quality curriculum development and a broad range of resources, including online, print, multimedia, and professional development training.
"We take pride in being the only curriculum center in the United States that specializes in curriculum, materials, and other resources for family and consumer sciences teachers," expressed associate professor and program chair Karen Alexander, Ph.D. "Our materials are used across the United States and in several other countries.”
Alexander, who has been an educator for over 28 years, explains that two of the main goals of the curriculum center are to increase collaborative partnerships across the college, university, and nation as well as maintain its national recognition as producers of high-caliber, meaningful curriculum and materials for family and consumer sciences education.
The curriculum center also provides instruction and assistance to current Texas Tech students through its vast resource library, located in the College of Human Sciences basement. The library touts hundreds of valuable materials that aid students on track to becoming the next generation of family and consumer sciences educators, with lesson and unit plan creation. In the future, CCFCS hopes to create a program that will integrate student-led research into creating up-to-the-moment lesson plan packets for the center's teacher customers.
In a concerted effort with CCFCS staff and administration, the center's latest efforts to continue to provide unparalleled service to home economics teachers is the migration of moving all center curricula to Texas Tech's online education platform, Blackboard. This process has not only allowed teachers to have more accessible, better access to their curriculum but has also allowed the curriculum center to delve deeper into content to update and even enrich it. Staff in the Curriculum Center for Family and Consumer Sciences focused on updating terms and language to be more inclusive and developed numerous new rubrics intended to give teachers academically appropriate methods of grading and providing feedback.
CCFCS was also quick to respond to the ever-growing needs of teachers across the nation who were and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The center expanded its online resources and webinars, free of charge, to assist teachers and educators in adjusting to online learning platforms. The webinars covered topics ranging from Google Classroom Basics, Pear Deck for Google Slides, Collaboration Tools and Resources in Learning Management Systems, Tips for Making Quality Instructional Videos, and LiveBinders for Active Learning.