Mayo’s Clinic: Out-of-Class Activities
15 January 2015
Is there ever enough time in class to do everything you wish? You’re already employing one out-of-classroom model to extend instruction, but, says Dr. Mayo, three that you might not have considered can help you become even more effective at teaching. Though not necessarily easy at first, these models’ merits make them worth a try.
By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT
This past fall, we reviewed a number of issues and strategies for assessment. This spring, we will focus on learning activities for students, starting with a discussion of the value of developing and using out-of-class activities. My next “Mayo’s Clinic” will focus on using interviews as a learning activity. This month the column will explore several models of out-of-class activities.
Reasons for Out-of-Classroom Activities
There are many reasons to use out-of-class activities. Because there is never enough classroom time to do all that we want to do, out-of-class activities keep the learning going during the days between class meetings, offer an opportunity to maximize the benefits of in-class time, and provide a chance for students to become independent learners doing their own thing, within certain boundaries.
For years, we have been assigning out-of-class activities—the primary one being reading material in the textbook and coming to class prepared to discuss or use the information—but we don’t often think of them as such. In our experience, that was homework! We also assign the task of researching recipes or developing a mise en place list for the laboratory session, among many other assignments.
We also use out-of-class activities because we value active learning and independent work, and out-of-classroom work can be organized to promote critical thinking and active learning. It gives students a chance to see if the principles and practices we teach actually function effectively in restaurants, other foodservice operations and hotels.
After all, as Kurt Lewin wrote, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory,” and we believe in that statement in our teaching. Therefore, we want to show our students that our ideas are good as well as practical and useful. In using out-of-class activities, there are three relevant models to consider.
Application Model
The application model involves the notion that students should take ideas and apply them to real situations. In the culinary arts, we teach various cooking principles, and then we ask students to use them in cooking selected items, preparing full meals, baking bread, making desserts, setting tables and waiting on guests.
The whole idea of culinary education is to provide students with both theoretical information and practical skills. Normally, this model has meant that the classroom is where the material is lectured, demonstrated and reviewed in discussion and then applied outside the classroom or in a laboratory setting. Whatever reading or videos we assign are seen as supplementary to or preparation for what happens in the lecture, demonstration and discussion.
In this model, we assign activities that encourage (some might say force) students to practice the skills and principles taught in class, since we want them to use what we are teaching them. Most programs have externships, internships or cooperative learning situations in order to maximize this practice. We also do a lot of application in our kitchen and dining-room classrooms. The more that students practice their skills, the faster they become proficient and able to do more at a higher quality and faster—both critical goals for culinary programs.
Flipped Classroom Model
A newer concept—and yet one that many faculty members have used for years—involves flipping the classroom, which means assigning lectures, videos and reading outside the class and holding students accountable for learning the material in this way. It enables us to use class time practicing those ideas or applying them to a variety of situations. It makes the classroom a place for active learning.
In the flipped classroom, students learn the material outside of class and apply it inside the classroom environment. It is called “flipped” because the traditional teaching model is based on faculty members teaching the principles in classroom settings and students practicing outside the classroom. This model flips those priorities.
While many cooking classes integrate lecture and practice, in the flipped-classroom model, faculty members do not lecture in class in favor of organizing a series of group activities and tasks that help students practice what they have learned and, often, discover new principles and skills from active experience. For some chef-instructors, this model is difficult because they are used to explaining everything to students in their classrooms. It takes careful thinking about what should happen in class and designing the materials students need to consult outside of class.
In hospitality classes, this shift can be even more dramatic because most of those classes have normally been a combination of lecture and discussion. Removing the lecture makes it critical to develop a wide range of specific classroom learning activities in which students use what they learn. Sometimes, that classroom time involves case-study discussions, discussion of projects, analysis of recipes or menus, evaluations of videos, critiques of reading materials, problem-solving challenges and other small-group work.
For many of us, creating these classroom activities refreshes our approach to education and excites us about new possibilities. Luckily, there are a plethora of videos and other materials to assign for students to watch or read as homework in this model. However, it is not easy at first because it is so different from what we are used to doing.
Online Model
If you are teaching in an online format, you can recognize the value and importance of creating appropriate out-of-classroom activities. In an asynchronous online model of teaching, students do almost everything out of class—since they never meet you in person—and your task as a teacher involves developing enough activities to help them learn the material and demonstrate that they have learned and can use the material in practical situations. In synchronous online teaching—where there are some simultaneous online discussions—you can have a chance to review material, ask questions and provide students with a chance to ask their questions. However, you must still develop lots of out-of-class activities to help them practice and apply what they are learning.
Blended teaching (sometimes called hybrid teaching), where there are some onsite meetings and some online instruction, offers the choice to use a flipped-classroom model, but most faculty members (not all) revert to the traditional model of the classroom situation of lecture and discussion. It takes the same amount of creative planning to design useful and effective out-of-classroom activities.
These three models might help you think more broadly about out-of-classroom activities. Next month, we will start to review various activities.
Summary
Thank you for reading this column discussing models of out-of-classroom activities and starting to expand your thinking in this arena. Next month, we will continue this topic, focusing on interviews as a way of broadening students’ education.
If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future “Mayo’s Clinics.”
Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide.