Food for Thought and Credit: Restaurant Management Instruction at a Distance
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Bonnie Bolinger Ivy Tech State College, Region 7, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, has used innovative techniques in delivering education to its students for many years. A giant step toward educating students in the new millenium began in the spring of 1997. The chancellor of the College, Dr. Sam Borden, had a vision of delivering individual courses, even entire programs, via the Internet. My initiative as an instructor was to design a restaurant management program that could be delivered in this manner. Dr. Scott Knapp, our executive dean at the time, gave me the idea of designing courses that could be delivered via the Internet and which could incorporate internships to teach practical skills. In this way, a restaurant management program would be available that was cost effective for the institution to deliver and effective in teaching would-be managers both theory and technical skills in working restaurant settings. As this program was to be offered as a specialty in the Business Administration degree program, there were required general education classes and business classes that would also have to be offered via the Internet. Interested faculty members were recruited to design these courses for implementation during the fall semester of 1997. They undertook no easy task: for all of us, creating courses for the Internet represented uncharted territory. Two distance education committees were assembled in order to get the distance education initiative moving. The steering committee was made up of administrators and technical staff who were charged with policy planning and the allocation of resources. The workgroup was made up of faculty members and student services personnel who were concerned with curriculum, loading and compensation issues, delivery methods, and instructional policies. One of the people on the administrative committee was the facilitator for the workgroup and so was able to keep communication flowing between the groups. Faculty members were urged to collaborate with each other as well as to examine existing Internet sites in order to achieve a high quality of instruction. There were many times when several of us would gather informally to exchange ideas on what we had found would work as well as what wouldn't work. What made our efforts fun was that there weren't (and still aren't) any experts in the field of distance education via computers: it was necessary to be creative in our approach to teaching using this medium. Because other Ivy Tech regions were offering curricula in hotel and restaurant management, I was able to choose existing courses that I felt were appropriate to include in our program. In putting our curriculum together, I only had to design one course from scratch – The Hospitality Industry and Customer Service (see Appendix 1). The rest of the courses could be reworked to satisfy my objectives for the program. After determining the need for advice from experts in the field on offering a restaurant management degree via distance education, we formed an advisory committee consisting of four restaurant managers from Terre Haute and the surrounding area. They helped with the selection of appropriate textbooks and the planning of the internships. During the summer of 1997, I prepared four restaurant courses and two business courses for delivery via the Internet. For anyone reading this article and wanting to try this method of delivery, preparing six classes in one summer is too much to attempt. Two to four classes would be more workable and would allow more time for the instructor to be creative, experimenting with different methods of delivering material. One major difference between a distance education course and an on-campus course is that the instructor must plot out the whole semester in advance instead of using a more flexible, day-to-day approach. This can be very time-consuming and draining if too many classes are attempted at one time. After choosing textbooks and reworking or creating course syllabi, I was finally to the critical point of wondering, "How do I do this?" In my earlier career in restaurant management, I had found that the best way to train new managers was to take them through all the technical areas of the restaurant to provide them with first-hand knowledge of its workings. This allowed them to understand better what their employees would go through when working these positions. As a result of this experience, I concluded that internships were needed at some point to supplement the course work. During the first eight weeks of a course, I determined, I would work with the student using an Internet connection. I decided for security reasons not to put the courses directly on the Internet, but instead chose to use the FirstClass software package that enables students to access the courses by way of an Internet connection. (FirstClass is an integrated course management application that allows students to access e-mail, bulletins boards, and chat rooms.) During those eight weeks, I would cover textbook material and require the student to complete homework assignments, case analyses, quizzes, and exams. I chose to deliver lectures using chapter outlines, word definition lists, or PowerPoint presentations. One problem I’ve found is that when material contains a lot of graphic images, it takes longer to download and may not travel well if the student doesn’t have the same software in which the files were created. I use a variety of fonts and color to make my pseudo-lectures more interesting, rather than a lot of clip art or photographs. This part of the course could also utilize videotaped presentations to show students how to make certain food items, how to mix drinks, or even how to wait on customers. One plan I have for the future is to create audio-visual sites where students can go for help. I envision help sites that students can click on when they need more information on particular subjects. My long-term plan is to collaborate with an instructor at our Indianapolis region and make audio-visual clips for the restaurant management program. These clips could help fill in the gaps created when the restaurant where the students are serving their internships doesn’t have all the needed facilities or doesn’t serve certain food or drink items. Many people wonder how I ensure the integrity of the program when testing students who are taking classes via the Internet. It is possible to use proctored exams, but this requires the student to find a qualified individual who is willing to perform the task. Some instructors choose to give "open book" exams when qualitative analysis is required. They will usually tell the student to return the exam within a specified period of time. I like to use "timed" exams. There are subjects such as Business Law where I would not expect my students always to have all the answers, but instead to know where to look for assistance in solving problems. I used Word 7 to create an exam form which allows students either to click on a box to choose an option or to type in answers in certain areas without changing the format of the exam. The FirstClass e-mail function includes an option called "Receipt on Read" which notifies the sender when the mail is opened. It is possible to time an exam by incorporating this option. You first inform your students of the amount of time they have to complete the exam. When they open their mail, the timing starts, and when they e-mail their completed exams back to you, the timing stops. I often get questions about testing and how I know whether it is really the student who is taking the exam or whether it’s someone else doing it for them. The answer is that I don’t know for certain unless a proctor is used. Personally, I don’t think it’s likely that students can find someone to take all their exams and complete all their assignments for them. There are always those "bad apples" that will try to get around the system, but I believe those people are in the minority and most of the students are really interested in learning the material. Taking classes by way of distance education is not an easy task. and the student must be highly motivated in order to attempt it. During the second eight weeks of the semester, the student is required to serve an internship in a restaurant of his/her choice (the site must meet approval for adequacy of facility and experienced personnel). We designed an application form and cover letter for the student to give to the restaurant, as well as an application form for the restaurant to fill out and return. During the internship, the student is expected to work 15 hours a week, ten hours in a "student classification" (unpaid) and five hours in an "employee trainee" classification (paid). In this way, the student will have time to learn methodology without being pressured by the restaurant to finish quickly in order to keep payroll costs low, and yet will be "tested" by working a position during peak time. At the end of the eight weeks, the intern supervisor and the restaurant manager must fill out a Skills Inventory form to let me know how well the intern has done. They rate different items as satisfactory, needs improvement, or unsatisfactory. There is also an area for comments in which the manager may explain any unsatisfactory ratings. The manager assigns an overall letter grade so that I may incorporate this assessment with grades assigned for completed textbook activities. The intern is required to serve only three internships to complete the program requirements. Certain courses must be taken in conjunction with others in order to expedite the delivery of knowledge. For instance, the student must take the Sanitation and First Aid course during the same semester as the Food Production course. Since there are so many sanitation issues to deal with while working in the kitchen area, one internship can serve two courses. While improved technology allows us to deliver education over a distance, some interaction between the students and the instructor and/or other students is necessary. FirstClass enables students to access each other by e-mail or chat rooms. I send out a list of all the students in the class during the first few days of the semester to enable them to communicate with each other. I insist on at least one e-mail message per student each week so that I know how they’re doing. It is possible to set a date and time when all students should be online so that real time chats can take place. At Ivy Tech we are upgrading our technology to allow us more audiovisual options, which will allow for more personal communication, in the near future. I should mention at this point that communication with students represents an investment of an instructor's time once the distance education course is online. Just answering e-mail questions can take the better part of a day if there are many students enrolled. The more real-time conversations you schedule, the more tied to your computer you will be. Instructors should make their students aware of any personal times (such as weekends) when they will not be available, just as they would do for on-campus students. Students who wish to take classes by way of distance education may not wish (or be able) to come to campus to enroll in classes or purchase textbooks and ancillary materials. It became apparent early on that our student services division would have to come up with new methods for accomplishing these tasks. We made it possible for potential students to apply for admission and register for their classes online. Our bookstore sends out care packages to these students containing teleguides that explain procedures for getting started, course outlines, a copy of the FirstClass software, textbook(s), and any ancillary material that is required for the courses in which they have enrolled. This is an area in which delivering quality service has been difficult. Not all students register early, and, by the time their care packages are delivered, they may feel that they are behind. We decided that distance education classes would be offered in semester intervals just as traditional on-campus classes are. This is a policy that may be changed in the future, but for now we couldn’t get around problems of tracking students or paying instructors for their time. Because they do follow the academic calendar, it is possible to plan a schedule of assignments to assist students in organizing their time and completing their coursework. On the subject of teaching these distance education classes, parameters for class loading must be established in the beginning. Our institution decided to pay instructors for the development of courses and then pay salaries according to the number of students that enrolled in the classes. A maximum number of students per class was set, since these classes take more time to teach than traditional classes. The goal of delivering "restaurant management at a distance" is to give the student a hands-on education where theories of management and good technical skills are tied together into a package of value for the student and the potential employer. It is possible to provide a quality restaurant management program in a cost-effective manner while at the same time tapping into an audience that knows no bounds. All it takes is imagination, some knowledge of the newer technologies, and the ability to overcome the fear of change in order to offer a class via the Internet. Our classrooms will look different in future years, whether we want that to happen or not. APPENDIX 1BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONRESTAURANT MANAGEMENT SPECIALTY1st Semester ENG 111 English Composition 3 MAT 111 Intermediate Algebra 3 BUS 101 Introduction to Business 3 BUS 105 Principles of Management 3 CIS 101 Introduction to Microcomputers 3 2nd Semester BUS 102 Business Law 3 ACC 101 Accounting Principles 1 3 COM 101 Fundamentals of Public Speaking 3 FST 104 Food Production, Methods, and Procedures* 3 HOS 101 Sanitation and First Aid* 3 3rd Semester MKT 101 Principles of Marketing 3 ECN XXX Economics elective 3 BUS 287 The Hospitality Industry and Customer 3 Service** HOS 108 Table Service** 3 XXX XXX Humanities/Social Science Elective 3 4th Semester SUP 102 Techniques of Supervision I 3 HOS 201 Hospitality Organization and 3 Human Resources Management HRM 204 Food and Beverage Management*** 3 HOS 109 Hospitality Purchasing*** 2 HOS 203 Menu, Design, and Layout 2 XXXXXX Life/Physical Science Elective 3 * Classes should be taken in the same semester |
