The Future of Education

The tourism industry needs professionals with the adequate knowledge base and lifelong learning skills. Widely adopted by different educational contexts, student-centred learning activities such as problem-based learning (PBL), and project-based learning (PjBL) have been proved to be effective in building the necessary skills and personal qualities that employers are looking for, although very little is known with regard to the conditions and effectiveness of the approach in the context of Tourism courses. PjBL approaches are acknowledged as providing several clear advantages over the more traditional lecture- and seminar- based course delivery techniques. Offering an integrated, rather than discipline bound approach, and exposure to real-life experience, PjBL is described as increasing student overall motivation. In spite of the acknowledged benefits, In spite of the acknowledged benefits, the transition from a traditional approach to a PjBL approach can be associated with feelings of frustration and uncertainty, although once students undertake the transition, then negative perceptions will be reduced.  Therefore, one of the challenges that needs to be addressed by lecturers and school managers,in order to maximise the benefits of  is to understand how PjBL approaches are perceived and what needs to be improved.
This paper reports on an exploratory study of Tourism and Hospitality teachers and students’ perceptions of PjBL experiences in tourism-related courses at two Polytechnics in Portugal, using a questionnaire consisting of several key factors focusing on the conditions under which PjBL was implemented. Although it is an ongoing research process, preliminary  findings suggest that the students found the PjBL more interactive than their classical learning style and perceive it to be more challenging and rewarding. However, some negative perceptions were also expressed. In particular, the students considered the methodology required more effort from their part.

Keywords Active learning methods; Project-Based Learning, Tourism and hospitality;

References:
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