Call for Papers -- Student Perceptions, Beliefs, or Attitudes

Dear Colleagues, the deadline for manuscript submission for Academic Exchange Quarterly's special edition on "Student Perceptions, Beliefs, or Attitudes" has been extended to March 8th.  Academic Exchange Quarterly is a peer reviewed journal that publishes articles related to effective teaching and learning.  The feature editor for this issue is YoonJung Cho, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology at Oklahoma State University.

The focus of this special issue is based on the notion that student perceptions, beliefs, motivations, and attitudes, are constantly changing. As educators, at any grade or level, it is our responsibility to measure these variables continuously in order to enhance the learning environment. This edition is dedicated to the enhancement of the learning environment through student perceptions, beliefs, motivations and attitudes (Defined as students' beliefs related to classroom climate, classroom instruction, teacher beliefs, student motivations, and many other topics.) Manuscripts are welcomed and encouraged in both research realms (qualitative and quantitative).

Submissions are welcome from anyone (researchers, administrators, teacher, graduate students, and trainers) working with students, of all ages, in a learning environment. Please identify your submission with keyword: STUDENT-1.  This call for manuscripts provides those of us in culinary arts and hospitality education the opportunity to share the great work we are doing to advance the quality of teaching and learning in our classrooms, labs, field trips, etc., with those who teach in in other disciplines.

Submission Procedure can be found at:
http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm

If questions as to whether your manuscript is suitable for this special issue contact YoonJung at (405) 744-9444 or send an e-mai to yoonjung.cho@okstate.edu

You can also learn more about the journal and see past articles by visiting:
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/

Looking for Rubric Ideas?

Looking for rubrics for your kitchen, lab, or classroom?  Linda All the best, Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D., Directorof the Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson shared a variety of sources that can be consulted online for assistance in developing rubrics.  I clicked around through the sites and found the third one to be a primer on building rubrics and the first two had some interesting examples if click around enough (note, you need to register for second one to getg access).  All in all, the information can be appied to culinary arts and hospitality education with minimal effort, so check out:

http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/


http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshellc.cfm?mode=gallery&sms=home&srcgoogle&gclid=CNSCsu3PmZMCFQv_sgodPBO_xA

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/rubrics.htm

Undercover Boss -- Hooters

Perhaps you have heard of Undercover Boss that premiered after the Super Bowl showing Waste Management's CEO doing the job of frontline employees.  The latest episode shows Coby Brooks, President and CEO of  Hooters going undercover and finds him trying to keep up with the fast-paced nature of the front and back of the house.  He also sees how one of his stores is absolutely managed improperly while another is run well.  Depending on the news source, nobody is certain if some of the scenes are scripted or indeed true stories that lead company CEO's to "truly see the light" and change the way their company is managed to be more employee (internal customer) friendly.  Whatever the reason, the episode on Hooter's can be a great case to discuss with students and found it to be quite touching at the end: 
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/undercover_boss/video/?pid=Y__oKJXOwt9sW9X2nLnoqp5Cs2bt7e9E&vs=homepage&play=true

National School Lunch Program

I am passing this information along because it is the right thing to do. Please do what you can to endorse healthy school lunches. It took a total of 2 minutes and the message went to my House and Sentae reps at the same time.


More than 31 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program. Many consume as many as half their daily calories at school. Helping schools serve real food may be the most promising way to end child obesity - but it simply can't happen unless Congress invests in healthier food in the upcoming Child Nutrition Act.


Will you send an email to your legislators to help schools serve real food? 
If so, go to:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=828

As an organization, Slow Food gets involved in policy when we see big problems with America's food system that can only be solved if citizens speak up. Teaching children to make good food choices will require hard work from parents, schools, non-profits, the private sector and government. But an enormously important step is to ensure that the National School Lunch Program isn't undermining those efforts, and is instead serving kids the healthy food they need to grow up into able, productive adults.


On a conference call this week, USDA Secretary Vilsack said that the most important thing citizens can do to get healthier food into their local schools is to urge Congress to pass a strong Child Nutrition Act. This issue has broad public support, he said, but it isn't appearing in the national media - so we need to make sure Congress gets the message.


That's where you come in. Now that Michelle Obama is leading the charge, Congress will begin updating the Child Nutrition Act this month. If legislators hear support from citizens back home, they'll have the opportunity to invest in healthier food, strengthen nutrition standards, and equip schools to buy local and cook meals from scratch.


So please take a minute to email your legislators today.


Thank you,
Gordon Jenkins
Advocacy Manager
Slow Food USA

Excellent Student Tool

The following tool was brought to my attention today, known as Martindale's reference desk.  The home page indicates the site as Martindale's, The Virtual ~ Nutrition Center, Food Science, Food Management, Cooking Techniques, Cooking Demonstrations, 1,000's of recipes, courses, databases, lectures, videos and more.  I had a few minutes to click around and see what was available and looking to find time myself to learn more.

I hope you find it useful, too:  http://www.martindalecenter.com/

The Food of a Younger Land

I am just now finishing Kurlansky's book that is the title of this blog post.  This book must be in every culinary library around the U.S.  It is based on some literary work that was done as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that built national parks, museums, zoos, and other public project works in the 1930's.  Unknown to many was the Federal Writers' Project that was part of the WPA, which was charged with conceiveing books, assigning them to huge, unwieldy teams of out-of-work and want-to-be writers around the country, and editing and publishing them.  For the most part, lots of guide books on America were published as a result of this initiative.

However, another project emerged in those days and was proposed by a Katherine Kellock to come up with a book that catalogued the varied food and eating traditions throughout America; a veritable examination of what and how Americans ate at the turn of the 20th century.  What survived from the project, as uncovered by Kurlansky is a wonderful book that captures the regional -- truly regional -- cusines of the Northeast, South, Middle West, Far West, and Southwest Eats.  In each section of the book is a collection from each region of essays on eating traditions, and recipes, often in the language used back in the day.  And as you read along you learn of the origins of hush puppies, the difference between a jonny cake (no "h") and ash cake (and countless other "cakes"), oyster roasts, possum recipes (which is an Indian word from opossum, for white animal), a recipe for son-of-a-bitch and much much more.  I don't think I have enjoyed a book as much as this one and highly recommend it to those reading the blog.

Kurlansky has done a wonderful job retrieving so many old literary works that tell the story of regional American cuisine and know that culinary arts and hospitality educators will like it, too.  If you do get it and read it please let me know what you think and I will post your comments on the blog.

Learning Styles are Suspect

Educators have been propogating the notion that there is such a thing as learning styles and that if we know our students learning styles we can crack the learning code.  Maybe not!  To shed new light on this whole notion of learning styles check out a seven minute video from Dan Willingham, who's book I highly recommended on this blog during the summer, who will challenge your notion on learning styles.  It is worth the time, especially the reason learnnig styles seem to work, when there is no scientific evidence to support it.  If no time to see the video, here is the bottom line according to Willingham, "Good teaching is good teaching and teachers do not need to adjust their teaching to individual student's learning styles."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk

Also check out his clarification on not needing to teach to individual learning styles if not convinced:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKkHiAA3xu0

Playing to Learn

The New York Times recently printed an op-ed piece entitled Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (2/1).  Susan Engel is a senior lecturer in psychology and the director of the teaching program at Williams College.  The article speaks to changes the Obama Administration is proposing to do to benefit the quality of teaching and learning in American K-12 education.  The goal of which is to develop a curriculum that teaches kids what truly matters for them to be educated and succeed in life.  This article is worth reading and is based on educational theory and research and fresh thinking on curriculum design and delivery, especially if it provides insights into what it is we are trying to do in higher ed.  The article can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/yzf3exu

EcoGreen Newsletter

For those of you interested in sustainability in hotels there is a great free newsletter from EcoGreen Hotel.  There is lots of great information available at http://www.ecogreenhotel.com/

I was just sent (and reviewed) its lastest newsletter and found it to be quite informative indeed on sustainability.  The archives also has past issues of the newsletter so a great source of information for teachers and for students doing projects on sustainability.  To access the newsletter to review or signup to get monthly for free visit: http://www.ecogreenhotel.com/newsletter.php

Check it out and let the community know what you think!

Sustainability and Tourism

The Center for Sustainable Tourism (CST) at East Carolina University is seeking candidates for a full-time, faculty appointment beginning August 19, 2010. The position will be filled either as tenure-track or with consideration for tenure, dependent upon qualifications. This research and teaching position will be a joint appointment between the Center for Sustainable Tourism and an appropriate academic department.

The position is broadly defined to consider all candidates with strong evidence of sustainability-related research and teaching pertaining to aspects of tourism. Relevant fields or areas of expertise include travel and tourism studies, recreation and leisure, hospitality management, business, economics, sociology, geography, political science, public administration, anthropology, ecology, conservation, biology, geology, or other fields related to sustainability and tourism. The CST seeks a leader or someone with a strong potential to be a leader in the emerging field of sustainable tourism. The successful candidate will hold an appointment in an academic department (51%) and the CST (49%), and will conduct research and teach appropriate courses for both units. Appropriate service to the university, community and profession is expected.

This position is Open Rank and salary will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications. Review of applications begins February 27, 2010.  For more information concerning the CST visit: http://www.sustainabletourism.org/

Please submit the following documents online at http://www.jobs.ecu.edu/
1. Cover Letter / Letter of Interest;
2. Resume / Curriculum Vita;
3. Statement indicating your general philosophy of sustainability and tourism and its implication in your  teaching, research, external funding and community and industry outreach;
4. Complete contact information for three or more references.

Please direct any questions to Dr. Craig Landry, Department of Economics and Chair, Sustainable Tourism Search Committee, at (252) 328-6383 or landryc@ecu.edu.