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Panera
Education Dive
Chef's summer camp course demonstrates how virtual classes can embrace ambition
Lauren Barack
Aug. 12, 2020
Dive Brief:
The online summer camp Dinner Club, taught by chef Pascal Simon, is
challenging young students to learn how to cook while being in a
virtual environment, NPR reports. Simon previously ran the program in
person, mostly focused on baked goods, but shifted after the pandemic
hit to virtual classes and the more practical task of preparing dinner
for the family.
Students are charged with all aspects of making dinner, from shopping
for ingredients to food prep, cooking and even doing dishes. They cook
every night for a week, with recipes changing daily.
The students respond to the rigor of cooking a full meal every night,
even if they’re tired, Simon said, because it’s a chance to push
themselves and discover what they’re capable of doing.
Dive Insight:
Simon's shifting of her summer learning course from a focus on cupcakes
and baked goods to full dinner prep demonstrates that virtual
approaches to learning can be ambitious.
After schools closed due to coronavirus in the spring and forced a
rapid immersion into online learning, many scaled back classroom
expectations to ease students and teachers alike into a new model.
However, as NPR notes in its reporting, challenging students may be one
of the best ways to engage them and potentially improve the educational
takeaways from classroom lessons.
Hands-on activities such as cooking, for example, can be clearly
transitioned to an at-home, remote-learning environment. And while
these options may look daunting, with some planning they can be set up
for the coming school year.
Acera, a K-9 private school in Winchester, Massachusetts, has a few
resources on its website highlighting hands-on online learning projects
that aren’t typical for a digital learning space. One includes showing
students how to build a pulley system or how to reassemble a computer
keyboard.
Virtual theater performances aren’t off the table, either. The cast of
the “Hamilton” Broadway show pulled off an online performance in April
2020. Meanwhile, the Educational Theater Association is encouraging
high school drama programs to look into technology like virtual green
screens that could place all students in the same place — or software
to create other special effects — for the coming school year.
There are steps to help make online learning as successful as possible.
A June policy brief from Unicef, for example, suggests educators create
understandable learning goals. It also recommends "articulating clear,
relevant and realistic continuity of learning objectives, even if they
are simplified and scaled back,” to help achieve goals.
Finally, to avoid losing students who may be falling behind in a remote
learning space, Unicef suggests teachers set aside time for continuous
monitoring of their work. That could be done through mobile phone
surveys or tracking learning platform usage, the organization writes.
Doing so may help educators discover and address learning issues as
they arise.
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