Wednesday, October 25, 2006

One... The Beginning Of Many



We are pleased to inform the community that SHRIM has been accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to offer the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency Accreditation Program (ETEEAP). Intended for working professionals who have no Bachelor's/College degree in the hotel, restaurant and institution management field, the enrollees will be given a chance to pursue the program at their own pace and time. Their technical know-how acquired over the years shall be evaluated. One of our enrollees, a General Manager of a well known country club has taken the first step to realize his goal of earning a tertiary degree.

Let us share with you how our student hurdled the 2- day Food & Beverage validation process. On October 06, the student was seated in front of a laptop to take a written examination. It took him over two (2) hours to turn off the computer. After that, a demo for Bar Management was handled by Mr. Gerry Ele to showcase his competency in Bar Management and Service. The initial assessment took half the day... not an easy feat for a very busy person.

The following day consisted of an oral validation assessed by a 3-member panel: 1 from the academe, Mr. Ronald Holmes, 1 industry practitioner, Mr. Gilbert Q. Uy, F&B Director of Dusit Hotel, and another one from the academe, Mr. Angelo Lacson.

The other part is a demo on Food and Beverage Service which was handled by Mr. Jaime Flores, another full-time faculty member of SHRIM.

The session started promptly at 10 am. The student and the assessors all remarked that they felt like they were in a beauty pageant, mainly because there was a laptop for each of the panel members where they can input their comments and recommendations as well as put an "X" mark on the grid provided for them to assess the student. Our enrollee was grilled to perfection for two and half hours, to say the least. In the afternoon of the same day, he changed into his F&B waiter's uniform and had the demo for F&B Service for three (3) whole hours. Whew!!!
The whole undertaking for two days went without a hitch! We started with one... and this is just one of the many firsts (again), for SHRIM.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Online Professional Development Modules

As part of our continuing search for alternative modes of delivering professional development offerings, I have proposed a two-phase project which aims to develop training materials which will be delivered via DLS-CSB's online infrastructure to our faculty members. This could be a key component of the professional development program of the College. In addition, this will address the much-expressed need of faculty members who are not able to join our usual face-to-face offerings due to time constraints, etc.

In particular, the project will focus on the design and development of a pedagogic framework and pilot course material(s) that conform to a set of standards, including but not limited to meeting the needs of the target learners and taking advantage of opportunities afforded by what we refer to as e-learning.

I have been working on Phase 1 for quite some time. We should see the first fully-functional, standards-compliant online module by Term 1 SY 2007-2008.

Wish me success :-)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

SHRIM Attendance in ProQuest and Thomson Gale Orientation Sessions


Staying on track in their quest for excellence, some 25 faculty members of SHRIM participated in the two-day (Oct 4 & 6) orientation on the use of the ProQuest and Thomson Gale gigantic online information services.

Introduced by the dynamic LRC Director, Cely Cayaban, and resource person Joshua Tiu (CSB alumnus) of the Hong Kong-based iGROUP in coordination with CLCIR, the SHRIM force was challenged and inspired by the huge amount of information yet presented in an accessible, user-friendly format.

Feedback 1: "ProQuest information service provided search and retrieval of one of the world's largest info collections."

Feedback 2: "Thomson Gale is power search for the world's information and education needs."

Truly fascinating, such technology will afford us to focus on the current as well as future trends of the hospitality industry... an ongoing journey without a finish line. Only then that we, as educators and business leaders, can walk our talk.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Destination: Doha, Qatar


Before Milenyo knocked out the entire power system of the Luzon Grid and devastated Metro Manila, SHRIM students going to Qatar for the 15th Asian Games attended the pre-departure orientation on September 27, 2006.

Definitely, they will not go there to compete in the Asian Games. They were accepted by the Diplomatic Club of the State of Qatar to work for 2 months in Food and Beverage Food Preparation and Service.

Yes, twenty five (25) students who will graduate this October 7 and some practicum students will serve the VIPs and media people who will cover the games for the duration of the Asian Games in December 2006.

During the orientation, Mr. Gil Acuna reminded them of the following:
  1. Be sensitive to others and not to be sensitive to negative remarks
  2. Be prepared for work beyond the normal task and hours
  3. Team work
  4. Respect for other people's cultures
  5. Be careful of making side comments
  6. Form a Benildean support group by having a big brother/big sister relationship among themselves for moral and spiritual support
  7. Be an example to others.
They are looking forward to this experience as an initial step to their careers as hospitality professionals. With our students steeped in Benildean values, we are confident that they will be fine examples to others in Doha, Qatar.

Hurray to our Benildean Trail Blazers!!!