The Culinary Arts package from Rouxbe will provide supplementary tools to students embarking on their culinary education this fall
California Community Colleges across the state have formed a partnership with Rouxbe, the world’s leading online culinary school. Instructors will use the resource to provide much-needed supplemental instruction for culinary lab courses affected by the rapid transition to distance education as a result of the current health crisis. As of this writing, over 45 faculty members and 500 students from the Bay Region, Central Valley, North Far North and Orange County are actively engaged in the online platform. Using the Culinary Arts Package provided by Rouxbe, instructors are better able to provide students with meaningful instruction on the techniques and foundations needed to embark on a successful career in the culinary arts.
“With the current situation around COVID-19, faculty are using Rouxbe in a creative way to move forward with a blended learning environment,” said Scott Samuel, Vice President of Culinary, at Rouxbe. “We like to think of Rouxbe as a digital library that culinary students can use to enhance the actual physical act of learning to cook.”
The Rouxbe learning platform allows for each college to manage a customized online culinary program for their students to ensure that they do not fall behind in their educational plans. It is designed to be flexible, addressing the unique needs of each institution as well as the faculty members teaching a wide variety of culinary courses this fall. Instructors may select specific units to assign based on the current curriculum. Rouxbe courses are available online from any device, and can also be incorporated into hybrid instruction. The Culinary Arts Package includes:
- High-definition instructional videos
- Interactive activities and assessments
- Fully online or hybrid functionality
- Communication platform
- Curriculum includes: Culinary Foundations, Plant-Based Foundations, Seafood Literacy, James Beard Foundation’s Waste Not (a sustainability program), and American Egg Board’s EggPro Course
“Once it was mandated that classes be taught online this fall we realized that courses with lab requirements, like our culinary programs, would be especially hard to recreate in the online environment and set out to find a solution,” said Audrey Le Baudour, Regional Director – Employer Engagement for the Bay Region. “By working with Rouxbe, we are able to teach and support our students effectively during these unprecedented times.”
Immediate reaction from faculty and students alike has been overwhelmingly positive. As the term continues surveys will be conducted to vet the value of the product as well as to determine if the use of this supplemental instruction assists in student engagement and retention. Through regional and statewide communities of practice, faculty will also have the opportunity to share their individual successes, challenges, and other feedback around the instructional use of this valuable resource.
