REVIVAL ERA OF OFFLINE EXAMS IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT A SHIFT IN COMFORT ZONE TO UNMATCHED EXPECTATIONS! BY: DR. KAVIRAJ KHIALANI- CELEBRITY MASTER CHEF
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It was great news for all in the academic world in regard to hotel management courses and its affiliates to see offline mode coming back to life after a long break. Students, parents & teachers all had a welcoming back reaction and expressions which could say a lot beyond words. Sitting in front of a laptop and delivering subjects from our field was a big challenge especially when it comes to food production, international cuisines, bakery and patisserie etc. it has been a mixed bag of reactions when we saw students getting back to classrooms and practical labs in various subjects and that’s where the big factor of the effectiveness of online teaching got to know its pros and cons. This article takes me back to the post-lockdown phase during the first quarter of 2022 until now when we finally reach the end of 2022 with phase one of the exam season just getting over with the batches who spent the majority of their time in the online mode of education in hospitality management courses.
Everyone whom we spoke with and discussed this topic had the same response and reaction, how did we teach culinary as one of the core subjects via online modes? Though each one had its one justifiable reply too since it was a global situation and challenge, what we kept looking for was the level of understanding and how effective would it be just looking at an online demo of sauce or cut of fish or meat. true, the answer remains obvious we need to do certain things with our own hands to be able to look at its plus a minus, the level of performance cannot be just judged by watching the demo, we need to perform!
Comforting yet challenging: when speaking to the students in real-time classroom mode on the same topic on the change in coming to class on time versus turning on a laptop sitting in the comfort zone at home, most said it is anytime better to get out of home and come to college, be with friends, attend lectures and most importantly practical sessions which they missed the most. Of course post lockdown they had to meet deadlines, grooming standards, reporting on time, carry all requirements for said practicals, submission and presentation of assignments, project work and more which was a little cumbersome initially for a few as well.
The learning curve effect: to learn is not just to sit back and watch, one needs to be there face to face for maximum understanding, clearing doubts and queries, etc which can be done pretty easily in offline mode. Learning was fun for some who were able to manage their concentration levels from home but many agreed there were network issues and a lot more which was a hindrance to learning.
Understanding Fundamentals & beyond: the subjects in hotel management academics range from the front office – housekeeping- food and beverage service & food production & patisserie as core subjects besides there is accounts, management subjects, communication and french, and we they proceed there comes human resources, strategic management and more as well. coping with new concepts, new timetables, new levels of expectations becomes a little worrisome for a few.
T R Sustenance- T for Technical to R for remembering: the fact that a lot of subjects were introduced for many students via online mode and immediately carried forward to level next in offline mode, the connectivity and sustenance factors came into the limelight as well. a lot of teachers and trainers took up review sessions, back to basic sessions in the initial stages but then realized that we cannot keep talking of that all the time since the current schedule of portion also needs to be completed in all respects. On the other hand, students faced a lot of challenges remembering so many new concepts at one time and to be able to give it back in review classes and viva became a cause of concern too.
Effective Training on the cards: academic guidelines, syllabus completion on time, loads of submissions, class tests, events and activities and more made it a little tight on schedule as well for some. The fact of the matter that life got back to normal and all of it just kick-started with full speed, students back in classes, schedules of co-curricular and extra-curricular too listing up on college calendars, pending back log clearance etc all at once. The word balance kind of took a back seat and let’s do it came forefront! On one side teaching concepts in detail, carrying out practicals, looking at events to side by side has been challenging yet fun too for most of us.
Goal-oriented performance: parameters to grade and checking on performance levels of students to has seen a slight change and somewhere we have observed that though some students are good in their studies they are not able to deliver 100 percent in their overall conduct during on campus life. Most students we came across also needed loads of counseling, mentorship, and guidance in terms of how to decide on their two subjects for final year semester pattern choice. Most had a dilemma on not being able to pick the right choice and needed advice on how to go about taking the right decision.
From offline mode to examination mode: Post teaching and delivery of classes comes the phase of appearing for exams in theory and practical. Performance became a new expectation by examiners who spent their days teaching and delivering at their very best from showing powerpoint presentations to arranging guest lectures, live demos, field trips and visits etc to make learning more fun and effective. We saw some students struggling hard to absorb so much at a time and then prepare for subject-wise written papers being the biggest challenge of all since they had not written much in online mode. Time-bound written exams were a little challenging for a few who wanted to write more but could not since a couple of subject papers were a little too elaborate.
Evaluating and experiencing a change of thoughts: for every teacher the moment when his/her student performs well and up to the mark is worthwhile all the efforts put in. During some of the evaluations, we observed that some could have done much better and some average ones did fairly well too. The curve and graph of performance have been a little uncertain though we are all looking forward to better days and even better results for our students. An evaluator’s mind and judgment at times juggle between figures and overall semester performance, attendance, and conduct of a student as well, which is no doubt tough at times but is fun too!
Unveiling the phase in 2023- new year with new hope & new aspirations!
It is finally that part of the year when the calendar is about to change and the figure moves up one ahead from the last one. As we move further with time it becomes even more imperative that we strengthen the bond between students and studies. Hotel management course has always been a highly practical-oriented one ever since and we must continue to keep that alive and enrich our curriculums by adding more practicality aspects and touch points in every subject which can make the students think a little out of the box. 2023 has a lot more to offer to all of us and as we see the industry opening up its doors welcoming more and more budding professionals in various departments of hotel operations and hospitality too on the whole has created more avenues for aspirants to apply and secure a suitable and sustainable career path. With all best wishes for all our valued members of our fraternity, student community, trainers, mentors, facilitators and every single person who is a part and parcel of our hospitality industry.
Happy New Year 2023!
