Sous Chef™ Training System
Assists Online Classes

For Immediate Release Sept. 1, 2005
For information, contact Jim Murray, 800.701.6323 x 914

Online learning may not seem a likely vehicle for teaching the “hands on” art of cooking.  Using a multimedia program from KP Education Systems, however, a community college is trying to change that perception.

The Sous Chef™, a complete culinary arts teaching resource, forms the basis of a new program offered by Scottsdale Community College. “We wanted to give people who may not be able to attend or participate in a traditional program the chance to have a full culinary education,” said Chef Dominic O’Neill.

O’Neill, executive chef/instructor at the school and author, see this initial offering of the online course as the realization of one of his goals in creating the Sous Chef™ over six years ago. “Everyone says we can’t do it, but I say we can,” said O’Neill of the online cooking course.

Other culinary institutes have distance-learning programs, but not as extensive as Scottsdale’s, said Karen Chalmers, culinary arts program director at the school, quoted in the Arizona Republic.

“What makes this different is the text [used in the class] is the DVD that Chef Dominic put together,” she said.  “It really allows the student to be in the classroom without actually being there.”

Along with a knife kit and other kitchen tools, a computer and a digital camera are required supplies for the course. To show participation and progress, students will email photos of their work to instructors.

In cooking well, the process is more important than the finished product, says O’Neill, explaining the photo requirements. Documenting each step along the way in preparing an item or demonstrating a technique will be a strong emphasis of the course.

Unlike a printed textbook, the Sous Chef™ is a teaching tool based on computer-DVD technology.  The unique advantage of the system is its use of high-quality video to teach culinary techniques and principles.

A traditional text uses one or more static photographs to demonstrate a skill like dicing an onion or making an omelet. The Sous Chef™ instead has a master chef/instructor demonstrating the same skill in a voice-over video. Over 250 instructional videos are contained in the Sous Chef™. They cover everything from handwashing and knife skills to cooking techniques and advanced garde manger.

The Sous Chef™ is not just videos, however. The program includes eleven chapters and over 850 “text” pages with words and more than one thousand pictures, illustrations, charts, and diagrams. The pages can be viewed individually on the computer screen or shown through a projector or monitor to a large group.

For the Scottsdale program, the Sous Chef™is offered in a special online course edition. In addition, the Sous Chef™is offered in many other editions and configurations.  Customers include schools, individuals, restaurants, the military, healthcare, and other organizations that offer culinary training.

“While the online courses are one of our objectives, the primary idea behind the Sous Chef™has been to aid secondary and college-level instructors nationwide in teaching the culinary arts,” said Chef O’Neill.  “Over 300 schools across North America are currently using the system.”

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