Developing a teaching restaurant as an R&D&I environment

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore how a teaching restaurant could be developed as an internal research (R), development (D) and innovation (I) environment based on the ideas of the students and the teachers. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical framework is composed of constructivist pedagogy. The four types of internal environments, namely learning, development, research, and innovation are described. A case organization's pedagogical model of Learning by Developing is illustrated. Empirical data were collected by utilizing a sentence completion method from the students and the teachers at the case teaching restaurant. Findings – The empirical results illustrated that a teaching restaurant could be developed from the viewpoints of all four environments. However, the students and the teachers do not necessarily perceive a great difference between the aforementioned environments. Furthermore, the students identify more innovative research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) opportunities when compared to the teachers. The socio-cultural constructivist pedagogy was emphasized in the form of team work. Practical implications – When developing a teaching restaurant, both the students’ and teachers’ ideas could be collected. Also both cognitive and socio-cultural constructivist pedagogy proved applicable. Originality/value – A teaching restaurant offers possibilities for constructive learning, R&D&I which can be applied to skills, processes, and services for both individual students and students as team members.