Next steps

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has a history of involvement in improving food science education that dates back 80 years (see Figure 1). IFT was founded in 1939, and 2 years later in 1941, the Committee on Education and Curricula was established. In 1966, the first IFT Food Science Undergraduate Curriculum Minimum Standards was approved as the rubric that undergraduate food science programs needed to attain to be considered an “IFT-approved program.” Then in the mid-1990′s, a group of IFT members conceived the idea of starting an Education Division. The rationale was obvious: a division was needed so that abstracts and symposia on education could be sponsored and submitted to the IFT Annual Meeting. IFT members who supported the idea signed a petition, and a request was submitted to Dan Weber, then Executive Director of IFT. Probationary status for the Education Division was granted in 1995, followed by permanent status in 1997. Since its inception, the Education Division has been active in presenting symposia and hosting oral and poster sessions for individual papers at the Annual Meeting. Clearly, starting the Education Division was an important advancement for a professional organization that approves food science undergraduate degree programs in the U.S. and currently around the world.

With presentation of education-related papers at the Annual Meeting, it quickly became clear that there was a need for an IFT-sponsored journal focused on education. After much discussion, the IFT Executive Committee (now IFT Board of Directors; IFT BOD) approved the proposal to start the online Journal of Food Science Education (JFSE). The first issue appeared online in January 2002, and the journal was published quarterly through 2021. So, this leads us to wonder and ask: what has been the impact of the 242 peer-reviewed and the 190 non-peer-reviewed articles published about food science education over the past 19 years? Are professors and instructors teaching and students learning more effectively? Has any of the information shared changed how we think about teaching and learning? Although we haven't done a reader survey or study to determine any potential changes, Amanda Ferguson, Director, IFT Scientific Journals, has download data for articles published between 2006–2021. The top 12 downloaded articles (Table 1) are a mix of book reviews, editorials, and peer-reviewed articles, suggesting that readers have found commentaries and peer-reviewed educational studies very useful and helpful. Topping the list, over 20,000 readers found the topics of Dr. Shelly Schmidt's book review “The Science of Successful Learning” and editorial “Personality Diversity: Extrovert and Introvert Temperaments” of high interest. All totaled, it seems that readers appreciate thought-provoking essays and peer-reviewed studies that discuss aspects of teaching and learning that are practical and personally valuable.

Now with the decision by the current IFT BOD to discontinue publishing the online JFSE, there will be two ways that food science educators can share their ideas and educational research within the IFT society. Peer-reviewed, educational research, and review articles will have a section in the Journal of Food Science (JFS), and all other types of articles (e.g., tips for better teaching and learning, editorials, etc.) can be submitted to the currently developing new platform on the IFT website. Even though there are many IFT members in the Education, Extension, and Outreach Division who firmly oppose the IFT BOD decision to discontinue JFSE for economic reasons, it is important that we rally behind and use the new avenues being developed, supported by IFT, and offered to us. The level of visibility of education-related articles in the new system may be better, the same, or worse than they were in JFSE.

However, if IFT wants to maintain its high standards in the education and training of students and continuing education of food scientists, then ultimately the best avenues for publishing education articles will need to be in place.

With these new ways to publish and share studies and ideas on food science education, it's important to ask ourselves once again: why is it essential that we share ideas in education? What will be the outcomes if we continue to engage with each other? And what will be the consequences if we do not share and engage with each other?

Dr. Lee Shulman, President Emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, wrote that for teaching to be called scholarship, “an activity had to manifest three essential features: it should be public, subject to peer review and evaluation, and accessible for exchange and use by members of one's disciplinary community.”1 Doesn't it make sense that publishing innovations in the classroom and laboratory contributes in a positive and significant way to the scholarship of teaching and learning? If we want to develop and produce excellent students who go on to be outstanding members of the workforce, who are innovative, creative, intelligent, professional, know how to lead, know how to work on a team, and who can help our discipline to stay current and forward-thinking, then we must continue to have excellent and effective teachers in universities, community colleges, Extension service, industry, and government. Publishing one's work and ideas is one very important aspect of the dialog among food science educators, and we strongly encourage you to keep sharing!

As Dr. Owen Fennema, Professor Emeritus and then-Editor in Chief of IFT Scientific Journals, wrote in the inaugural issue of JFSE in 2002, “Hopefully, the information published will result in improved instructional practices, more competent food science personnel, a profession that is more attractive to highly skilled students entering the university, and a vigorous level of dialogue among food science educators that has heretofore been seriously deficient.”2

IFT cannot and should not allow a serious deficiency in publication of articles in food science education to ever happen again. Please submit your original research papers and concise reviews related to food science education to JFS, and your teaching tips, editorials, columns, essays, and book reviews to the currently developing online platform. All of this will significantly support and contribute to the future of the food science discipline through excellence in food science education.