Website on Redefining Higher Education

Lloyd Armstrong, University Professor and Provost Emeritus at the University of Southern California, who has a littany of awards, honors, and distinctions runs an interesting website on the major changes occurring in the world that are redefining the metrics of excellence for higher education which can be viewed by visting: http://www.changinghighereducation.com/.

The site is packed with links to other resources pertaining to teaching and includes a collection of interesting blogs. Although the blog is dedicated to higher education, the topics and concerns addressed in the blog apply to almost any educator so worth making a visit now and then to enhance our learning community.

Vignettes on Teaching Challenges

I wanted to pass along a resource brought to my attention today that consists of a series of videos that can be viewed for free online that were developed at Syracuse University. You can view the videos at: http://gradschpdprograms.syr.edu/resources/problems.php

As stated in the home page for the videos, "Deemed by participants as one of the most beneficial sessions offered during our orientations, Critical Incidents in College Teachings is a video of fifteen vignettes designed to facilitate a discussion of challenging teaching situations. The challenges represented by the vignettes include such topics as relationships with advisors, peers, and students, issues of sexual harassment and ethnocentrism in the classroom. Ideally, this is shown to a group so that ideas about how to handle the roles and responsibilities of a teaching assistant/instructor/faculty member can be shared."

The videos would be great to watch with several faculty at at time as part of a brown bag lunch or faculty retreat and few some then discuss the proper response. They could also be used to help train new faculty on how to properly react to the situations that arise when their level best to teach class and cope with distractions.

Tools for Teaching

If looking for summer reading ideas consider reading the book, Tools for Teaching (1993) by Barbara Gross Davis, published by Jossey-BassPublishers. It appears to be an excellent read for those wanting to improve certain aspects of their teaching for the 09-10 academic year.

Here is one review of the book that I am aware of by Sid Brown: It's the most useful book I've seen on college teaching, one that can serve beginning, as well as more experienced [college teachers]. Not only are the contents easily accessed, but they are well worth accessing. There are chapters on lecturing, discussion, writing skills, testing, instructional media--even one on "Teaching Outside the Classroom," featuring a section on "Guiding, Training, and Supervising Graduate Student Instructors." Each chapter holds practical, easily implemented hints on how to improve your skills so that your students improve theirs. Ten minutes spent with this book while motivated by a teaching problem will pay off immediately. Davis assumes that the beginning college teacher is busy, and bright enough to work out specific applications of general principles--excellent assumptions."

An excerpt from the book on Collaborative Learning: Group Work and Study Teams, is available at: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html. In that excerpt, the author covers the following areas concerning collaborative learning: General Strategies, Designing Group Work, Organizing Learning Groups, Evaluating Group Work, Dealing with Student and Faculty Concerns About Group Work, and Setting Up Study Teams. The references that went into developing the excerpt are even included for those who would like to read more on the subject. I have been teaching via collaborative learning for many years and found it to be quite useful and hope you will share my sentiments once you have reviewed it, too.

Ways to Make Collaborative Learning Work in the Classroom

I am a huge proponent of collaborative learning and its many forms. It is a teaching method that requires students to assume some responsibility for the course material, and in the process help themselves and one another to learn. In addition to learning the course objectives that are established by the instructor, students can learn the secondary objective of how to work effectively in a team.

However, it has been my experience that students cannot simply be placed in teams to accomplish course objectives without guidance from the instructor. Students initially dread the idea of working in teams because their previous experiences with “group projects” have been truly unpleasant. For example, I once asked 53 undergraduate students to anonymously write down what fears and concerns they had about working exclusively in teams to accomplish the course objectives in my sales courses, especially when their grade is tied principally to the performance of their team. Although there were 17 statements indicating no real fears or concerns, there were 30 statements concerning the fears and concerns about slackers or lazy team member, and 14 statements concerning grades being affected by teammates. Other miscellaneous fears and concerns were: over-controlling members or perfectionists (11), fears about meeting schedule conflict (6), fears about poor cooperation or member conflict (6), fears about others not being punctual (3), and some stating a preference to work individually (2).

To this day, I have found that one of the best ways to calm the fears and concerns of students is to have them establish a team charter once they have been formed into teams. The team charter defines each team’s mission and identifies a plan by which to accomplish it. In the team charter, I require the students to properly address the following elements: a) a mission statement, b) a team name to give the members an identity, (c) clearly defined roles and responsibilities of the team leader and members that are legal, ethical, and moral (d) the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of members, (e) codes of conduct that deal with attendance, acceptable behavior, values, possible rotation of leaders, etc., and (f) a detailed strategy that a team would use to complete team assignments (e.g., exams, worksheets, quizzes).

Once I have reviewed and approved a team’s charter, all members are required to sign it. Once signed, the team charter has the full weight of my course syllabus. Team’s may add, modify, or delete items in the charter as the semester progresses as long as all teammates and myself are made aware of the changes.

In sum, collaborative learning holds great promise for preparing students to do well in academia and the workplace. I have found that collaborative learning is far more effective when the students are prepared to work together as a team to ensure they effectively accomplish course objectives and earn the grade desired by the majority of the team. The team charter is one such tool that will increase the probability that students will embrace, as opposed to dread, the notion of working in a team.

Source for Teaching Quotations

Here is a great source for a variety of quotes related to education that you could read for pleasure or teaching purposes. The website was developed by the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching at Western Kentucky University. The quotes are under categories such as teaching, research, and service and range from whimsical to thought-provoking, so take the time now and then to visit: http://www.wku.edu/teaching/db/quotes/

There are also random unrelated thoughts that are fun to read like this one:
"99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name. " Unknown

Teach on, brothers and sisters!

Words to Live By

Perhaps many of you watched the Obama press conference tonight on television or listened in on the radio on the drive home. There is one quote that I intend to take away and live by and hope that others will do the same -- especially those who have legitimate or legal power over my ability to do my job -- and it was when he said, "I like to know what I am talking about before I open my mouth." Imagine just how much wasted time, money, and opportunity could have been saved in our lives, our society, and our planet if everyone who opened their mouth to voice an opinion on something did the same.

Obama made that remark in response to a follow-up question asked by one reporter as to why he and his administration did not come out sooner and voice their rage at the AIG bailouts. Honestly, do we want a person sitting in the oval office who has a knee-jerk reaction every time he faces a crisis? I know I have worked for those people and it is no picnic as their decisions are a steady stream of over-reactions that others have to endure due to their acting at an emotional as opposed to a logical level, especially when the decision are based on ignorance.

So from this day forward I will continue to strive to weigh in on things for which I know something about to avoid looking foolish before those that know better. And on those things that matter to me most I will be sure to do my homework before stepping into the circle of debate. I will also press others to do their homework before they voice an opinion on something I am working on that they have no clue about, no matter their pay grade. I offer this challenge to you. Especially those of you who stand before students and make stuff up in the face of a question you do not know the answer to instead of saying, "I don't know, that is a good question, and I will find out." Trust me, the students know when you are "tap dancing around their question" so stop it.

Can I have an, "Amen!" Teach on my good brothers and sisters!

New Website on Teaching & Learning Subjects

The links below are being developed by Ted Panitz who is in the process of upgrading his website to include materials focusing on a number of teaching/learning subjects which he hopes people will find helpful and interesting. I am confident that much of what Ted has to offer can apply to the culinary arts and hospitality educator and while these materials are free to use please be sure to cite him if use for your own purposes. Better still, if you do use them for culinary arts or hospitality teaching applications please consider sharing on the blog or at next FELC Faculty Development Summit.

Below are some of the topics that can be found on his websites for faculty to download, print out, save, etc. If you have questions, please contact Ted Panitz at tpanitz@capecod.edu

Cooperative learning articles Ted has written as well as those from other authors:
http://tpanitz.jimdo.com/coop-learning-articles-by-ted-and-others/

Adult education materials.
http://tpanitz.jimdo.com/teaching-sites/

Writing Across the Curriculum Book for Math Courses
http://tpanitz.jimdo.com/ted-s-wac-book-for-math/

FELC Faculty Development Summit Dates Announced

The dates for the 2010 FELC Faculty Development Summit have been set. The Master Classes will be offered only on Thursday, February 25th with full-day and half-day classes including educational field trips to area to farms, fisheries, and plantations as well as those dedicated to improving teaching and learning techniques in the state-of-the-art kitchens and classrooms of the Charleston Culinary Institute.

The Faculty Development Summit will begin with an opening reception on Thursday evening, February 25th. The morning of the 26th will begin with a keynote address from a renowned educator and end with the Ultimate Teaching CompetitionTM and Awards Ceremony on Saturday February 27th. For more details on the agenda regularly visit the 2010 Summit tab on our website, www.fooded.org

The 2010 Faculty Development Summit will be a great value for those attending given all meals and education sessions, starting with the opening reception to the awards ceremony on Saturday, the 27th, are included in the registration fee. Of course, FELC members will enjoy a discount on the price of registration; to learn how to be become a member click on the membership tab on http://www.fooded.org

WebQuests Add Flavor to Culinary Arts Classes

Today's post comes from Chef Ed Hennessy (see bio below). If you would like more information contact Ed at hennessy@dtcc.edu

In a world where hands-on, technology-savvy Millennials comprise much of the incoming student population in culinary arts programs, tools such as WebQuests can add flavor to class lessons. According to Webquest.org, “WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995.”

In the field of culinary arts, students who are hungry to become chefs in their own right find WebQuests a fun tool because it allows them to independently research ingredients, wine and food pairings, employee manuals in food safety, etc. while developing their individual problem-solving skills. I created a WebQuest for my Garde Manger course to introduce products that students would be working with during the semester. Unique items such as foie gras, truffles and caviar were included, as was smoked fish. Early on in the semester, students were asked if they knew what to do with foie gras and were instructed to come back the next class with suggestions for how to use it as an appetizer. After engaging in the Webquest which guides students to multiple Internet sites on the topic, students were better prepared to experiment with the foie gras in their next kitchen lab. The final task of the assignment was to submit suggestions for a cocktail reception that must include one display, six hors d’oeuvres and three appetizers, all utilizing the researched products. A checklist and rubric were included for assessment. To see this assignment with posted resources visit http://www.dtcc.edu/terry/culinary/web_quest/index.html

Though creating a WebQuest can be time-consuming, it is similar to creating an online course and can be combined as a segment of a classroom lecture course. This results in increased accessibility for your student population. Combining educational technology tools and e-learning to a lab-based course such as Garde Manger caters to the traditional academic-minded student by allowing them to enjoy the research and by encouraging hands-on participation. Students are able to research information at their convenience and critically think through decisions to complete their assignments. Tools such as WebQuest add spice to culinary arts instruction by providing diverse opportunities for students to excel academically and by providing an additional outlet for students to express their individual creativity.

Ed Hennessy is a Certified Executive Chef and a member of the American Academy of Chefs. He is also an active member of the ACF First State Chefs Association of Wilmington, Delaware. Chef Hennessy, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, apprenticed at the Greenbrier, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Hotel, Restaurant, Institutional Management from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in Education from Wilmington University. He is the chair of the culinary program at Delaware Tech in Dover, Delaware.

Human Being

Human being; that is what I plan to do during spring break. Human, defined by Webster as "consisting of or produced by people," and being as, "the state or fact of existing or living," or "fulfillment of possibilities." I do not want to spend it human doing, human becoming, or human acquiring. And so I have enjoyed this day with my son in the state of being out in the woods on a lovely walk.

It is a state I think all of us need to exist in from time with all the comings and goings that are part of culinary arts and hospitality education. We need some "now time" to reflect, refresh and restore ourselves for the demanding jobs of those we educate (bring up, rear, train) or instruct (pile upon, put in order, erect) who have placed themselves under our tutelage (guardianship, care, protection). But not this day, especially it being St. Patrick's Day and all! Time to being in front of an ice cold beer and a heaping plate of corned beef, cabbage, carrrots, and potatoes!

Please take time to be the same.

FELC Summit 2010

The basic agenda for the 2010 Summit in Charleston, SC, will be available soon. We are also going to be releasing the dates of the Summit at the same time as we negotiate a host hotel, which we believe may still be the Hampton Inn, but want to make sure we are getting our members the best deal possible to make it financially feasible to attend the Summit. What I can tell you at this point is that Master Classes will be focused on Thursday primarily on teaching and learning. The Summit will kick off with a top notch education specialist on Friday morning and then continue on with panels, workshops, stand up presentations, and poster sessions for the remainder of the day which will be concluded with an early reception. Saturday will kick off with more paper, poster, panel, and workshop sessions with a tradeshow and luncheon at midday. The Summit will come to a crescendo with our Ultimate Teaching CompetitionTM followed by a closing reception. So, stay tuned as more details develop!

Please note that I am also on Spring Break from Purdue this week and will do my best to keep up with the blog but happy to turn it over to anyone who might like to take a turn for a few days :)

FELC Summit Update

We are in the process of collecting the materials that were presented at the FELC Summit in Charleston. Each presenter is being asked to submit materials they used for their presentation at the Summit that they would be happy to share with members who could not attend due to financial circumstances including their bio, photo, and contact information in the event members would like to contact them for more information on their presentation topic.

When the information is compiled it will be posted in the Members Area as a service to those in our learning community. It is also intended to provide members with insights as to the type of presentations we are looking to have presented at future Summits.

As always, if you are thinking of submitting a poster, stand-up presentation, workshop, panel discussion in either the refereed or non-refereed track feel free to contact Dr. Mick La Lopa to see if your topic would be of interest or would like to be mentored on preparing a proposal. Also keep in mind we are going to develop a special session on teaching culinary math and accounting so start thinking of ways you can present on that topic in the various forums or pass the information along to those that have that teaching expertise.

Indiana Building Green Symposium

I attended the first day of a two-day conference dedicated to green building whether it be a retrofit, new building, or citywide plan. It was one of the most eye opening conferences I have attended to date on green and/or sustainable buildings. The information I learned from vendors who install green roofs at a fraction of the time and cost it once took was worth the price of admission alone. The keynote given tonight by Richard Graves, who is on the national board of Directors, for the United States Green Building Council, also enlightening those in attendance on how third world nations can now have world-class buildings with the advanced technologies in place to make fuel using anaerobic digesters that can produce biofuel that can be burned to produce energy almost anyplace in the world.

Perhaps one of the most interesting concepts to come out of the conference was that of natural capitalism, from the book of the same name authored by Hawkin, Lovins, and Lovins, which I intend to read right away. The concept is simply defined by Investor Words, " as a school of capitalist thought that seeks to reward efficiencies and remove artificial market alterations, such as professional standards and regulations...the word "natural" refers to the idea that removing regulations creates a natural state in which the markets can perform efficiently," or "an "economic theory or practice which assigns a financial cost to the use, maintenance, abuse, or depletion of natural resources and ecosystems," as defined by the Double-Tongued Dictionary which specializes (it says), in being a lexicon of fringe English, jargon, and new words.

All in all it was an awareness expanding day and am looking to share more of the particulars of things learned in future posts. My students will also be smarter in my future presentations on green buildings, too!

Is it Our Job to Do Remedial Training to Help Students Succeed in Class?!

Some call me insane but I give students exams that have some multiple choice questions and four essays in a class with 70 students in my human resource management class. I give essays because they tell me whether or not students can process a thought from breaking down what an essay question is asking of them to ultimately providing a relevant, coherent, accurate answer in response. The first exam the students took this semester was horrific. Many felt they could just write anything and get credit. They were wrong. Many felt they could answer part of the question and get full credit. They were wrong. Many did not know what to do with an essay exam and basically did little of anything so their grade suffered, too. All this from students who knew that the essay questions would only come from the chapter worksheets we had covered to that point; which was four chapters with about 10 questions each.

I could have thrown in the towel after taking 7+ hours to grade the four in-class essay questions and given them all multiple choice and called it a day on the second of four exams they will take this semester. No, not me. Given it is an HR class I saw a real time training need. The training involved essay writing. I gave the class a lecture on essay writing. I posted information on how to write a proper essay with some great websites on essay writing you can check out for your own purposes below:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/essay-exams.html
http://www.eicc.edu/students/help/tips/essayquestions.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_essay.html

I then gave the students a take home essay concerning traffic lights to see if they understood the basic mechnics of breaking down an essay and providing a relevant, coherent, accurate response. They brought their efforts to class. I asked them to read aloud those they thought would get a perfect score from me. Many were wrong. I finally got one student to read aloud an essay answer that would have earn a perfect score from me. They then exchanged papers and graded their neighbors efforts with the grade they thought I would give it based on our training session. I collected them and reviewed them for the next class. To my dismay, there were still students in the class judging essays with perfect scores that would not have even gotten half the points possible from me as indicated in the training. I read some aloud that were given perfect scores by students (that did not deserve it in my book) and asked for a show of hands by those who agreed. Far too many hands went up. I then read aloud those that I had selected that did indeed deserve full credit to clearly note the difference between what they thought and the reality of what I thought. I thought to myself that the students should now be in a position to do better on the next essay exam.

I just spent 7+ hours of my life on Tuesday reading four essay questions written by 70 students. How do you think they did? Better? Same? Worse? If you guessed the same you were slightly correct. Some got better and far too many others wrote the same low level incoherent, irrelevant, inaccurate answers to the essay questions which ranged from cognitive domain levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, synthesis and judgement. Worse still, the incentive for the class was that if they could raise the class exam score average from 65 to 85, which should have been easy if applied essay training to the second exam, they would all get 100 on the first exam. Alas, the essay training and incentive did nothing to raise the average exam more than a single point. Worse still, the HR course is a junior level course!

Part of me want to go Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen in class today and rant about their horrible performance on the essay questions while another part wanted to go Yoda and be quiet and contemplative. I did neither character, instead at the end of class when our work for the day had been done, I told them that I had graded the essay part of the exams and they should not expect 100's on the first exam and that we will discuss the reason for their poor performance on essays after spring break. I will hopefully calm down, get my strength back, and then be ready to take on the challenge of attempting once again to have them understand the finer points of writing a proper essay and why that skill will enable them to be a successful manager one day down the road. Part of me feels the lesson will be lost on the majority of them...for now.

Ultimately, what am I to make of this? Is it a failed K-12 education system that is teaching kids to pass multiple guess exams? Is it the fault of those who had them in class for two years before they got to me never mind the fact that they wrote short papers that had simple questions that asked them to reflect on what was learned by listening to those who who visit the class as part of our execs in the classroom series and graded with a rubric by my TA's. Is it those teachers who never asked them to write a single word during a 15 week semester in their course? Or, is it a generational, societal phenomemon with more and more kids living in a text message, download on demand, copy and paste, everything on the web is free, so I do not have to put in any work to get by in this world mentality? I know not.

But what I do know is that even though it may take a few weeks off my life expectancy when sitting for hours and grading them, you can bet your bottom dollar that the third exam will have an essay component to it and the stakes will be greater as to the impact it will have on their final grade because students have to be able to write a coherent, relevant, accurate response to essay questions to enable them to be successful in the fluid, rough and tumble world that is hospitality and tourism management. I will not give up on them! That was the responsibility I willingly accepted when I took on the job of "educator."

Agree? Disagree? Respond to this post if you will and share your insights with our faculty learning community.

Byron Korus Wins Best Poster Award

Byron Korus, Ed.D., CEC., CCE., AAC at Hamline University won the best poster award based on blind peer review at the first FELC Summit for his poster entitled "Team-Based Learning Principles: Improving Learning Using a Collaborative Inter-Active Learning Strategy

Byron started teaching culinary art at the Art Institutes International Minnesota in 1998 where teaching became a new passion. Korus attended St Mary’s University receiving a M.A. and continued on for his doctorate, from Hamline University in St. Paul Minnesota. Byron’s dissertation focus is how team-based learning enhances knowledge building in a culinary environment. On his way to earning his Ed.D. he has a great deal of industry experience such as being an executive chef for many large hotels, restaurant and entertainment complexes; serving as the food and beverage director for "Mississippi Live", and; working as a sales manager for Kraft Food Service. Chef Korus is a certified culinary educator and a certified executive chef, and was inducted into the Academy of Chefs in 2001.

The abstract of his poster was: Team-based learning (TBL) is pedagogy for teachers who are ready to use an active team strategy in their classrooms. After discussing this poster, participants will recognize what TBL is, and why learning teams advance knowledge building beyond simple learning. Participants will identify the key principles of TBL, and the structure of class activities. The poster will present the changing roles of instructors and students and its effect on knowledge building.

Congratulations, Byron, from all of us at FELC!

Great Search Engine for Educators

I wanted to call your attention to the POD Network's Google Custom Search Engine, accessed from the main page of the POD website (http://www.podnetwork.org/search.htm#faculty). It is a great way for educators to get good information on different topics that concern teaching and learning. The best part about the search engine is that it taps into faculty development centers from around the US and Canada. Indeed there are 718 Web sites in the search tool, covering all members of POD. Seventy of those Web sites are for GTA programs and can be searched as a sub-group on the results page (after doing an initial search, look at the top for GTA as well as for other specialized searches.)

So give it a try. Go the URL and type in search words such as "lecture" or "group discussion" or "cooperative learning" or "assessment" and you will find lots of quality information on those topics as well as others for which you are interested.

By the way, I highly recommend joining the POD Network or attending one of its conferences in your lifetime; it is worth it to hang out with those who have dedicated their day to developing the quality of teaching and learning at their respective campuses.

Nickles Wins FELC Ultimate Teaching Competition 2009

The first annual FELC Summit included an Ultimate Teaching Competition, Bobby Flay style, on Saturday afternoon. There were three finalists who competed for the honor of Ultimate Teacher. The winner was decided upon by a panel of judges and those who watched the competition who were given an evaluation form to select the winner. The winning competitor recieved a plaque that had a whisk affixed to it with an inscription that read, "Ultimate Teaching Competition Winner 2009"

This year's winner was Jane A. Nickles, MBA, CSW, CFBE, who has been a wine educator and chef instructor at the Texas Culinary Academy for over ten years. "Miss Jane,"as her students call her, is also the author of “WineSpeak 101,” regular wine columnist for Eat and Drink Austin Magazine, and wine writer for the website "The Texas Wine and Food Gourmet." In December of 2007 Jane was honored by being named the Career Education Corporation “Educator of the Year”, from a field of over 90 colleges and 6,000 faculty members. She calls this award her “proudest moment.” For further information, contact Miss Jane at jnickles@tca.edu.

Jane was an energetic presenter who taught those in attendance a great deal about wine in the short time given to all competitors. She also engaged the judges in the learning which gave her high marks.

We will be having the competition again at the 2010 FELC Summit and will put the call out for competitors. To quote Bobby, we ask you, "Are you ready for a throw down?" You will have your chance in 2010 to win the coveted whisk plaque!

"How the Test Was Won!"

Now and again I like to post something to the blog that is just plain fun and completely different from everything else that is posted.

I learned about this on a listserv I belong to and it is the latest Simpson's episode in which Bart is informed that he and a select group of students have received perfect scores on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President’s "No Child Left Alone" Assessment Test. The person who sent this described it as..."In order to try to get the scores better, they send the potential low-scorers on a "field trip" on the day of the exam. Of course things go wrong, but the important thing is that the students end up acquiring a lot of "academic" knowledge from having to use it in everyday situations. My favorite was the conservation of angular momentum. Brilliant!"
http://www.hulu.com/watch/60126/the-simpsons-how-the-test-was-won#s-p1-so-i0

Although it is a "comedy sitcom cartoon" I often wonder how much truth there is in it concerning the way teachers are being required to teach kids in K-12 education which ultimately impacts (not in a good way) those of us in culinary arts and hospitality education when the freshman class is sitting in our classrooms and kitchens for the first time. Naturally there are some small commercial breaks in the video and it is adult humor but enjoy it all the same! Heck, the decisions made by the principal at the end may bring a smile to your face :)

The other reason for sending this along is the quality of the video and the technology it took to make it available; it makes me wonder if I am watching the end of television as we know it.

Michael Wray Wins Best Proposal Award

We are pleased to announce that Michael L. Wray, Associate Professor, Director of Restaurant Management, Metropolitan State College of Denver, earned the Best Proposal Award. The photo captures the award being given to Michael Wray (on the right) by Dr. Mick La Lopa, Executive Director of Hospitality Education.

The award was given to the person who had the highest rating based on the double-blind review given to all those that submitted a refereed proposal submission, regardless of whether submitting a poster, stand-up presentation, panel, or workshop.

The title and abstract of his proposal is:

Lessons Learned from Experiential Learning: The Beer and Spirits Course

"In this session, participants review lessons learned from a faculty member that implemented experiential learning in the development of a Beer and Spirits Course. The lessons include; involving of stakeholders in course design and resources, creating hands-on activities that engage students, and fostering industry connections. Participants reflect upon experiential activities in their own settings by reviewing the lessons learned, seeing pictures and video from the course activities and tasting the beer made by the students."

If you know Michael, send him your regards at: wraym@mscd.edu

First Summit a Great Success

The Summit kicked off to a great start with keynote, Milt Cox, who shared his great insights on the need for community in our personal and professional lives. Milt shared why it is important for faculty to connect with others not only inside their department but reach out to those in other departments and universities to form communities to advance teaching and learning around issues or topics that are important to any given voluntarily formed faculty community. He also provided great suggestions on books on teaching that culinary arts and hospitality educators should read to learn more about the importance of learning communities, from such books as Bowling Alone, to great teaching books such as Active Learning.

As a result of Milt's presentation the FELC is going to form a faculty learning community around the topic of culinary math and invite members to join it. The community may begin by meeting perhaps at Purdue University this summer and forming the goals and objectives of the group then meeting via conference call to find ways to crack the code of culinary math and accounting for culinary arts and hospitality educators that could then be shared at the second annual summit.

The panel presentation that followed on sustainable farming was also went very, very well. The one great tip given by the small farmers to those in attendance was to add the requirement in the syllabus that students visit a local farmer and help do whatever work is needed at the time to tend to the crops or livestock to keep them viable; in return the farmers indicated they could then be in position to donate fresh foods to the culinary arts or hospitality program for students to use in their studies.

The tradeshow and luncheon was buzzing with conversation among attendees and sponsors who ate great food prepared by the students as they visited with sponsors.

The first ultimate teaching competition was also a great success. The three competitors gave it their all to win the ultimate teacher award while being judged by a panel of judges as well as all of those who watched the event.

The afternoon poster sessions and roundtables were also a great success with people popping in and out to learn countless ways to improve their teaching.

The closing reception included an oyster roast and complimentary wine and beer. It was the end to a great day at the Summit.

Stay tuned to the blog and to the website for photos from the Summit in the public area. The members area will have the presentations and posters from the sessions available for other members to download and use to improve their teaching.

Stay tuned for more announcements on how members can earn a large cash prize from one of our sponsors!