Students benefit from e-kitchen technology

Catering students at Lewisham College have become some of the first in the country to benefit from the use of new interactive kitchen theatre technology.

Rather than huddle around the demonstration table, each student can now watch a chef's masterclass on a flat-screen monitor at their desk.

The system also allows students to learn simultaneously with their international contemporaries. Each session is also recorded on to a video-editing computer as well as being broadcast over the web, allowing tutors to pull material together and create an online database of training modules.

Kevin Cleaver, Lewisham College's head of hospitality, said: "The e-kitchen is tremendous and an excellent example of how information technology can improve the quality of teaching and learning.

"We can have guest chefs here, film their demonstrations and then supply them to local schools, restaurants around London or anywhere else that wants to share them."