Abstract:

The Degree of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts of the University of Alicante has as main objective the integral formation of professionals with the necessary knowledge to understand and exercise in any activity and professional situation related to the gastronomic sciences. The fundamental objective is, therefore, to train professionals with a multidisciplinary vision and extensive knowledge of all areas related to gastronomy in general and culinary activity in particular. The ultimate goal is for students to acquire, ultimately, the conceptual, manual and technical tools to understand and apply this knowledge, as well as to achieve adequate practical experience that prepares them for the exercise of the profession. The presence of the modules corresponding to supervised external internships is 80%, which represents one of the largest dedications compared to other degrees. Each practicum has, therefore, 150 contact hours spread over approximately three weeks. More specifically, the second course of this degree is defined by two practicum period of external internships with a total of 300 contact hours. Then, the Degree has a strong practical component but the current pandemic situation has made it necessary to adapt the practicum period to a non-face-to-face modality. With Covid-19 pandemic, it has become clearer that education system is susceptible to external dangers [1]. This work focuses on the challenge of applied novel digital technologies and strategies to help ensure continuity in education and training activities of students during their practicum period.

The goal of this study is to discover a new online platform of communications and working space for teachers and students. In particular, Slack was used as a channel-based messaging platform. With Slack, students can work together more effectively, connect all their software tools and services, and find the information they need to do their best work - all within a secure, enterprise-grade environment. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, some instruments were developed collecting qualitative data through continuous students. As a result of the present project, a new teaching tool is developed in order to achieve the practical skills of students during their second course.

References:
[1] Olasile Babatunde Adedoyin & Emrah Soykan (2020): Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: the challenges and opportunities, Interactive Learning Environments, DOI: 10.1080/10494820.2020.1813180

Keywords:

Gastronomy, Learning, Digital Technologies, Practicum.