Progress 08/15/20 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included 1) Undergraduate students in formal courses at multiple universities, in engineering or food science curricula, 2) Graduate students in formal courses, and 3) Professionals, including those in industry. For #1 and #2, a complete course was taught three times at Cornell University and once at the University of Tennessee, both primarily for engineering students with some students from food science. Individual modules were implemented in Cornell University and UC Davis food science curriculum. For #3, short courses were given at the international conference, IFT in Chicago, Conference on Food Engineering (CoFE) in Rayleigh, North Carolina and FOODSIM in Gent, Belgium. The audience was a combination of those working in industry and Ph.D. students from various food science and food engineering programs. Changes/Problems:There were, of course, Covid related delays. The level of time commitments needed was also surprising, which was about 40 hours of PD time for one hour of final material (>30 hours of final material has been prepared). There was also graduate student time in addition to this. This time is needed to collect the content for a topic, carefully synthesize and organize the material, develop the PowerPoint slides with animations to reduce cognitive overload, script the content, record (with many re-recordings), make the videos, develop questions, and incorporate videos and active learning questions in a learning management system. Most of this work requires a deeper knowledge of the subject matter and an experience in educational pedagogy, making it difficult for the most part to be given to a graduate student or a instructional technology staff. The only change from the goal is a small one. Initially we thought of doing three levels (food science, engineers, and experienced researchers) of every module. This would nearly triple the effort we have already put in and would require another three years, at least. While we continue to build modules at different levels, making all modules at all three levels was quickly seen to be out of scope. Instead, careful attention was given to prerequisites within a level and, whenever possible, the material was simplified enough so learners from all levels will get enough out form it. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In this course development project, as already mentioned, undergraduate and graduate students from engineering and food science curricula were trained using this novel approach of deeper mechanistic look at food process, safety, and quality. As already mentioned, the modules and the entire course were used in three universities. Courses were also offered as part of international meetings. A permanent course has been built that is available freely using the most popular learning management system, with active learning components. The course was presented in multiple national and international conferences, thus essentially reaching out to many established educators and researchers. Examples are: Datta, A. K. 2024. Food Physics and Modeling: Take Your Teaching and Learning to the Next Level. FOODSIM, Organized by EUROSIS, The European Multidisciplinary Society for Modelling and Simulation Technology, Gent, Belgium, April 7-10. Datta, A. K., M. Ukidwe, and D. Way. 2023. Digital food physics and engineering: Learning materials for everyone. Presented at the session "Training and Digital" in the International Conference on Engineering and Food (ICEF 14) in Nantes, France, June 22. Datta, A. K. 2022. Food Physics: Multilevel, Active Learning-enabled, Modules for Flipped Learning. Fireside Chat at the IFT Annual Meeting, Part of Fennema Series: How are We Creating Next-Generation Food Scientists. Chicago. July 11, 11:30-11:50 AM. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This has been a three-pronged approach:1) Most importantly, the entire course content and its modules have been made freely available to everyone. Each module is self-standing (same for the master course using all modules), with complete instructions. They are part of a website. 2) Discussion is now underway to offer this course to everyone under the umbrella of a university platform that will allow credentialling (certificates of completion) that is much desired by the learners. We are working toward doing this under the bare minimum fee required to maintain the platform. 3) The PD continues to reach out individually to instructors and present the material in national and international conferences, with an aim to have the modules (or the entire course) adopted at other places. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Major activities completed A complete online course has been developed and taught multiple times and at multiple places. Modules (details under Other Products) have been developed and used in new courses developed and in existing courses. The content of food physics and accompanying food process modeling has been organized carefully using the most universal scientific pedagogy. Building this framework was a significant contribution for food physics and engineering. An application (such as sterilization or microwave drying) is shown to stand on the three-legged stool of science--theory, modeling/simulation, and experimentation. The modules are also organized alongthe categories of theory, modeling and simulation, and applications. While each module is independent, within a category (such as theory) the modules are linked to provide the big picture. Important pedagogical elements are included within each module. They include: learning outcomes, pre-requisites, pre- and post-lesson assessment questions, content carefully chunked into multiple videos, assessment questions between sections, and a final opportunity for feedback. Some of these modules are multi-level, addressing students with completely different educational preparation such as food science and engineering programs. Details of course, modules, and video are described under "Other Products." 2) Specific objectives met The project's target objectives were met, although the scale-up and adoption will need years of continuing effort that Project Director (PD) will continue to dedicate. Details of how the target objectives have been met are: 1) learners in engineering and food science curricula were trained in deeper aspects of food physics, tied to chemistry and microbiology for quality and safety. These learners saw, for the first time, food physics frameworks from the simplest to the most complex, including physics-based frameworks for quality and safety, with interrelationships between them. Such mechanistic approaches sway their thinking away from empirical and black box approaches that plague this field, making it inefficient in product and process design. Industrial learners could not be included as much but the course platform and the structure have been built with industrial audience in mind just as much and it is a matter of time before it reaches the industrial audience. As this report is being written, PD is actively involved in the most well-known industry-based international organization in computer-aided engineering, in accrediting and promoting this course. 2) Undergraduate and graduate students from food science and engineering curricula have been part of formal courses taught multiple times. They are trained in detailed food process modeling and simulation using a sequence of modules developed for this course. The modules include most critical ones such as problem formulation, software implementation, errors, uncertainty, and validation, and communication of model results. The modules are also built in a generic way for the most widespread use in industry and academia; and 3) A model-based approach or a quantitative framework (that is experimentally validated) is now a building block that promotes mechanistic understanding in the food sector to reduce trial and error in product and process development. 3) Significant results achieved, including major findings, developments, or conclusions (both positive and negative) As the course was taught multiple times and places, findings from the previous offering of the course were always incorporated in the next one. Some of the more significant findings (positive and negative) include: 1) The framework for food physics, quality, and safety developed here in a teaching context, are indeed universal and will stand the test of time; 2) Development of a web-based course that included organization of content, making illustrations, scripting the PowerPoint slides, recording and managing videos, developing active learning activities are incredibly time consuming (1 hour of final course material takes 40 hours of development time). Someone embarking on this needs to be mindful of that. 3) All curricula are packed and there is often no clear avenue to start a new course. So, the likely mode of enhancement in an existing course is to use the individual modules. This requires locating such instructor and closely working with the instructor to make a smooth transition. This is a time consuming process not really a significant part of this developmentproject. 4) Even with the active learning materials and assessments, it is often difficult to ensure learning in web-based delivery and hybrid learning, where the students have part in-person contact, seems to be critical. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Key outcomes at high level include: 1) array of learning materials developed, as described under "Other Products." It should make incorporation of a more modern and mechanistic thinking of the physical aspects in a food process easy to achieve. 2) A framework for food physics and modeling is developed that will stand the test of time. It should potentially redefine the approach in the discipline (including research) that is more appropriate for digital agriculture and food (like building digital twins and AI applications). 3) When the modeling component is included, there are several issues--access to the software and to a teaching assistant to help students with the software implementation details (when there are several modeling projects). These can be circumvented by having models that have simple physics (but all elements of problem formulation to validation to communication). 4) Undergraduate students were not particularly receptive to the physics (of food) itself, taught before the applications, but liked more the model building for an application that tied the theory with the applications and the learning of a simulation software. The modeling project is therefore a critical content for such a course, i.e., a course taught without modeling as just a physics course is unlikely to go well with undergraduates.
Publications
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Progress 08/15/22 to 08/14/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Students in formal courses at two Universities. Changes/Problems:While there had been great difficulties in the past that have already been reported, the only difficulties in the past year related to not having adequate student support throughout the year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate student was trained in educational pedagogy and mathematical modeling of food processes. The undergraduate student was trained in information science and website development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes. A new course was offered by my colleague at the University of Tennessee using the modules. A course at the University of California, Davis also implemented one module in a formal course. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Complete the module development, reach out to as many users as possible, and develop the platform for permanent sharing of the modules.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Separate, standalone, web-based instructional modules on food physics were developed. Specific modules are 1) Lumped parameter, 2) Single phase, 2) Sharp interface phase change, 3) Porous media (7 modules), 4) Quality, 5) Safety, and 6) Microwave heating. A website was developed that shows the relationships among modules, their content, and how future instructors can use them. Courses using these modules were offered by two separate instructors at Cornell University and the University of Tennessee. Assessments were collected.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Datta, A. K., M. Ukidwe, and D. Way. 2023. Digital Food Physics and Engineering: Learning Material for Everyone. Presented at the International Conference on Engineering and Food (ICEF14), Nantes, France, June 20.
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Progress 08/15/21 to 08/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Students in a formal graduate course at Cornell University. As part of the largest national gathering of food engineers at the Conference of Food Engineering in North Carolina, the target audience was the learners from the industry and academia in a workshop using the materials developed in this project. Critical planning was done to continue in two formal courses at the University of Tennessee and Cornell University. Changes/Problems:This grant was quite literally timed with the peak of the pandemic--I had submitted it the week the university closed. The project requires a very special combination of novel digital and higher-level content knowledge with strong pedagogical background. This content knowledge is difficult, mostly not available in books, and needs to be collected and processed from research papers. Thus, I needed a graduate student having a combination of pedagogical interests and a very special academic preparation. I could not find such a person for a while. Since locating the person, we have made fantastic progress, as presented orally on April 21, 2023, during the USDA REE-NIFA workshop organized by Dr. Solomon Haile and can be seen here on a special website created for the course: https://blogs.cornell.edu/food-physics/. Formal semester-long courses have been taught using the material created, at Cornell University and the University of Tennessee past spring. End of the spring semester, this student decided to no longer work on the project. I have located in Junea combination of expertise made up of students and recent graduates, but this means the project will take slightly longer because no one person has all the expertise, and the progress will not be as rapid for the remaining portions. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate student working on the project was trained in. 1) educational pedagogy, 2) higher-level content in food physics, 3) assessment. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?https://blogs.cornell.edu/food-physics/ The above website plus the ten (now twenty) educational modules being used by students around the country. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Build the rest of the modules, complete the web page containing course and module use possibilities for various instructors, and, critically, reach out to more possible instructors. Since this is the previous year's report, much of the above has been accomplished. I am asking for an extension to do the following: 1) 8/15/2023-11/30/2023: Building 8 more modules, starting from content organization, pedagogical element preparation, video development and porting to learning management software; 2) 12/1/2023-12/31/2023: Decision on the final platform that will make the course available for free nationwide and the porting of all contents to this platform.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Ten instructional modules (each module is like a course, so 10 short courses) have been developed. 2) Courses with this material have been implemented at Cornell Univ (currently a permanent course), later in Spring 2023 at Univ. of Tennessee by a colleague, in an international conference, and in formal food science curricula (UC Davis and Cornell earlier). 3) Assessment data has been collected that shows improvement in learning. 4) Feedback, built into each module, has provided critical information to tweak the modules currently underway.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/food-physics/
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