Learning partner - key points

My leaning partner's name is Abhijit and he is an instructor/Chef in Alberta. This is the first time in this PIDP program that I have made a connection with a classmate over Skype, whatsapp etc. Our experiences are very similar in how we began our new careers in education and the trials and tribulations we have gone through. I have really enjoyed the conversations and this is the first time I have seen the value of these assignments.

Our discussion on trends in the field and education were very interesting. I'm not going to lie but I was drooling about the new possibilities in the pastry/dessert world that our coming our way. Abhijit talked about how the dessert experience is changing, specifically the culture. In the 90's customers would eat a dessert individually, and not really share. Now there seems to be a trend of shared plates and eventually the Chef will come out and make a dessert for everyone to share right at the table!! Most restaurants now are providing containers for dessert so there is no wasted food as well. We talked about how this will change how things are taught at his college and how it is important to keep current with your field and how it changes so rapidly. It all comes back to being a life-long learner. We also talked about how this is a great opportunity for the industry to show off their skills and to potentially recruit future Chefs into the field, thus ensuring that we have future students = job security for us!

 

How cool is that?! Makes you hungry doesn't it? I could see them extending this to being more interactive and getting the customers involved in the making of the dessert. A fantastic way to allow the Chef to be creative.

 

Abhijit's trend in education was online courses. We discussed the pros and cons and what we thought a perfect  online course for us would be. This trend looks like it will continue as it fits into the adults lifestyle, specifically with pace, comfort, liberty of finance.  This will have implications on our jobs in the future possibly as we might have to adapt our courses. We also both discussed different types of online courses and how they are set up. Some are open ended whereas others are set up so something is due every week and the course ends at a set time. All very interesting as we see education transforming to meet the student's needs.

 

Thanks again for your perspective Abhijit. I look forward to our next conversation.