Time for Students to Count Calories

Following the lead of legislators in New York City, California is poised to enact progressive legislation and require some 17,000 chain restaurants around the state to display calorie information on menus. Of course, those who own and operate chains and those who represent their interests in the California senate will do all they can to prevent the legislation from becoming law because they say that consumers already can count calories and it will add unnecessary costs to restaurateurs -- even though research studies have shown that even trained dieticians underestimate the number of calories contained in restaurant meals. The real reason to oppose such legislation, as we know, is that many in our beloved foodservice and hospitality industry produce fatter and fatter bottom lines at the expense of fatter American bottoms. And since our industry is not smart enough to reign in its greed the government has to do it for us. What a pity, we are smarter than that, or so I once thought.

The simple truth is that it is time to teach each and every student to calculate the calories in every meal and beverage they serve to a customer because caloric disclosure, on the face of the menu and not posted in some obscure location of the building, is coming to a restaurant near you, both chain and independent. Just like the wave of non-smoking legislation that we were too stupid to anticipate (which many ignorantly continue to fight) and forced to change by those same people who we seek to help us earn a living but we refused to listen to until they took on the role of "legislator and voter!"

So when teaching students to cost out and price a recipe we had better start to teach them to calculate the caloric content, too. The future is now and if we have an ethical bone in our body we will not wait for government legislation to force us to do what we should have done all along which is to put the number of calories next to each menu item when a customer sits down to eat at our table. If they choose to ignore the numbers and consume a day's worth of calories at a sitting well at least we did the right thing and let them know it before deciding to do so. It is the ethical thing to do so let's prepare our students to be proactive and anticipate the change that is coming sooner than later, for the sake of a healthy hospitality industry and the American public.

Happy Labor Day

To all of you who work so darn hard in the classroom and kitchen to prepare students for jobs in the hospitality industry, we wish you a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Chances are you have already started back to work and can take the weekend to catch your breath before getting back to it on Tuesday or enjoying one last weekend of the summer with family and friends as you gear up for another year. Whichever the case, we hope this weekend is a good one and we look forward to working with our learning community to find ways to educate our students in ways we never thought possible to prepare them for banner careers in the hospitality profession making the hard work we do -- some say a labor of love -- more rewarding than it already is.

Sincerely,
Mick La Lopa, Michael Carmel, Jami Yanoski

" I Touch the Future"

I was at a teaching awards ceremony today and when the the president of our university, France Cordova, who was a chief scientist at NASA, was making her remarks she cited a quote from Christa McAuliffe. Christa was the science teacher who died along with six others on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 who often said, "I touch the future, I teach." That quote touched us all.

For a moment it made me realize, yet again, the incredible impact we can have on the future of the students that grace us with their presence. It also reminded me that I have to show up to class everyday and be the best teacher I can be because the future of each and every student depends upon it. I hope that those in our learning community feel the same way and will find ways to encourage one another to always bring their "A game" any time we work with students.

Teaching Tip: If you work with someone who genuinely does not like teaching students please suggest they find a more rewarding career elsewhere. The future of the students enrolled in your program depend on it.

Best "Lecture" Ever

In the past I have asked students to read the chapter that was to be covered on any given day so they would be somewhat familiar with what I was going to cover in the lecture, which was an overview of the materials using powerpoint. Of course, few actually read it which meant they did not really understand what I was talking about. In fact, I could have delivered the entire lecture in French and they would have gotten as much out of it as in English because they did not do the reading because there was no incentive to do so.

So, I educated myself on ways to get the most out of assigned readings last summer. After reading a series of articles on getting the most out of assigned readings I started to require my students to prepare detailed study notes (that are graded) for the chapters that are to be covered on any given day as noted on the course agenda.

The change in student preparedness, given the study note assignment, proved to be powerful on the very first day. I simply started my "lecture" with a simple question, "What did you learn from your study of chapter 1?" Once the first student volunteered to share what was learned, I listened to what was being said. If that student was correct, I then asked another simple question of the class, "What else did you learn?" In effect, I continued to pose questions until the students had completely covered the contents of the chapter. What I liked most was that by having the students know the chapter materials it freed me up to augment what they read with relevant practical examples from our industry to assist with retention.

Best of all, the students indicated that they were HAPPY that they were being required to prepare study notes because it forced them to read the chapter and be in a position to understand what was being discussed in the class and so they got alot out of today's session.

This semester I am trying more structured worksheets instead of study notes to give more guidance on the key information that is to be covered from each of the chapters. We will also talk about the answers to the questions and grade them in class.

Give this technique a try. You will not regret it!

Teaching Tip: If requiring students to purchase an expensive textbook and you hardly use it -- stop it! Students resent having to pay so much for an expensive text that instructors hardly use and I cannot blame them one iota!

Thought for the Day

One of the many great teaching quotes that are out there includes one from Cicero; "The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn."

Maybe on the commute home today or to campus tomorrow we can all take a moment to reflect on whether or not the teaching methods we have been using truly engage the students in the learning process or lock them out. Each and every person sitting in our class has their raison d'etre, burdens to carry, and their dreams they hope to come true in the development role they chose as "student." Let's all do what we can in our learning community to honor those who have made our classroom or lab an important stop on the path that leads to their career goals and help, not hurt, their efforts to realize their dreams.

Key Reasons Consumers Prefer Shopping Local

It is one thing for educators to give students new terms, such as “locavore,” and another to help them understand the reasons this consumer segment exists. So when opening their own restaurant, or giving bright ideas to their next employer, here are some key reasons they can use from http://www.about.com/ to justify purchasing supplies from local suppliers.
1. Local foods are seasonal and eaten when available, as opposed to those foods that have been chemically treated, or put in cold storage for months to artificially extend shelf life. A tomato fresh from the garden and still warm from the summer sun is worth the wait.
2. Local food is fresher and tastes better than food that been trucked or flown in from thousands of miles away.
3. More often than not local foods have less impact on the environment when not shipped from miles away, held in cold storage, processed at some factory, etc.
4. Local foods help stem the tide of urban sprawl and protect and preserve farmland, green space, etc.
5. Local foods may be safer to eat (providing the farmer is not spraying his/her crops with tons of pesticides) because you know where your food comes from and who grows it, so that if there is a problem it can be identified and remedied quickly by those who purchased it.
6. Local food supports the local economy as long as the local farmer sells his/her produce in the local market and purchases supplies from purveyors that are also locally-owned; as opposed to purchasing from the nearby mega-mart that has a global distribution system in place to find foods that can be bought at the lowest price possible, without any guarantees that the foods have been grown in a safe and sustainable manner.
7. The more demand placed on local farmers to provide a greater variety of fruits, vegetables, and proteins, the greater will be the supply.
8. Local food, plain and simple, connects consumers to the people who provide the food and enhances a greater sense of community awareness, connectedness, and pride.

Teaching tip: Have students plan and prepare a meal made exclusively from the local farmer's market – in all four seasons – if lucky enough to have one nearby. Have them also compare and contrast what's available based on the geography of the United States (e.g., Maine versus California) and the challenges that would pose to those who want to satisfy the locavore.

2007 Word of the Year – “Locavore”

No doubt about it, more and more American consumers are becoming keenly aware of the concept of food miles, which as we know is the distance food travels from where it was grown to where it was processed to where it is ultimately eaten. The term has even been scaled down to food feet, which is the case with more and more foodservice operations that supply their menu with foods from their personal garden. In any event, new words and phrases are being added to the American language, such as the “Locavore,” which was declared by the Oxford American Dictionary as its 2007 Word of the Year, to describe the sustainability movement and those that are a part of it.

Based on most sources, the locavore is someone whose diet consists of food grown or produced exclusively within an area most commonly bound by a 100-mile (and as much as 250 mile) radius of their home, which constitutes their "foodshed." They usually shun large supermarket chains, opting for farmer's markets and local gardens instead. Some are totally serious about the eating radius and will not even drink coffee, eat bananas, etc., if not grown with their local foodshed. According to about.com, locavores choose to eat within their foodshed to be able to create a greater connection between themselves and their food sources, resist industrialized and processed foods, and support their local economy.

So, to those of you who have been teaching students to establish relationships with local farmers to stock foodservice operations we at FELC applaud your efforts. To those who are not, please consider doing so quickly because the locavore walks among us and nowwhere near as elusive as Big Foot.

Kirk Bachmann Inducted into the International Food and Beverage Forum Hall of Fame Society

The FELC is proud to announce that one of our advisory board members, Chef Kirk T. Bachmann, Certified Executive Chef, and Vice President of Academics for the Career Education Corporation, was inducted into the International Food and Beverage Forum (IFBF), Hall of Fame Society. In association with the World Gourmet Club, IFBF is one of the most respected and prestigious food & beverage-related global associations. With active membership limited to 50, the IFBF is widely recognized as the premier think-tank for the food and beverage industry. Bachmann, a fourth-generation chef, has more than 20 years of experience as a professional chef, educator and advocate of culinary education whose career began in Germany in his father's pastry kitchen.

We are proud of Kirk’s accomplishment and look forward to the great contributions he will make to our learning community in the year’s ahead. Congratulations, Kirk!

Stick a Toothpick into your Class this Fall!

Most teachers are required to have students do a course evaluation. Teachers are evaluated for enthusiasm, preparedness, ability to explain difficult material clearly and other such things. Although I welcomed the opportunity to evaluate my teachers when I was a student the problem I had with them was the timing — they were done at the end of the semester?! That always struck me as odd because nothing could be done to improve the class while we were taking it by assessing it at the end. During all my years as student I cannot recall a teacher that took the time to find out whether or not we were satisfied with the class while we were taking it. In doing so, the teachers would have known (providing they cared) whether or not the course was meeting mine and their expectations so that changes could be made in the event that they were not.

Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of teachers past, I now do and recommend that other educators, do a mid-semester course evaluation. I think it is a great way to make corrections while the course is being taught to better facilitate student learning. This seemingly simple idea, which is not unlike putting a toothpick in a cake to see if it is done, has proven to be a profound learning experience for me and the students. Not only do I learn whether or not my students are satisfied with the course, I get feedback from them on how to improve the course while I am teaching it.

The procedure is a simple one. I am going to guess that most of you do an end-of-semester course evaluation. All you need to do is take that same assessment tool and administer it at the mid-point of the term. Once I obtain the results, I place them on a transparency so that I can share the results with the students in class. I then go through the results item by item at the beginning of class so that the students can see how they evaluated me and the course. For those items that I scored lowest on, I have the students take out a sheet of paper and anonymously write down what they think I can do to improve. I will tell you that the students have provided me with excellent feedback that has truly helped me to make steady improvement in my teaching over the years. Plus, it helps me to understand how they interpret the items. I then take their feedback, summarize it, and report back to them at the start of the next class on what I plan to do to improve the course before the end of the semester. I then administer the end of the semester evaluation, as usual, to determine if the course has been improved, which is usually the case.

In sum, looking back on my many years as a student, I am amazed that there was not a single teacher who did a course evaluation at the middle of the semester. I could speculate all day as to the reason why such was the case. My suspicion is that each new generation of faculty accepts far too many of the “accepted practices” of those before them without asking, “Why did my teachers teach me the way they did and how can I do better?” I choose to question everything — no stone is left unturned in my quest to better educate those who enroll in my classes. I hope you feel the same.

FELC Welcomes its First Member, Chef Noel Ridsdale, CEC, CCA, AAC

Chef Ridsdale is an Adjunct Instructor at The International Culinary Schools at the Arts Institutes. Prior to this position he was the Coordinator for Culinary Arts at First Coast Technical College, Director of Operations/Executive Chef at Sodexo, and Adjunct Instructor at FCCJ. His specialties include Cheftech and other purchasing programs, curriculum development, accreditation policy and procedures, large catered events

Noel has 25 years of culinary management experience, mostly in sports and entertainment and large volume catering. He also has over years in culinary education and has spent the last 3 years managing a culinary program which includes an apprenticeship program, 3 high school programs, and a post secondary program.

He also held a position on Accreditation Commission for the American Culinary Federation for the past 3 years on the Secondary Commission, setting standards for high school programs. Chef Ridsdale is also listed as an Accredited Culinary Examiner for all ACF Certification exams with the exception of the Certified Master Chef and Certified Master Pastry Chef Exams. Since 2005 he has evaluated over 2 dozens chefs in pursuit of their culinary goals.

We at FELC are proud to have our first new member and looking to meeting those who join our learning community in the very near future!

Using the Concept of Benchmarking to Improve Student Exam Performance

Benchmarking is defined by Robert Camp, in his book Business Process Benchmarking: Finding and Implementing Best Practices, as the search for and implementation of best practices. Countless businesses have used benchmarking to determine how excellent companies achieve their performance levels and then use that information to improve their own performance. I used to use this quality management tool in the context of my organization and management class to not only teach students the concept of benchmarking but also learn how to apply it for the purpose of improving their exam scores so thought it might be of interest to those reading the FELC blog.

The process by which I taught students to apply the concept of benchmarking involved four multiple-choice exams they took during the semester. Once the students learned the grade they received on the first sixty-question multiple-choice exam I had them take out a sheet of paper. They were instructed to write down the procedures they used to prepare for the exam on the paper. They were not to put their name on the paper; they only needed to put either LT 10 (representing they missed less than 10 questions on the exam) or MT 10 (representing they missed more than 10 questions on the exam) in the upper right-hand corner. I then collected all of the papers from the students and separated those that had LT 10 from those that had MT 10 written at the top. Some of the best exam-taking procedures employed by those who missed less than 10 questions included such things as: making flash cards, listening carefully in class when answers were given to study quiz questions, studying with teammates the night before the exam, making detailed outlines of the chapters and studying them until fully memorized, and/or putting terms into own words.

At the beginning of the following class, I informed the students that they were going to apply the concept of benchmarking (which had been on the first exam itself) to help them improve their scores on the next exam. I informed them that I was about to read aloud the papers that had LT 10 at the top because students who possess what I call “best exam-taking practices” wrote them. I then requested that those students who missed more than 10 questions on the exam pay especially close attention to the procedures used by those students with the best exam-taking practices and compare (benchmark) them to their own. Naturally, I encouraged those who had missed more than 10 questions to heed the advice from those who missed less than 10 questions and use it to prepare for the next exam to score better and miss fewer than 10 questions themselves. Of course, those students who chose to employ the study habits of those who scored well on exams tended to score better on subsequent exams.

In sum, there are a wide variety of quality management tools that are being used by businesses to improve their performance – one of the more effective ones is benchmarking. I have found that the application of benchmarking in the context of my teaching has provided students with insights on “best-exam-taking practices” to help them to continuously improve their exam scores and may be helpful to your students, too. I am confident that culinary arts and hospitality educators will cook up numerous ways to apply it in their kitchens, laboratories, and classrooms to facilitate greater student learning too.

Ways to Make Team-Based Learning Work in the Classroom or Lab

Team-based learning holds great promise for preparing students to do well in academia and the workplace, not to mention as a student in cooking competitions. 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 one of my courses, especially when their grade would be tied principally to the performance of their team. The basic fears that students had of working in teams was a) having to deal with slackers or lazy team member, b) over-controlling members or perfectionists, c) being able to meet outside of class due to schedule conflict, d) poor cooperation or member conflict, e) puncutality of members to scheduled meetings, and f) the desire to work alone and not part of a team.

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. To begin the charter exercise I have the teams write down everything they did not like about working in teams on projects in previous classes. I then emphasize that they are now empowered to develop a charter that eliminates the problems of past teams and establish a mission for the team that they can accomplish together. In the team charter, I require the students to properly address the following elements:

1. A team name that unifies the members in a positive manner.

2. A team mission statement that is as focused as possible using one that is considered one of the best and authored by John F. Kennedy prior to the first manned mission to the moon – “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

3. Clearly defined jobs with a job description that will organize the team to accomplish its mission and complete the required assignments and activities that are found in the course syllabus.

4. Code of conduct that will establish team values such as honesty, integrity, being prepared for meetings, and so forth. The team also establishes a disciplinary procedure to deal with those students who violate the team's code of conduct, which may include the termination of members.

5. Conflict Management and Resolution. Each team is to spell out the procedures it will follow to handle the conflict that may arise between teammates during the course of semester (possibly through a conflict mediator).


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 I are made aware of the changes.

In sum, team-based learning holds great promise for preparing students to do well in the classroom and kitchen, as well as the world of work that awaits them upon graduation. I have found that team-based 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. For more detailed information on the team charter please send an e-mail to Mlalopa@fooded.org

When it Comes to Disruptive Students…Treat them Kindly, No Matter What

Well, the time draws near. Before we know it we will walk into the classroom or kitchen to meet our students for the first time for the fall term. I don’t know about you but as I scan the faces, call the names, and explain the basics of the course for the first time in any given class there is this voice in the back of my head that asks questions that will be answered in due time. I wonder which one or two students will impress me with their intellectual curiosity and commitment to being the best student possible making the job of teacher fun and rewarding. I wonder which ones will simply show up to class, learn what they can, and silently move on to the next class without making a splash. I then wonder which one or two students are going to be the disruptive ones that will interrupt the class in both familiar and novel ways that may surprise even me.

I have talked with culinary arts and educators about what they do when the “disruptive” student’s make their presence known in the class making the job of teaching more difficult than it already is. What troubles me most is that far too many have openly confessed to using tactics that for all practical purposes are on par or below that of the bad behavior being exhibited by the disruptive student and truly mean-spirited. I will not share the stories or the tactics that I been told over the years but I am willing to bet that none of them led to an epiphany on the part of the offending student to suddenly model the behavior of the top students in the class. Unbeknownst to the teacher, those tactics may have even backfired in that the students as a whole may have lost a certain amount of respect for him or her due to the way the disruptive student was treated.

So the next time you feel your blood pressure and heart rate begin to rise in response to the latest antic from the disruptive student that has gotten you and the rest of the class off track – again – do whatever you can to maintain your composure and handle the matter with kindness because the whole class will be watching. I myself still regret the times early in my teaching career where I lost it in front of the class and yelled at a disruptive student. Oh, yeah, it felt great at the time to once and for all express the frustration I felt inside with the student who had not favorably responded to my prior requests to not be disruptive; but once the dust settled the rest of the class was sitting their with wide eyes and dropped jaws upon witnessing my unexpected ranting. I have not acted that way since and hope that we all can stay as cool as the Fonze when handling the disruptive student that we are soon to meet this fall term.

I would like to end this post by asking a favor. If you know of a colleague in your department that has a reputation for being routinely mean-spirited to students as a rule, please take appropriate action to address and eliminate that behavior for the sake of the students who are powerless to stop it on their own. I have heard (and witnessed) all too many stories of “certain faculty” who are known by all to be routinely mean to students and yet nobody on the faculty or administration does anything about it. It is almost as though they are too afraid of the person themselves to approach him or her and discuss and amicably resolve the problem. That has to change once and for all because students pay their tuition to get an education to make a better life for themselves; they do not sign up to be abused by some jerk that leads a miserable life or enjoys abusing the power they have over students.

Today is the Day to End Food Waste in the Foodservice Industry!

I will never forget the scene. I was walking down a hallway in a major sporting venue that connected dozens of luxury suites. As I was walking along with my wife I noticed a large wheeled garbage can outside of one of the suites. Inside the garbage can I found chilled jumbo shrimp, pasta, hot dogs, hot dog buns, chicken wings, and more. In effect, the custodians were moving from suite to suite and tossing out perfectly good food while homeless people were literally outside the venue in the street below looking for a decent meal for the day. I was horrified at the waste of food that resulted from preparing more than what was to be consumed in the suites and then tossing the overage into the garbage – night after night after night!

Sadly, that sports venue is not alone. The National Restaurant Association estimates (conservatively, no doubt) that approximately 20 percent of all food prepared commercially in the United States goes to waste in an industry that is projected to generate over $500 billon in revenues in 2009. The Cascadia Consulting group (http://www.cascadiaconsulting.com/) reports that Full Service Restaurants generate 4,400 pounds of waste/yr/employee (after recycling), of which 66% is food scraps, while Quickservice restaurants generate 4,250 pounds of waste/yr/employee (after recycling), of which 52% is food scraps. And those statistics do not even take into account the amount of energy and water that were wasted to produce, process, ship, and prepare food destined for the dumpster!

The statistics make it clear that culinary arts and hospitality educators have to become active beyond the classroom to stop this shameful waste of food in our beloved industry. Sure, we teach our students to not waste food in the classroom and kitchen but how many of them end up working for foodservice businesses that share the same values? S urely our recently minted alums are not in a position as junior employees to speak out to their employer on food waste so how can we help them find their voice on the matter? Beyond that, what are each of us doing in our own community to influence and educate foodservice operations to reduce their food waste because it makes good business sense?

However, when approaching foodservice operations with questions on whether they are donating their overage to local food banks, churches, or other non-profit groups that feed the hungry be prepared to have a response to their common excuse, which is, “We could get sued.” When they say that, and they most certainly will, please remind them that President Clinton signed into law the Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act on October 1, 1996, that encouraged the donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to needy individuals.
The law:
a) Protects them from liability when donations are made to a non-profit organization;
b) Protects them from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the needy recipient;
c) Standardizes donor liability exposure so they or their legal counsel no longer have to investigate liability laws in 50 states; and
d) Sets a floor of "gross negligence" or intentional misconduct for persons who donate grocery products. According to the new law, gross negligence is defined as "voluntary and conscious conduct by a person with knowledge (at the time of conduct) that the conducts is likely to be harmful to the health or well-being of another person."

Then ask why their state or business are not in compliance with federal law. Perhaps that will lead to a deeper dialogue to get the real reason food is being wasted and ultimately lead to a change for the better.

As always, our hats are off to those in the foodservice industry who hate to waste food and are committed to doing more with their overage than throwing it in the garbage. Those people and businesses will be proudly profiled on this blog in the future to celebrate their efforts as well as put more pressure on others in the industry to end their wasteful ways for the good of the industry and the planet, so please do all you can to end food waste today!

The Reason for the “LC” in FELC

The name of our new organization has two very important words in the title that embody its purpose, namely “learning community.” We deliberately chose those words because we want to create a place where culinary arts and hospitality educators can come together in person or in cyberspace to work together as a cohort to better facilitate student learning.

The concept of a “learning community” is not new; it originated in the early 1930’s with the work of educational innovators like John Dewey and Alexander Meiklejohn with the focus primarily on students. When it comes to students, the term “learning community” has been most closely associated with models comprised of a cohort of first or second year undergraduate students enrolled in a group of courses and the faculty that teach those courses.

A new model began to emerge in the 1970’s to create learning communities by and for faculty members, which was pioneered by Milton Cox at Miami University, Ohio. It was Cox that categorized the concept of faculty learning communities into two different groups, issue-focused and cohort-focused. The issue-focused faculty learning community is one that brings together a group of faculty members who wish to engage in a cross-disciplinary study of a specific topic often related to teaching and learning (e.g., grade inflation, course evaluations). Cohort-focused faculty learning communities address the teaching, learning, and developmental needs of an important cohort of faculty or staff to help them connect with each other and feel less isolated, stressed-out, or neglected, which can occur on almost any secondary or post secondary campus.

More importantly, both types of faculty learning communities share something in common that epitomizes the Foodservice Educators Learning Community; they meet on a regular basis in an open, empathetic, trusting, energizing manner to engage and empower faculty to take on complex problems that once solved have the potential of transforming institutions into learning organizations. That indeed is the goal of our faculty learning community and hope that like-minded culinary arts and hospitality educators join our new organization. It is also no surprise that our inaugural Summit will kick off with Milt Cox delivering a keynote address on what learning communities are and why they are more important than ever to educators today.

To learn a great deal about more about Milt Cox and his work on faculty learning communities, please visit http://www.units.muohio.edu/flc/

Can You Prove Your School is Better Than the Next?

You hear it all the time in the marketing materials or tv commercials that are produced by colleges and universities to attract prospective students. One proclaims they are the school to attend because they have small class sizes. Another school points to the experienced tenured faculty as the reason to attend their school. However, in a hard-hitting article written by Kevin Carey, that appeared in Inside Higher Ed, schools can certainly make those claims but would be hard pressed to produce the data that proves it.

One of his more damning paragraphs in this article concludes that "when it comes to the central enterprise of higher education — teaching students — we don’t know if the reigning professional qualification system works, or how many professors we actually need. And this is true for all kinds of other basic elements of college teaching and learning — curricula, training, pedagogy, and much more."

To read this eye-opening article, visit the following URL and see if you don't agree. And if you do, what can we as a learning community do about it because the future success of our students depend on it http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/08/08/carey

White Dog Teaches Educators New Tricks

As we move forward to revise our classes and curriculum to teach the dynamics of sustainability to students it is refreshing to read stories from those in foodservice that have been doing it for years. The White Dog Café is one such place that was started by Judy Wicks as a take-out coffee and muffing shop in the first floor of her house back in 1983 in Philadelphia. Early on Judy thought of her business as more than a way to make money; it was a way to serve the needs of the community – a much larger purpose indeed. That is why she had dedicated the White Dog Café to serving customers, serving the work community (fellow employees), serving the community, and serving nature.

One of many notable actions taken by the White Dog Café, to fulfill its mission of serving the community, is its mentoring program that was started in 1992 with a local high school, which is describe on its website as follows:

Since 1992 this program with students from the Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism Academy at West Philadelphia High School provides opportunities for workplace experience, community service participation, field trips to purveyors and family farms, and recreational and cultural activities. Students learn about the restaurant business and put on a special event in the spring with the help of our staff. Each year a Culinary Scholarship of $1000 is awarded to a graduate to attend restaurant management or culinary school.

I hope there are other hospitality and tourism programs out there that have a similar relationship as the White Dog mentoring program with West Philadelphia High. If not, I hope that after reading this post more are to come. If you know of any mentoring programs like the one at White Dog Café please pass them along to me by e-mail (Mlalopa@fooded.org) or add them to this post so we can enhance our learning community. To learn more about this sustainable business for yourself, or as a best practices example for students, please visit: http://www.whitedog.com

Learn How to Win the Gold!

The new book, Coaching Culinary Champions, by Mareva Lynde and Frank Leake, has been published and is now available online from www.amazon.com and Barnes & Noble at www.barnesandnoble.com. This is a book that is a must read for culinary arts instructors/competitors wanting to learn how to finally get the gold! According to the authors, this is a revolutionary book that will change the way the American Culinary Federation Teams compete and win the top awards at cooking competitions.

You can learn more about the book by visiting Frank Leake’s blog:
http://coachingculinarychampions.blogspot.com//

Should We Be Teaching and Practicing Chemurgy?

The word "chemurgy" was coined by chemist William J Hale and first publicized in his 1934 book The Farm Chemurgic. The Free Dictionary defines “chemurgy” as the development of new industrial chemical products from organic raw materials, especially from those of agricultural origin. During the depression the Farm Chemurgic Council, including members Henry Ford and George Washington Carver, was formed to encourage greater use of renewable raw materials in industry. As a result, Henry Ford introduced a prototype car that had a body made of soybean plastic, powered by ethanol, and ran on tires made from goldenrod in 1941!

As reported in Nation’s Restaurant News, we are seeing more and more foodservice operations turning to chemurgy to find earth-friendly products to run their businesses, such as Alan Wood, foodservice director for Aramark Business Services at the Environmental Protection Agency facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Alan is determined to keep increasing the use of compostable or biodegradable earth-friendly packaging, which is why he now purchases flatware and to-go containers made from sugar cane, corn-based drinking straws, and plates, bowls and cups made from potatoes and limestone. One can only hope that examples such as this one will become rare in the not too distant future as the hospitality industry tries to find its way to sustainability.

I encourage you all to look around your facility and into the curriculum to see where chemurgy can be taught to students or used to run your program. In the process we will learn to be more sustainable and bring those insights to our beloved industry that will soon, if not now, be in desperate need of our knowledge.

Watch Chef Carmel Demonstrate Knife Skills

The Charleston Post and Courier has a web presence at http://www.charleston.net/. As part of their online service to readers they have filmed our very own Chef Michael Carmel doing a demo on how to properly cut peppers, onions, and carrots. These videos are free to view and are a great resource for educators and students on proper knife skills.

To watch demo on cutting peppers visit http://www.charleston.net/videos/2008/aug/06/519/
To watch demo on cutting onions visit http://www.charleston.net/videos/2008/aug/06/521/
To watch demo on cutting carrots visit http://www.charleston.net/videos/2008/aug/06/523/

Online Journal Dedicated to Promoting Excellence in Teaching

One of the best ways to discover new ways to engage students in the learning process is by taking time to read the peer-reviewed journals that are dedicated to improving teaching and learning that are not necessarilly specific to any one discipline. To that end, we would like to call you attention to the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, which is available online at http://celt.muohio.edu/ject/ giving you the option of reading it when your schedule permits.

According to the journal's Managing Editor, Gregg Wentzell, at the Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching , “The Journal is a peer-reviewed venue published at Miami University by and for faculty at universities and two- and four-year colleges to increase student learning through effective teaching, interest in and enthusiasm for the profession of teaching, and communication among faculty about their classroom experiences. It answers Ernest Boyer's (1990) call for a forum to present the scholarship of teaching and learning. The Journal provides a scholarly, written forum for discussion by faculty about all areas affecting teaching and learning, and gives faculty the opportunity to share proven, innovative pedagogies and thoughtful, inspirational insights about teaching."

For information about subscribing, submitting manuscripts, or other inquiries, visit the Journal website or contact Gregg Wentzell via e-mail at: wentzegw@muohio.edu

A Way for Culinary Arts Programs to Support the American Red Cross

We wanted to share the e-mail that was sent out recently by Executive Chef, Michael Riggs, who is an Associate Professor of Culinary Arts at Bowling Green Technical College on our blog. In his e-mail, Michael writes:

“Dear colleagues, most of you I know, some I have only met briefly or attended your seminars at conferences. I have an idea I want to share with you. I would like to find a way to work with the American Red Cross to have culinary programs across the United States go through the ARC disaster training to create a nationwide network of students and faculty of culinary programs who can respond across the nation to natural disasters and do what we do best, “FEED PEOPLE”. To me this seems like such a “no brainer” to get these two groups together. I am seeking other chefs, educators, and industry professionals who may be interested in working with me to see if this can be done. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping get this started. I would also request that you forward this idea to any of your other colleagues who you think would be interested in being part of this and keep the e-mail alive by using the “reply to all” tab. I want to clarify that at this point this is just an idea, but hey that’s how most things get started. This may already exist but I have not found any info on it.

I arranged to have this take place at my college last spring for my students and anyone else in our area of Kentucky who wanted to attend. We were about to do the training then tornados hit our area and the Red Cross had to cancel, but it I found out it was a doable thing. I am trying to schedule it again for this fall. I was in New Orleans over the weekend and was reminded of Katrina, the mid-west flooded again this summer and hurricane season has started again…I decided it was time to ask for feedback on the idea.

I appreciate your taking the time to read this...I hope you will get involved even if it is just a voice of support or endorsement of the idea or suggestions and connections as we move forward.”

If you would like to learn how you and your students can support the American Red Cross please contact Michael via e-mail at mike.riggs@kctcs.edu

NRA Launches Green Initative Website

The National Restaurant Association has launched its website, “Conserve Solutions for Sustainability,” as part of its environmental initiative for the foodservice industry with funding from the Turner Foundation. The website is a pretty good resource for culinary arts and hospitality educators or students who want to learn more about conserving the resources it takes to run a sustainable foodservice operation without compromising customer satisfaction. The website is easy to navigate and has tabs such as: News & Events, Understand the Issues, Conserve Now, Find Resources, and About NRA Conserve. One of the aspects I liked most was interactive Virtual Green Restaurant and Success Stories (under the Conserve Now tab). The website can be accessed by visiting: http://conserve.restaurant.org/

GoProStart

There is a new website to help introduce ProStart to high school students and to provide them with resources associated with ProStart. It is at http://www.goprostart.com

The web master for this site is Xavier Meier, and here is what he says about the new site:
“My name is Xavier Meier and I am the ProStart coordinator for South Carolina. In order to encourage and educate kids who are interested in ProStart; we have developed a website called GoProStart. The website was developed for kids; it has all the lights, sounds, movies, and monthly pod casts to keep them entertained. (The latest pod cast #23, features teachers from across the country competing at there continuing education summer institute. Who knows, maybe a teacher from your state is in it.) It is also an instructional outlet for teachers. We are constantly adding features to the website that will allow teachers to incorporate the website into their lesson plans. Please take a moment to visit the website and feel free to comment.”

A Vision of Students Today

There is a great video that was posted to YouTube as part of an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class project taught by Michael Wesch at Kansas State. The video provides insights from college students as to the state of their education these days. The students' insights are a real eye opener. It is worth watching and asking yourself whether or not many of the statistics reported by students hold true in your classroom or curriculum. More importantly, if it does apply what can be done to make changes that are meaningful to students? The video can be viewed at URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o