In a culinary environment formative as well as summative evaluations are key.
In our educational institution we use formative to make sure they are grasping the information and summative to make sure they are retaining the information.
Great Idea having them research additional information but also have it tie into reduplicating a skill that was taught this way the student can be activly involved instead of just printing out somthing from the internet.
we are lucky in the culinary field that assessment to me, is quite easy..we have a set or products that we do everyday, we walk around and see how our students are applying what they have seen in demo and lecture, using the theories of sanitation, and at the end of the day, we can easily assess if they had a clear understanding of the processes and how the products should look and taste. Everyday, I ask my students, even if I have seen their products while walking around, to present to me on a sheet pan, what they were asked to produce, and evaulate them and give suggestions or point out what they should work on. The only difference, and I believe is what we should work on is a level of standard....is it just good enough or is it great? It seems each instructor has different standards
I agree with this. Each culinary course builds upon the previous lessons learned and reviewing materials, skills, retention from prior classes is something I do all the time as well
I stronly believe in retesting on previously learned material from previous courses (i.e. knife skills)
Hi Glenn,
Yes, the internet offers a plethora of information to students. Even if the student does go to the internet for a solution, this still is researching the information. I have found out that in my technology class for a hospitality management program, after I have lectured and discussed one unit, my students would go access YouTube for more information to see another visual aspect.
But you are all three absolutely correct, duplication is the key to their own knowledge.
in our culinary classes we use both summative at the end of the course were they have to do a practical of basic cooking skills. we also give quizzes and projects through out the course.
Hi Glenn - I agree- too many students use the internet as a total source - basically assuming that if it is on the internet it must be true. This is why we need to teach them critical thinking skills. They need to ask what the source is? How reliable? etc. Excellent point!
Susan
I too use these assessment tools on a daily basis to see if the student is grasping the concepts behind the theory of cooking application. Extra credit sometimes works, but i have found through experience that students do not really take the time to research the material because of the easy access to the internet. But what may work is once they have researched some additional infomation is for them to re-duplicate the skill to assess their knowledge on the subject matter. Great question Chef.
Glenn
In the culinary degree program i teach we have many different ways of evaluating our students. A combination of weekly written quizzes, practical tests and other means. We also have a final exam both written and practical.
How does anyone feel about offering extra credit to boost the grade in the formative evaluations?
