Graduation Year

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ed.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Stephen Thornton, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Howard Johnston, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Bárbara Cruz, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Ph.D.

Keywords

Connoisseurship, Curriculum, Eisner, Evaluation, Journalism

Abstract

The use of food in college curriculum is unique in its ability to create lasting impact because of the keen interest millennial and Generation Z students have in what they eat and drink. Studying media with food at its core is an underutilized mechanism to show how food intersects with the lives of all people thus encouraging students to look beyond their own experiences to consider the wider society. A program evaluation of 10 semesters of food writing and food media courses at a Florida public university reveals the ways in which students make deeper connections to culture and current events, plus gain insight into this genre of journalism. The instructor and developer of the curriculum, and the author of this study, is a retired journalist with a food writing specialty. Situated in Eisner’s educational criticism and connoisseurship methodology, the study discovers the ways that her expertise largely facilitates but occasionally hinders learning. It is not only the students who experience untaught lessons, but an open-minded professor too.

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