Discussion & Assignment Prompts

Course Learning Outcomes (CLO)

Prompts to align with the following Course Learning Outcomes:

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Terminal learning objectives

By the end of this course, students should be familiar with:

1. Iconic Japanese dishes and how they came to be (Japanese food within
   a historical context)

2. 5 key principles of washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) and imports incorporated into domestic cuisine.​ (Aligns with WLO2)

3. Food philosophy behind diet, nutrition, cooking, presentation, and dining rituals. (Aligns with WLO3)  

4. Dining etiquette and key phrases to ordering or sharing a meal:

5. Key nouns, adjectives, and verbs used for dining and eating and identifying foods (TBD)

Learning Objectives
(Weekly learning outcome, WLO)

Prompts to align with the following Module 1 Learning Objectives:

Module 1: Japanese food: an Overview – Prompt alignments

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By the end of this module, students should be able to:

Communicate using basic food and dining vocabulary.​

1. Explain the cultural initiatives behind contemporary Japanese cuisine over time. 

2. Outline contemporary Japanese cuisine drawn from historical influences: the Chinese-Western-Japanese tripod.

3. Explain Washoku philosophy and how it's applied in food composition, choice of ingredients, food preparation, and consumption rituals. (Aligns to CLO1)

4. Evaluate 5 principles of washoku for their own daily culinary and dining practices. (Aligns to CLO1) 

Learning 
Activities & 
Assessment
Strategies

​Sequential learning activity and corresponding assessment

Module 1: Japanese food: an Overview – Prompt alignments

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1. PRE-ASSESSMENT

   • Self-assessment survey: demographic info (data collection), background with Japanese food and language, whether for eating or cooking, reason for taking course (collected as multiple choice) – starting point

2. ACTIVITY: Narrated slide show (presentation) – WLO1

   • An overview of Japanese food history and philosophy behind washoku

3. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT – WLO1

   • Discussion topic: Self-reflection prompt on prior experience of and impressions of Japanese cuisine and their own reasons for learning about it. 

4. ACTIVITY: Video or narrated slide show (lecture + presentation) – WLO2

   • Five principles of washoku will be presented in text and image format as well as a video or animated slide show 4-7 minute blocks

5. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT – WLO2

   • Quiz questions on Japanese food history trivia + five washoku principles.

   • Discussion topic: Cultural initiatives in contemporary Japanese cuisine, tracing origins of youshoku dish or meisanbutsu, regional specialty. Applying a more critical lens towards existing youshoku dishes or a washoku lens towards food composition using local ingredient.

Reflection

When creating my discussion and assignment prompts...​​

I got a little confused between the two prompts since in both cases I added supplemental information relevant to the topic. For discussion, I tried to add a personal contribution twist where students could add their own first hand experience into the mix as a way to get to know each other. I do want to see what sort of results I get from students as a way to find whether my prompts inspired conversations or insightful essays. Further, I'd like to apply my user profile survey to let me understand at what level I should write my essay expectations based on student age, educational level, and experience.