Article Green Open Access 2016

Experiential learning and its effectiveness from the perceptions of hospitality students

Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism
Journal · Vol. 16 · Issue 4 · pp. 296-315
Abstract

This work aims to review the implementation situation of experiential learning (EL) in China’s hospitality education and explore the perceptions of students on the effectiveness of the adopted EL methods. Observations and focus group discussions are conducted in three vocational colleges and three universities in China. The study reveals that EL activities are widely utilized in China’s hospitality education. Generally, students state that EL is more effective than traditional classroom learning. Nonetheless, they consider some EL activities as being ineffectively implemented. Several suggestions are given in this paper to provide support to hospitality educators for improving the utilization of EL methods and facilitate student learning. Furthermore, unique EL methods that are not documented in literature are adopted in China’s hospitality education. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Experiential learning China Vocational college Effectiveness Hospitality education

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
School of Management, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 10 References
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