MOOCS IN TOURISM EDUCATION:FUTURE OR FANTASY?

Pauline J. Sheldon, PhD

University of Hawaii, USA

ENTER CONFERENCE

2014, DUBLIN, IRELAND

Questions• Are MOOCS interesting or just a fashion?

• If Yes is there space for them in the tourism domain?

• If Yes, what could be done to further explore and start a project?

The Changing Academic Landscape

• Changed Focus: • Research and assessment/metrics • Teaching outsourced• Neo-liberalism

• Dissolution of boundaries• Space • Discipline• Time

“It's quite fashionable to say that the education system is broken — it's not broken, it's wonderfully constructed…. It's just that we don't need it anymore. It's outdated.” Sugata Mitra

Paradigm Shift in Learning

• Cartesian View of Learning

• Knowledge as substance

• Pedagogy as knowledge transfer

• Knowledge stocks

• Social View of Learning

• “We participate therefore we are”

• Understanding is socially constructed

• Knowledge processes

Ways of Learning:

• ‘Knowing’ is obsolete; • ‘How to learn’ is important (Negraponte)

• Lessons from the Hole in the Wall: Sugata Mitra• SOLE Self-organizing learning environments

• Broadband connectivity, collaboration and encouragement

Technology and Co-creating Knowledge

• Students learn differently: • The Millenials

• Search Technologies• Open access to knowledge• Students are self-organizing e.g. ClassroomAlive.

MOOCS in TOURISM DOMAIN?• Challenges of Tourism Education

• Complex, multi-discipline multi-sectored industry• Where do we belong on campuses?• Status - Quality Students - top campuses?

• YES…there is space if we:• Can use them to teach critical thinking• Balance them with experiential learning• Encourage Inter-disciplinary learning Start answering the key social, ethical and spiritual questions

confronting society and how tourism can contribute to a better world

Collaborate and partner with other institutions, associations, social change movements etc.

• VISION • To ….inspire, inform and support tourism educators and students to

passionately and courageously transform the world for the better.

• Is tourism education addressing the needs of the future?• Shouldn’t educational institutions be leading the societal and tourism

industry shifts? • What does it take to create responsible leaders for the future?

www.tourismeducationfutures.org

FIVE AREAS of FOCUS for TEFI

Advocacy for tourism

•As a field of study

•As a source of employment

Re-shaping tourism scholarship

Metrics

•Meaning

•Relevance

Forum for Futuristic Debate

•Impact of future socio-economic trends

•Annual conference

Facilitating Improved Learning experiences

•Innovative

•Values-based

•Technology driven

Social Entrepreneurship

•Opportunities for field trips

•Walking conferences

•Opportunities for faculty to broaden their perspective

Future Pathways for Tourism Education: Can MOOCS help?

YES….IF….Part of a broader integration of new learning

technologies: resources and talent Balance technology and service/experiential learningDevelop more collaborative learning networksWe develop tourism education for the social good

THANK YOUPSHELDON@HAWAII.EDU

Future Issues in Education

Ways of Learning

Technology Collaboration

Learning Spaces

Education for the Social Good

Technology Based Learning• Carnegie Mellon University

• Open Learning Initiative • 4 feedback loops (student, faculty, course design, learning process)

• Stanford University• Appoints Vice-Provost for Online Learning• online.stanford.edu

• GIGU The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project • 40 US universities with very high speed networks linking university

and community. • Developing innovations to address critical needs in the community

Learning Spaces

Collaboration: New Knowledge Sharing• Crowdsourcing

• ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’: James Surowiecki• ‘We is Better than Me’: Libert and Spector• User-generated content

• Citizen Science• Non-scientists use mobile technologies to collect data

• Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINS):• Based on trust and self-organization• Operate in internal honesty and transparency (Gloor, 2005)

• Distributed and cloud computing

Learning Beyond Walls“The desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world “ John le Carre

• Education through travel: • European Master in Tourism Management• George Washington University• ITHAS• Finland• More….

• Experiential Learning

• “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin

E-Campuses• .

Students are Self-Organizing: IT is critical

• ClassroomAlive• 6 month walking across Europe• Students bring individual questions• Research on the road with IT

• IDEAS for US• https://www.facebook.com/IDEASforUs

IDEAS FOR US• a youth-led movement advancing sustainability and environmental

awareness

• EMERGE Conference: Said Business School, Oxford University

Walking and Learning• FIRST TEFI WALKING WORKSHOP • SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND

TOURISM

• NEPAL May 2-11, 2014  • FORMAT:

Walking Up - The Quest; The Query: Walking papers

The Peak - Camp - Rest – reflection; Awareness-raising workshops on social entrepreneurship and tourism; observation in the villages

Walking Down - Waking Up; Stepping Up, Commitment, Action.

Tourism Education for Social Good Beyond Knowledge economy towards the knowledge society Start answering the key social, ethical and spiritual questions

confronting society and how tourism can contribute to a better world

Partner with social change movements e.g. NGO’s, International agencies, change agencies

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Vision: To advance an Everyone a Changemaker world, where anyone can apply the skills of change-making to solve complex social problems173 projects in tourism