Using problem-based learning to teach tourism management students.

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying the learning styles of tourism management programme students in Greece and the investigation of embedding problem-based learning (PBL) via online activities in the assessment. There is need for degrees in tourism management programmes that will enable students to think critically. Tourism education and training is required to adapt to patterns of change which seem certain to exert a profound influence on future roles and behaviours, since the vocational aspect of learning and teaching has been criticised. In order to understand the students’ learning style and behaviour it is important to develop learning and teaching strategies that enhance the student experience. The author has used Honey and Mumford’s Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ); even though it has been used widely in management training, very few studies using the LSQ however, have focused on hospitality and tourism. The results suggest that the students have a preferred style that poses challenges to lectures in understanding the students’ learning behaviour as well as at developing their teaching strategy. The findings show that students prefer concrete learning styles, active and occasionally reflective. The authors suggest that an appropriate teaching method is problem-based learning with the use of online techniques to trigger the students’ interest and give them the opportunity to reflect and practice the knowledge gained at the course. An example is discussed in the article.