When COVID-19 took her food and nutrition students out of their kitchen classroom, a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point faculty member brought her kitchen to them.
Senior Lecturer Deborah Tang has been cooking up videos in her own kitchen since the end of March to share with the 12 students in her Introductory Foods class. During the last five weeks, she has demonstrated recipes of a variety of foods, from tofu and vegetables to English muffin bread.
Tang posts a video for her class each Monday, then shares them on Facebook and YouTube for the public. Her daughter, Sabrina, a college student now at home, helps with the filming and editing.
Tang’s recipes match the weekly theme being studied at home by her students. Majoring in dietetics, sustainable food and nutrition, and family and consumer sciences, these students are doing much of the same work as their instructor, filming a one- to two-minute video of their preparation process and sharing photos of their ingredients and finished products. They also have a weekly Zoom meeting and post on discussion boards to maintain a connection with each other.
“Several students have shared that they enjoy the home labs, and I’m seeing improvements in their presentation skills each week,” said Tang. “Their families are also enjoying their cooking and asking them to prepare their favorites again.”
The videos are gaining “likes” and comments on Facebook, as well as support from Tang’s colleagues, former students and UW-Stevens Point friends.
“It has been great having feedback from our alumni and connecting with them, even in a small way, and knowing they are doing well in this time,” she said.
Now that she is more comfortable with recording her lectures and cooking videos, Tang says she won’t hesitate to add video to her courses if it will enhance student learning and comprehension.
“I give a lot of credit to my daughter for her help,” she said. “She gets to enjoy the recipes I prepare after the filming.”
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