The reminder that culinary students can be very limited in their skills when it comes to performance is a good reminder and to not take anything for granted.

Asking students to photograph their food when dining out is a great idea. They should also be takiogn pictures of their cooking assignments in the classroom. 

Be as detailed as you can with yourt grading. There are so many details to cooking a recipe properly, that you should be grading many contact points to give a thorough evaluation of the skill. 

The academic courses are just as important as the techincal courses and need a different approach to teach these classes effectively and get the buy-in. 

Students all learn in vastly different ways. Offer as may ways to learn as possible through lecture, demonstrating, videos, and hands on to provide the most retention techniques.