Our Work
This is a sample of the work we do. We'll publish more projects soon, so stay tuned. Let us know if you have any questions.
"Less-than-stellar reviews" Series
Sometimes it is hard to hear criticism from guests, but we can learn a lot from our mistakes.
"UNDERSTANDING CONSISTENCY"
Consistency is essential in the restaurant industry, but how to demonstrate its importance to managers and front-end employees? This animated video shows the importance of consistency from the customers' perspective.
"Something is cooking in the kitchen"
This project is a learning experience designed and developed to help restaurant managers and supervisors train staff in kitchen hygiene practices. It consists of five short lessons in addition to evaluation tasks. It can be presented as an introductory lesson, or as a complement to other learning materials.
The concept was visually presenting a commercial kitchen and elements related to it, so the workplace immediately becomes the learning environment. The lesson content is based on existing food health guidelines. Depending on the project, we work with the management to create original content and specific training instructions. Wording the content depends on the learner and we opted for a casual tone. According to Rey and Steib (2013), learners achieve better learning results if the multimedia learning material is presented informally. The kitchen is a casual environment, and the objective is to engage learners from different age groups. We also avoided the use of technical terms and tried to keep the vocabulary accessible. The content also encourages learners to be receptive to group work and to share their knowledge with others.
The color scheme used is neutral with orange accents, which can be personalized to match the business logo. Color is also used as signaling, indicating the start and end of each lesson.
Interaction and engagement are encouraged throughout the lesson. Learners are asked to think about the topics discussed in each lesson. It is a way of stimulating recall of prior knowledge. Learners are informed of the objectives of the lesson and are given the autonomy to navigate freely, at their own pace.
There is extensive use of pictures throughout the lesson. The pictures chosen evoke actions or ideas that are familiar to learners within their context. Choosing the picture of cans of spam, for instance, was intended to add humor and familiar products within the local context.
Brief annotations were used as signaling to guide the learner, and also to associate the pictures to the learner's context. Signaling, in this example, is used to promote group work when performing tasks such as cleaning the kitchen. a brief video was used to accommodate different learner styles.
Other interactive functions were used to engage learners. The tool used to create the lesson offers several interactive options, but these functions must always be used with a purpose. For this lesson, flashing cards and labeled graphics worked well with the lesson theme.
Towards the end of the lesson, the learner is encouraged to revisit the content. A brief review helps the learner to focus and to reassess his own knowledge before being evaluated. Evaluation consists of scenario -based questions, and general questions related to the content.
In terms of evaluation and feedback, we would usually interview learners at the beginning of the analysis process in order to assess their knowledge on the subject matter. One post-lesson exercise is having an observational phase, in which supervisors would compare past to present behavior. Learners need time and opportunities to practice their new skills, or to modify their behavior. In order to reinforce newly acquired skills, informal meetings can be held to revisit some of the points discussed in the lessons. Management should also ask learners to provide feedback about the lessons. We work with all stakeholders during the design phase, but it is crucial to get the learners feedback afterwards, so we understand how they felt about the learning experience and how they benefitted from it. Workplaces are dynamic environments, and learning is an ongoing process.