The role of e-learning applications within the tourism sector

ISSUE 8 June 2014 ISSN 2013-7966 Barcelona

The role of e-learning applications within the tourism sector Issue coordinated by Oriol Miralbell, Lorenzo Cantoni, Nadzeya Kalbaska

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The role of e-learning applications within the tourism sector

Time factor in e-learning Editor-in-chief: Dr Elena Barberà

Editor-in-chief: Scientific Committee: Dr Elena Barberà

Dr Tony Bates, Dr Mark Bullen, Dr César Coll,

Scientific Committee: Dr Betty Collis, Dr Michael Moore and

Dr Dr Mark Bullen, Dr César Coll, Dr Tony LalitaBates, Rajasingham Dr Betty Collis, Dr Michael Moore and Scientific Coordination: Dr Lalita Rajasingham Dr Elena Barberà

Scientific Coordination: Editorial Coordination: Dr Elena Barberà Dr Sílvia Bravo and

Editorial Coordination: Dr Eulàlia Torras Mireia Usart

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Please cite as: In E. Barberà. (2010). Time factor in e-learning. Please cite as:Paper Series, 0, 1-32. Barcelona: eLC Research In Barberà E. (2014) The role of e-learning eLearn Center. UOC applications within the tourism sector. eLC research Paper Series, iss. 8. Barcelona: eLearn Center, UOC ISSN 2014-7966

CONTENTS eLC RESEARCH PAPER SERIES

ISSUE 8 · The role of e-learning applications within the tourism sector

Introduction THE ROLE OF E-LEARNING APPLICATIONS WITHIN THE TOURISM SECTOR Oriol Miralbell, Lorenzo Cantoni & Nadzeya Kalbaska

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Introducing Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage Studies Luis Villarejo, Francesc González Reverté, Oriol Miralbell & Joan Miquel Gomis

E-learning on tourism destinations. The case of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course Asta Adukaite, Nadzeya Kalbaska & Lorenzo Cantoni

Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. In search of a map and possible quality indicators Maurizio De Rose, Elena Marchiori, Nadzeya Kalbaska & Lorenzo Cantonid

Digital technologies and foreign language learning in tourism studies Montserrat Iglesias Xamaní

National Tourism Organizations’ online training offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study Nadzeya Kalbaska

Social networking sites and collaborative learning in tourism Oriol Miralbell

Introduction

INTRODUCtion

THE ROLE OF E-LEARNING APPLICATIONS WITHIN THE TOURISM SECTOR The tourism industry, one of the world’s leading economic activities, represents 5% of GDP and employs one in every twelve people in advanced and emerging economies. As explained by the OECD in the document from 2000 “Measuring the Role of Tourism in OECD Economies. The OECD Manual on Tourism Satellite Accounts and Employment. OECD”, despite the importance of the human factor in characterizing tourism-related industries, little attention traditionally appears to be given to training and education. This is especially true due to labour conditions such as seasonal work, high proportions of part-time workers, high labour turnover, and poor or limited career opportunities. E-learning can contribute to increasing the interest and motivation of tourism employers and employees in improving knowledge and skills, overcoming some of the difficulties caused by current labour conditions. Since the beginning of the Internet, the number of e-learning courses has increased year after year, offering new solutions – and new challenges – for distance teaching/learning within schools and universities as well as outside of them. Learners take advantage of e-learning because it gives them the opportunity to organize their time and overcome distance barriers when accessing to their virtual classrooms. E-learning has fostered a new paradigm for teaching and learning where technologies offer alternative ways to learn and to share and transfer knowledge. In the knowledge economy, education and training have also become an important asset for professionals and companies in becoming more competitive, where e-learning is increasingly used to teach new professionals and to train current employees, improving their professional development. Not surprisingly, tourism academic curricula and tourism organizations use e-learning platforms in training and educating tourism professionals. 04

This special Issue, dedicated to e-learning in the tourism industry, includes six research papers explaining and analyzing several cases of e-learning applied in the education of new professionals and the training of employees in the tourism sector. The existing e-learning courses dedicated to the tourism and hospitality sector have been classified by Cantoni, Kalbaska and Inversini in their paper from 2009, “E-learning in tourism and hospitality, a map”, into four groups, depending on their providers. In the first group we find academic courses; in the second one, courses offered by Destination Management Organizations (DMOs); in the third, corporate courses; and, in the fourth, independent courses. In this special Issue we will see cases belonging to three out of those four groups. The first two papers deal with academic e-learning courses offered in bachelor’s degree curricula for students who want to graduate in tourism. The first one, by L. Villarejo, F. González, O. Miralbell & J.M. Gomis, studies the case of an online course in which augmented reality is used to study the promotion and use of cultural heritage as a tourism resource. In a strategy of “learning by doing”, students improve their skills in the use of Information and Communication Technologies

(ICT) while at the same time learning how to master the analysis of natural and cultural heritage by analyzing the landscape and the integration of the information into augmented reality tools. The second paper, written by M. Iglesias, presents the use of ICTs to improve the acquisition and mastery of English as a foreign language for bachelor’s degree tourism students. The study explores new areas of application in language learning such as: decentralization of the classroom, autonomy of knowledge acquisition and lifelong learning, and the incorporation of competences to foster knowledge transfer in a professional environment. The research deepens the motivation and involvement of the students in their own learning process and the development of their competences when using ICTs.

Focusing on the study of e-learning courses offered by independent providers oriented towards different tourism service professionals, and on different issues such as catering, ecotourism, hospitality management, tourism sales, etc., the paper by M. De Rose, E. Marchiori, N. Kalbaska & L. Canton analyzes the different offers available onlin and reflects on possible quality indicators for such independent courses. Finally, the sixth paper, by O. Miralbell, studies the factors which influence the use of social networking sites for personal development, analyzing the virtual communities of tourism professionals created inside social networking sites for knowledge exchange and generation. The study shows that social networking sites are usefulein overcoming traditional communication barriers between tourism organization and are perceived as very useful for knowledge exchange. However, they lack some features that would make social networking sites efficient for informal learning and for knowledge generation. This special issue of the ELC Research Papers Journal contributes towards a better understanding of the use of e-learning in the education and training of tourism students and professionals. As the use of ICT increases among the people globally, and they use such tools normally to communicate, exchange information and knowledge, they become more and more familiar with this networked communication environment, improving their skills for accessing and sharing knowledge with peers. Thanks to the globalization of production and markets, ICTs are playing an important role in employment development in the tourism sector, so employees need lifelong training to be competitive and must have good skills in the use and mastery of ICTs in their professional activity. E-learning can help meet these market requirements of the while providing much-needed knowledge to tourism professionals for their work-related tasks. Oriol Miralbell, Lorenzo Cantoni & Nadzeya Kalbaska

INTRODUCtion

The next two papers in this issue are related to the study of the use by DMOs of e-learning for sharing knowledge about destinations with their partners and commercial agents. The third paper, written by A. Adukaite, N. Kalbaska & L. Cantoni, deals with e-learning offered by tourism destinations in order to train travel agents about a destination. This paper presents the case of the online training course Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist, with an explanation of goals and structure of the course and a detailed description of the evaluation procesh. There is a special focus on the experiences and perspectives of the participants, proving that travel agents who complete the course prefer to attend it during their working hours. The fourth paper, by N. Kalbaska, explores the e-learning course created by the National Tourism Organization, e titled the Switzerland Travel Academy– for the education and certification of its travel trade partners from a managerial perspective. It reviews the overall course design cycle, as well as the goals and motivations of the organizers of the training platform.

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Villarejo, L.; González, F.; Miralbell, O. & Gomis J.M (2014). Introducing Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage Studies. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 06-14.

Introducing Augmented Reality in #01 Cultural Heritage Studies

Introducing Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage Studies

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Luis Villarejo Francesc González Reverté Oriol Miralbell Joan Miquel Gomis New Tourism Laboratory, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya {lvillarejo, fgonzalezre, jmiralbell, jgomisl} @uoc.edu


Abstract Augmented Reality is a technology that allows overlaid digital content into our view of the real world through the camera of a Smartphone or a tablet. Video, audio, 2D and 3D images, web and text are just some examples of the type of content that can be overlaid on our perception of the real world. This content can be associated with real world elements by means of geolocation or image recognition. Such technology has great engagement potential and is used in many fields to augment the users’ perception of the world. Cultural heritage is one of the fields that could benefit more from this technology. This paper describes how augmented reality has been used in an educational context in order to support learning for cultural heritage students. The

students taking part in this experience built landscape units in several locations in Catalonia and augmented them with digital information, creating digital Points of Interest distributed throughout Catalonia and Spain. These Points of Interest, which constitute a mix of digital and real world information, were then published through an augmented reality browser, making them freely available to the public. Today there are more than 5,000 freely available Points of Interest that have been created by the students. The results of the experiment show that students appreciate the use of augmented reality in this particular context and find it useful both from a pedagogical and a technological point of view.

Keywords Augmented Reality, Cultural Heritage, Education, Digital Contents, Geolocation

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ISSUE 8 · The role of e-learning applications within the tourism sector | ISSN 2013-7966


Introduction

In the following sections, the concept of augmented reality is further introduced and developed. Then, the learning scenario in which this experiment has been developed is explained. After that, we describe the experience and, finally, we discuss its outcomes and explain our conclusions.


The Open University of Catalonia is an entirely online higher education institution which relies on technology to support the learning and teaching processes of their students and lecturers. Cultural heritage is part of the tourism studies curriculum at the Open University of Catalonia. In this subject, the study of heritage sciences and the changes it has recently undergone is set out. This includes the analysis of new heritage concepts like

It is in this academic context that the New Tourism Laboratory of the Open University of Catalonia has launched an educational experiment introducing AR as a way to support learning and teaching regarding landscape as a form of Cultural Heritage.

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Digital information is increasingly becoming part of our everyday life. This used to happen only in specific and static moments of our life (working with the computer, getting a bus ticket from an automatic machine…). However, due to the rapid spread and adoption of mobile devices like smart phones or tablets, digital information can be present in our day from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep. In 2012 it was estimated that 13 million people in Spain can access the Internet through their smart phones or tablets (Europapress, 2013). Our pockets therefore now store devices that are able to retrieve digital information very easily, regardless of the physical context around us. We mean that most of the information these devices retrieve is not interested in the user’s physical location unless the user explicitly indicates it. This is now changing because of the addition of GPS and image recognition capabilities into our mobile devices. These capabilities provide our mobile devices with automatic information that allows the user to contextualize the information given to him or her. In this sense, Augmented Reality (AR) is rapidly gaining momentum as a very practical way of tying together our physical context (our real world) and the digital information we can retrieve through a mobile device. The use of such a technology as a bridge between the digital and the physical world (Henrysson, 2004) constitutes a very good resource for educational purposes (Klopfer, 2002).

spoken heritage, historical memory, landscape and its relation to culture and how information technologies can support its tourism and recreational interpretation. In addition, the maintenance of sustainable tourism uses of heritage and sustainable strategies to prepare cultural tourism products also constitute important curricular topics.

Fundamentals of augmented reality Augmented reality is a technology that allows digital content to be overlaid on our view of the real world using the camera of a smart phone or a tablet. According to (Azuma 1997, p. 2), “Augmented Reality is a variation of Virtual Environments, or Virtual Reality as it is also called. Virtual Environments technologies immerse users inside a virtual environment. While immersed, the user cannot see the existing surrounding real world. In contrast, AR allows the user to filter the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world. Therefore, AR supplements reality, rather than completely replacing it”. Video, audio, 2D and 3D images, web and text are just some examples of the type of contents that can be overlaid into our perception of the

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real world when using AR. These contents are associated to real world elements by means of geolocation or image recognition and are visualized through an AR Browser that uses the camera of his or her mobile devices. In this way, a particular location in the real world (or a particular object or place) that has digital content associated with it becomes a so-called Point of Interest providing a mix of digital content and real-world view to the user, as can be seen in figure 1. The amount of digital information that can be added to our physical reality is almost unlimited. Take, for example, the tourism sector (see Yovcheva, 2012) for a complete overview of AR applications for the tourism sector). Imagine a tourist who has just arrived in a city and wants to spend the whole day there. He will be interested in a lot of topics regarding the city he is visiting. And our tourist will surely be interested in information regarding the particular location where he is at all times. At

the beginning of the day, our tourist is bound to be interested in getting information concerning the nearest means of transport he has to reach a location he is interested in. Our tourist can then open an AR browser and look for means of transport around him. Later in the day he will be interested in getting information about a particular place he is visiting. Some hours later, our tourist will probably be interested in getting information regarding restaurants near the place he is visiting. And we could continue with a long list of information our tourist will be interested in. In an urban context, wherever we point with our mobile phone we will get hundreds of Points of Interest. One of the risks that AR systems must take into account is information overload, as mentioned in Vlahakis (2001). How can all this information be organized so it can fit on the screen of a smart phone or tablet? The answer is organizing information in layers. Layers can be seen as filters inside an AR browser that show only Points of Interest belonging to a particular

Figure 1. Screen capture of a mobile device running the Wikitude app and showing a Point of Interest at the Sant Pau public transport station in Barcelona.

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category. Public transport, for example, is a layer. Whenever users are interested in getting information just about public transport, they can activate the Public Transport layer and the Points of Interest shown on the screen of the mobile device will only be related to public transport. Similarly, there are layers about museums, restaurants, shops, cultural heritage sites, libraries, events, nightlife, hospitals, etc.

Why focus on landscape as a tourism resource? Because landscape is a key tourism resource. In fact, landscape walking and contemplation

Focusing on education, as Carreras (2009) mentions, there are different aspects of AR that can be applied to the enhancement of cultural heritage, and particularly landscape. Firstly, using AR in education facilitates a more immersive learning experience that triggers changes into students’ perceptions. As shown in Dede (2009), successful immersive experiences enhance students’ learning, allowing multiple perspectives, enabling situated learning (in which the learning activities mirror authentic, real-world problem solving), and by facilitating transfer (the students’ ability to apply what they have learned to other real-world problems or contexts). Secondly, AR facilitates the understanding of complex and dynamic processes (e.g. reconstruction techniques and simulation) that enrich the presentation of heritage for different levels of interpretation. And thirdly, AR allows for an expansion of any graphic item. The idea of this learning initiative is to experiment with the use of AR as a way of supporting the tourist and recreational interpretation of landscape. In particular, we think that such an approach will allow us to increase students’ awareness of the protection



The level of interaction that AR provides promotes constructivist notions of education where students take control of their own learning, and interact with the real and virtual environments. This way, students can manipulate digital objects, learn tasks and gain skills. The benefit with AR learning is that errors are not real. In general, AR training creates opportunities for authentic learning and accommodates multiple learning styles. For instance, there are educational experiences showing that the use of AR within the context of an immersive virtual learning process improves simulation, providing the experience with a greater level of authenticity, as shown by Rosenbaum, Klopfer & Perry (2007), as well as realism in educational games (Arnold & Geser 2008), while enhancing collaborative tasks, as shown by Billinghurst (1999) and in Morrison and colleagues (2009). AR supports different aspects of knowledge to be used in different areas, such as teaching, environment, museums, researching, learning, creating, or recreating (Arnold & Geser, 2007; Schmalstieg & Wagner 2007; Dunleavy, Dede & Mitchell, 2008). In this sense, AR represents an excellent opportunity to create learning experiences in a variety of fields, and cultural heritage, from a tourism point of view, is one of them.

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Learning scenario

is one of the most popular activities among tourists. There are studies showing that 46% of tourists consider landscape as a key factor for measuring the beauty of the location visited. Landscape constitutes one of the main touristic attraction factors. This is explained by the fact that the touristic experience is a geographical experience that needs tourists to move to the destination, which implies a change in the tourist’s location. One of the variables that best show the change of location is landscape, as shown in Nogué (2004). Taking into account that landscape is an indicator of change and is actually the expression of the transformation that a particular culture causes in its location, we can better understand the central role that landscape plays as a heritage resource.

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and care of landscape and to improve academic results both in terms of competences developed and accomplishment in terms of evaluation and continuous assessment. The pedagogical goal of the initiative is twofold. Firstly, we wanted students to learn how to provide content for landscape units (which have an interest from a touristic or recreational point of view) taking geolocated information as a basis for their work. And secondly, we wanted students to experiment and learn on the possibilities of augmented reality applied to landscape. To achieve these goals, landscape data should be organized so that AR browsers like Layar, Wikitude and Mixare can retrieve it. These browsers are the tools that deliver the data insitu through a mobile device like a smart phone or a tablet. As we have mentioned previously text, audio, video or web pages are the kind of information that can be incorporated in a Point of Interest to be retrieved and shown by the AR browser. In this initiative, students are asked to work in teams in order to create a tourism product for the interpretation of a landscape of their choice. The target audience of this product is a potential visitor who looks at landscape but does not have value added information on it. In this way, students must design a project in which landscape interpretation elements are incorporated so that that landscape is described beyond visual contemplation. The project should allow for a tourist interpretation, integrating tourism information regarding the particular destination where the user is. To support students in this project, three learning resources have been created. Firstly, a pedagogic guide has been written in order to support learning regarding landscape dynamics and its tourist interpretation. Secondly, a technical guide regarding augmented reality has been created to explain the mechanics of this technology and the software tools that


must be used. And, finally, a collaborative working space has been created under the form of a wiki and a blog in which students and teachers communicate and coordinate the development of the project. In addition to that, we contacted Orange (France Telecom España S.A.U.) to participate in this project providing mobile devices for our students so they could validate in situ the visualization of the Points of Interest they were creating.

Development of the initiative Given the learning scenario, goals and resources described in the previous section, students organized themselves in groups of four people and distributed the work among them. The first step they had to take was to identify the particular landscape they wanted to work on and the items that make it up from their point of view. Once they identified the landscape and the particular items making up the landscape unit, the process of compilation or creation of digital resources began. Some of them compiled digital resources already available on the Internet, such as websites, Youtube videos, images, while others created their own resources in the forms of videos, documents or images. Once each item in the landscape had a list of digital resources associated with it, students used an AR Content Management System (CMS) to create one Point of Interest for each item making up the chosen landscape. The AR CMS chosen to perform that step was Hoppala. Hoppala is a non-profit initiative that provides a completely online AR CMS. This CMS provides a Google Maps interface over which users can select a particular location anywhere in the world and associate digital resources with it. This information is then stored in a way that AR browsers can recover it and show it on the screens of mobile devices. Each student group



was given a Hoppala account, previously set up by the IT staff at the Community Initiatives department at the Open University of Catalonia. Once logged into this account, they created the Points of Interest and associated the digital resources they created or compiled.

In order to compile evidence about the usefulness of the initiative and the attainment of its goals, we conducted satisfaction polls with the students at the end of each semesters when we ran these experiments over the last 3 years. Table 1 shows a summary of the

As we have mentioned before, the initiative described in this paper has been running now for 3 years. This means more than 200 students have taken part in it. Thus, the initiative has been consolidated both as an instrument and teaching resource for the subject of cultural heritage. The following are the conclusions we draw from this polls and our experience. Firstly, despite the technical and pedagogical difficulties involved in the initiative, the academic results have been very good both in terms of competences developed and in terms of accomplishment in evaluation and continuous assessment. Evidence of that is the fact that, since the introduction of this initiative, the success percentage in the cultural heritage subject has been above the average for tourism studies subjects.


During the whole the process, students could directly send their learning queries to their lecturers by e-mail and their technical doubts related to AR to IT experts at the Open University of Catalonia either by e-mail or using the blog specially developed for the purpose.

Outcomes and conclusions

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Points of Interest created by the students could be displayed using the Layar AR browser as soon as they were created as the Community Initiatives department took care of all the technical details to make this possible so students could concentrate on the pedagogical part of the initiative.

satisfaction indicators we compiled. Values obtained for each item range from 1 (meaning total disagreement) to 5 (meaning total agreement).

Table 1. Summary of satisfaction indicators extracted from the students’ answers in the polls. Item to be evaluated

Agreement

The workload the initiative involved was appropriate

4.6

The initiative incorporates an innovative focus

4.6

I am satisfied with the learning outcomes of the initiative

4.1

I will recommend the initiative to other students

4.2

Overall evaluation of teamwork

3.3

The AR software used for the experience was easy to use

2.7

I have improved my abilities in the use of ICT for heritage management

3.9

I have improved my abilities in the creation of heritage-based touristic products I have improved my abilities in the interpretation of heritage-based touristic products

4 4.1 3.94

Agreement Average Score


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Secondly, one of the items this initiative allowed us to work on is cooperative work between students which, in an e-learning scenario, is always difficult to work out. As we will see later, this is an item that still needs improvement.

strategies towards landscape management, as it can be seen as a partial replacement of physical items offering information to visitors which require periodic maintenance due to physical degradation.

Thirdly, the project has allowed collaboration between different stakeholders related to the design, organization and implementation of the initiative. At an external level, private stakeholders like Orange, Hoppala and Layar have played an important role in the initiative. At an internal level, collaboration between teachers and IT experts has been further developed, giving rise to a variety of different activities that have been built on the mutual trust generated in this project.

Finally, we would like to underline three limiting aspects that we think should be improved in future editions of the experiment. The first aspect is teamwork. The satisfaction polls we conducted reveal that teamwork has been one of the elements worst rated by students. It would be very good if we could provide students with a motivation for the teamwork. The second aspect is entrepreneurship. Despite the high potential for the to be transformed into a tourism product, none of the students have been interested on this. We should try to find mechanisms to link the initiative with the entrepreneurial capacities of students. The third aspect we would like to improve is the usability of the AR software tools we used for the initiative, as this is an aspect underlined by students. We should find ways to make these pieces of software more usable for users not specialized in ICT.

Fourthly, the initiative has allowed us to increase students’ awareness if the protection and care of landscape, especially on the aspects related to its central role in the tourism scenario. Students have been able to communicate their concerns, values and care for landscape in a professional environment. An indicator of this is the proposal for the creation of different tourism packages based on the application of AR to landscape. Regarding the general use of AR for a tourist interpretation of landscape, we think AR introduces a series of opportunities that should not be ignored. The tourism experience can benefit from an improvement in availability of information regarding particular landscapes through the use of AR. Given the degree of familiarity that people have now with mobile devices, this rise in availability of information can lead an increased attraction for landscapes by incorporating this technology. At the same time, AR allows the generation of sustainable


Acknowledgements The initiative explained in this article has been possible due to the support provided by the Open Office of Innovation at the Open University of Catalonia and Orange (France Telecom España S.A.U.). The Open Office of Innovation Oficina Oberta d’Innovació provided the project with the economic means to develop the initiative while Orange provided the initiative with mobile devices and connectivity to enable students to visualize and test their progress in building AR landscape.



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Vlahakis, V., Karigiannis, J., Tsotros, M., Gounaris, M., Almeida, L., Stricker, D., Gleue, T., Christou, I. T., Carlucci, R. & Ioannidis, N. (2001). Archeoguide: first results of an augmented reality, mobile computing system in cultural heritage sites. In VAST’01: Proc. Conf. On Virtual reality, archaeology, and cultural heritage, pp. 131-140, Glyfada, Greece. ACM Press. ISBN 1-58113-447-9, from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/220955275_ Archeoguide_first_results_of_an_augmented_reality_mobile_computing_system_in_cultural_heritage_sites/ file/5046351acf4b16b746.pdf Yovcheva, Z., Buhalis, D. & Gatzidis, C. (2012). Overview of Smartphone Augmented Reality Applications for Tourism, Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 10, No. 2, from http://ifitt.org/admin/public/uploads/eRTR_ SI_V10i2_Yovcheva_Buhalis_Gatzidis_63-66.pdf

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Iglesias M. (2014). Digital technologies and foreign language learning in tourism studies. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 15-26.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING IN TOURISM STUDIES Montserrat Iglesias Xamaní

In order to foster the development of key competences, a research project was carried out at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management CETT-UB (EUHT CETT-UB) from the University of Barcelona (Spain). The participants were a group of 16 students of English as a Foreign Language. They worked on a research project in groups and presented it orally to the rest of the class, who had to assess their peers’ performance. All the project presentations were video recorded and the recordings were included in a weblog which the students could access freely. They could thus watch their own performance and those of other students, as well as comment on their strengths and weaknesses. A thorough analysis

of the blog posts led to the conclusion that the students provided more positive than negative feedback, focusing on a wide range of aspects. In addition, the results showed that the posts reflected the awareness-raising work on reflective assessment that had been carried out during the academic period. This project gave rise to subsequent pedagogical actions based on the use of blogs with the involvement of other groups of students at EUHT CETT-UB. Our experience can be used as a model by other institutions, as such methodology can be applied in classes based on oral presentations, regardless of the topic they are covering and the language used.

Keywords Blog, English as a Foreign Language, Tourism Studies, Key Competences, Peer Assessment


Digital technologies and foreign language learning in tourism studies

Abstract

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Escola Universitària d’Hoteleria i Turisme CETT-UB, University of Barcelona [email protected]


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INTRODUCTION

Digital technologies and foreign #02 language learning in tourism studies

Research objectives

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This paper presents a study aiming to explore new areas of methodological application in language learning in line with the pedagogical conceptions that underlie the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), i.e. the decentralization of the classroom as a learning context, the promotion of autonomous acquisition and lifelong learning, and the incorporation of competences in curricula to foster the transfer of knowledge in a professional environment (Colén, Giné & Imbernón, 2006). The research focused on some key aspects in education in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Tourism: the motivation and the involvement of the students in their own learning process, the development of their competences, the use of digital technologies and the introduction of assessment tools. This small-scale qualitative research was carried out at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management CETT-UB (EUHT CETT-UB) from the University of Barcelona (Spain) and a number of objectives were set. The project was undertaken to work on the students’ communicative competence, with a special focus on their oral skills. It was also intended to build up the reflective and critical capacities of the students in learning and assessment processes. The project also aimed to promote self and peer assessment through new technologies. Finally, it sought to develop the learners’ autonomy as well as other professional competences such as teamwork, time management and work organization. Three research questions were formulated based on the assumption that the above mentioned key aspects in EFL pedagogy needed to be analyzed. They mainly related to the development of the learners’ critical thinking, their involvement


in peer assessment processes, and the form and content of feedback provision after being acquainted with assessment procedures: Question 1. What aspects do students focus on when giving positive and negative feedback? Question 2. Do the blog comments reflect the work on assessment criteria carried out throughout the course? Question 3. How do students express politeness in their comments when providing their peers with feedback? Before reporting on the research, let us explore some fundamental concepts underlying it.

Communicative competence Communicative competence became popular at the end of the ‘60s as a reaction to the concept of linguistic competence defined by Chomsky in 1965. According to Hymes’ model of communicative competence, speech events need to be linguistically correct, physically possible, sociolinguistically adequate and consistent with real language use (Hymes, 1972). Canale and Swain (1980) conceptualized communicative competence as a system of knowledge and ability which is necessary for communication. In other words, communicative competence refers to the knowledge about language and its communicative use, as well as to the ability to use that knowledge in specific, real communication situations. Canale (1983) stated that foreign language learners should be trained to use language in authentic situations and stressed the importance of feedback provided by the participants in assessment processes in order to obtain relevant information about their validity. Deriving from the initial model of communicative competence provided by



Since validity is a crucial issue as far as assessment is concerned, let us clarify what is meant by this term by turning to the definition provided in the CEFR: “A test or assessment procedure can be said to have validity to the degree that it can be demonstrated that what is actually assessed (the construct) is what, in the context concerned, should be assessed, and that the information gained is an accurate representation of the proficiency of the candidates(s) concerned.” (Council for Cultural Co-operation, 2001, p. 177) From a constructivist approach assessment is considered an essential component of the teaching/learning process. Even though different types of assessment exist, in higher education contexts assessment should serve a

Colén, Giné and Imbernón (2006) consider that assessment ought to be continuous, multidimensional, contextualised, collaborative and learner-centred. According to these authors, assessment should be carried out continuously during the teaching/learning process. Formative assessment should aim at guiding and supporting students by providing them with feedback on their progress, since “evaluating students is the process of ‘forming’ their competencies and skills with the goal of helping them to continue that growth process.” (Brown, 2004; p.6). Students, in turn, should also supply feedback on the teaching/learning process so that it can be improved. On the other hand, summative assessment should inform about the degree of achievement of the academic objectives for certification purposes at some certain points, as according to Bachman (1990) it reports on the learning outcomes. The assessment of students’ learning is multidimensional because it involves assessing their knowledge, abilities, capacities, and cognitive and metacognitive strategies. It is not just a question of assessing what learners know, but also their resources and competences, including the ability of learning to learn. Assessment should also take into account the students’ learning context, as meaningful acquisition implies being able to relate different aspects of learning to each other. In addition, the assessment and management of learners’ progress and limitations ought to be a collaborative process that should involve all the players in the teaching/learning game, i.e. the own students (self assessment),



Assessment

double purpose: the educational aim should not be overridden by certification requirements.

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Canale and Swain, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) produced by the Council for Cultural Cooperation (2001) has been nowadays adopted by the vast majority of higher education institutions in Europe. According to the CEFR, communicative competence is composed of linguistic competences – including lexical, grammatical and phonological knowledge and skills; sociolinguistic competences –concerning the socio cultural conditions of language use, and pragmatic competences –related to the functional use of linguistic resources. Communication strategies are needed in order to carry out both written and oral communication activities such as message production and reception, interaction and mediation (i.e. the use of limited linguistic resources to process information and handle meaning equivalences). Thus, language users turn to communication strategies to plan, execute, assess and repair what they say.

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their classmates (peer assessment) and their teachers. This means that the students should be aware of the rules and that there should be an opportunity for negotiation: they should be familiar with assessment criteria and they should know how assessment is to be conducted.


Politeness strategies shown in feedback

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Considering the importance of feedback in the learning process, special attention should be paid to politeness strategies when giving feedback. Politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers’ face, according to Brown and Levinson (1987). Usually people try to avoid making embarrassing comments that could mean loss of face for another, i.e. the respect and esteem that an individual has for himself or herself. Brown and Levinson describe four types of politeness strategies that sum up human politeness behaviour: bald on-record, negative politeness, positive politeness and offrecord indirect strategy. Bald on-record strategies mean that the speaker makes no effort to minimize the threat to the face of his/her interlocutor. Positive politeness usually tries to minimize the distance between interlocutors by expressing friendliness and interest, whereas negative politeness implies that the speaker is trying to minimize the impact of the speaker’s potentially threatening comment on his interlocutor. Off-record indirect strategies refer to when the speaker withdraws himself from making potentially threatening comments. Politeness affects the words and expressions students choose when providing their peers with feedback. Calsamiglia (1995) indicates that linguistic politeness is based on recognizing that the interpersonal function of language is present on the basis of communicative behaviour.


Key competences The school of tourism where this study was carried out has a teaching/learning approach focusing on competences in the context of the EHEA, and the key competences that the curriculum of the Degree in Tourism wishes to develop are based on this principle. A competent person has the capacity of solving problems within his/her sphere of influence. Thus, according to Goñi (2005) whereas conceptual knowledge can become out of date, working on the students’ competences is much more useful to integrate them in their personality and enable them to work autonomously. There are different types of competences. In Catalonia (Spain), the region where this study was carried out, primary and secondary schools focus on a number of basic competences, whereas technical and university degrees are based on professional competences. Basic or key competences foster the development of capacities, they are applicable to the curriculum contents, they are dynamic and cross-curricular. On the other hand, higher education seeks to foster professional competences, as well as those key competences which are necessary for lifelong learning according to the document developed by the European Commission (2004), such as communication in a foreign language, learning to learn, interpersonal competences, capacity of innovation and digital competence. Digital competence refers to knowing how to use information and communication technologies (ICT). ICT tools like blogs are a good means to work on student competences and assessment skills. Through blogs student work is not just collected, edited and assessed,



but also published for a real audience because of the public nature of blogs.

Blogs

Previous research on the effects of blog and face-to-face education in an English course for hospitality and tourism students has shown that this blended approach can be fruitful, as the learners’ professional skills can be improved, students can benefit from autonomous and collaborative learning processes, they can take advantage of peer and teacher feedback provided through blogging, and they feel more

For the purpose of this research, a class blog was used as a class assignment. The researchers posted videos of their presentations on the blog and students had to comment on them. Further details on the project are provided in the following section.


From the perspective of integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) blogs are a means to promote language use in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class not just by providing a technological support to the language learning process, but rather by allowing students to share and co-construct knowledge inside and outside the classroom as they become motivated, critical, and active while engaging in learning activities that in turn help them to develop their language skills more authentically (Chang, Pearman & Farha, 2012). In the case of tourism students, communication skills are considered a crucial aspect, as well as the ability to meet the ever changing technological requirements of the tourism and hospitality industry (Sigala, 2002). They therefore need to develop both their communicative and digital competences, which can be effectively fostered through integrated instruction.

According to Campbell (2003), there are three types of blogs: the tutor blog, the learner blog and the class blog. A tutor blog is administrated by the teacher and is mainly used to provide learners with extra practice and resources. Learner blogs, on the other hand, are run by individual learners and are usually used to develop their writing skills. The class blog is the result of the collaborative work of a whole class and it can serve a number of different purposes. For instance, it can be a space where learners and teachers can post extra information, share videos, have a discussion or post their assignment.

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Blogs are a social software application that initially aimed at linking websites (Raith, 2009). These Web 2.0 tools became more accessible and user friendly thanks to the creation of blog hosters in 1999, which together with faster Internet broadband connections and affordable flat rates had a stimulating impact on the blogosphere.

comfortable as the possibility of losing face is reduced (Shih, 2012).

METHODOLOGY Research Setting This research was carried out at Escola Universitària d’Hoteleria i Turisme CETTUB (EUHT CETT-UB), a Catering and Tourism Management College forming part of the University of Barcelona and offering education and training to students wishing to work in different sectors of the tourism industry. The participants were a group of 16 students of the Degree in Tourism. The majority of the participants were 20-21 years old and this was the third year of their university studies for most of them. English was a compulsory subject matter for one term at a level of B2 within the CEFR. The participants’ level of English was reasonably


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homogeneous, as an initial placement test had been designed to ensure similar levels of competence.

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In terms of assessment, the students could choose between sitting a final exam at the end of the term or doing continuous assessment, which involved carrying out a number of tasks. In the case of the group of students who took part in our research, one of these tasks consisted of undertaking a research project in groups and presenting it orally to the rest of the class, who had to assess their peers’ performance. Thus, the mark the participants obtained for their project presentations resulted from combining the marks provided by both their teacher and their peers. In order to train the participants in terms of peer and self assessment, several awareness raising tasks had been devised prior to this, such as individual presentations that had been a springboard for discussing assessment criteria in the classroom. As part of their assessment, most of the participants had to submit portfolios, seen as a collection of samples of the work they were carrying out throughout the term that supplied evidence of their learning and an opportunity to reflect on their progress critically. The students’ portfolios comprised different types of artefacts, such as questionnaires, audio and video recordings, written reports, samples of class activities, etc. The self assessment and peer assessment sheets used for the individual oral presentations had been included in the participants’ portfolios.

Data collection Two weeks before the end of the term the participants presented their research projects orally to the rest of the class using the support materials they wished. All the groups prepared PowerPoint slides and some groups also used


DVD players. In turn, all the presentations were video recorded by one of the researchers. Each member of the group was supposed to speak for 5 to 10 minutes and every presenter was required to answer the questions that both the teacher and the audience asked at the end of each group’s presentation. The video recordings were uploaded on YouTube and then included in a weblog (http:// englishcett.blogspot.com) so that the students could access it freely, watch their own performance and those of other students and analyze their strengths and their weaknesses. The last two sessions of the course were carried out in the computer lab. During the first session the blog was presented to the participants. Half of the class was told to watch and analyze their presentations individually, filling in a self assessment report in writing. Meanwhile, the other half had to work in groups to watch and analyze another group’s presentation and give feedback by writing at least two comments in the blog referring to the presentation’s strengths and weaknesses. After completing these activities, the two halves of the class exchanged their tasks. Finally, the participants had to give their opinions about the experience by filling in a brief online questionnaire included in the blog. During the second session, the participants were asked to read the comments provided by their peers in the blog and write a reply to their comments. They were also recommended to continue using the blog independently once the course had finished.

RESULTS To carry out this study, a number of areas were identified in order to classify the students’ feedback contributions and analyze them later. These areas cover a range of comments



on the presentation itself, the presenters’ performance and language aspects. The data processing procedures will be illustrated next with respect to each one of the initial research questions, including examples of the students’ verbatim posts (in italics) as well as the researcher’s own remarks.

Focus on Learners’ Feedback

The last field identified, language aspects, included only comments related to vocabulary (e.g. Good use of vocabulary). Each comment was assigned to one area; however, occasionally, some comments were related to more than one item such as: They were able to put across their topic very clearly, which was connected to two subcategories, in this case to “Discourse management” and to “Ability to synthesize”.

The main items students focused on during positive feedback were related to their peers’ discourse management, the work done in order to prepare the presentation and the topic, whereas the language aspects of the students’ discourse were barely mentioned. Students are more prone to comment on aspects that will help them develop their professional skills and be better communicators; the task goes beyond a language task.


Regarding the presenters, the subcategories which were found were related to pronunciation (e.g. The pronunciation was very good), professional skills (e.g. They seemed quiet and professional), discourse management (e.g. All of them have explain their section very well and clearly), analytical ability (e.g. As well the conclusions were very well found.), ability to synthesize (e.g. put across their topic very clearly) and audience motivation (e.g. they have grown up more this interest with their performance).

They covered aspects of the presentation itself, as well as aspects of the presenters and language aspects. However, while providing negative feedback students mainly focused on the presentation itself rather than on the presenters’ skills, and language aspects were overridden. Thus, the vast majority of comments referred to support materials. This is probably due to the fact that comments on support materials are the most “face-saving” item to give negative feedback on.

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Regarding the presentation itself, a number of subcategories were identified, which were related to previous work (e.g. The project was very well prepared, we could see that they have worked a lot on it,), the topic (e.g. Interesting topic), the support material (e.g. Support materials they used were appropriate and useful) and the structure (e.g. Well structured presentation).

As for the results gathered from data analysis it can be stated that students focused on a wider range of aspects when providing positive feedback.

Focus on Assessment Criteria In order to reply to the second research question, the feedback comments provided by the students on the blog were analyzed by putting them in relation with the self assessment and peer assessment sheets used to report on the students’ oral presentations. Thus, each one of the aspects commented on the blog was related to the corresponding item in each section of the above-mentioned documents. With respect to the procedure, it must be pointed out that the blog comments were accounted for in terms of general recurrence. Occasionally one comment, such as: On the


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other hand we think that maybe the PowerPoint presentation was too long, maybe there were too many ideas included, was included in relation with two different items. In this case, this comment was related to these two items: “Adequacy of the support materials” and “Discourse management: relevance, coherence and extent”.

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Another feature dealt with in the analysis had to do with the range of groups who provided the item-related blog comments. Different colours were used to indicate the groups who originated the comments to keep track of group variety. Some of the blog comments referred specifically to the items, whereas in some other cases it was necessary to interpret them to match the items. An example of the former - The Discourse was coherent - can be compared to an example of the latter - So sometimes you got lost in what they were saying. Both comments were linked to the item: “Discourse management: relevance, coherence and extent”. Exceptionally, two different items referred to the same idea, as in the examples: “My classmates’ interest in my presentation” (from the Self assessment report sheet) and “My interest in my classmates’ presentation” (from the Peer assessment report sheet). The question of fluency was related to pronunciation, as fluency is affected by the rhythm of speech. This is the case with the comment: We think that fluency is an important factor. Finally, very few blog comments did not fit any of the items listed above. Such comments were grouped under the heading “Other comments”, and the purpose of most of them was to thank the feedback providers for their feedback, followed by a couple of apologies for incorrect feedback giving procedures.


As a result of data processing, it can be observed that the vast majority of the blog comments provided by the students refer to the items on the Self assessment report sheet. This makes it possible to conclude that the blog comments reflect the work on oral assessment criteria which was carried out throughout the course. The students were familiar with most of the assessment criteria and most of them integrated them into their own approaches towards reflecting on the students’ oral performance from a critical perspective. It can therefore be stated that self assessment and peer assessment enhanced the learners’ analytical competence. As for the most frequent blog comments in relation to the oral assessment report sheets, both in terms of general recurrence and group recurrence, the students’ feedback refers to the following aspects: structure of the presentations, support materials, discourse management, and finally, pronunciation. These items coincide with some of the most frequent aspects identified by the researchers to answer the first research question of this study. The structure of the presentation is somehow connected with discourse management, at least as far as coherence is concerned. Obviously, the students considered this was a relevant issue. On the other hand, all the groups used PowerPoint slides to support their presentations, and because of the visual impact of this tool, attention was paid to this aspect. Finally, pronunciation is usually a major concern for Spanish learners of English as a foreign language as it is an essential component of communicative competence which often interferes with their intelligibility in oral communication situations. Managing oral communication successfully is a must in the professional context of tourism. After analyzing the data, it is quite striking to find out that all the assessment criteria



At this point, let us turn to our third research question and focus on how students expressed politeness in their feedback. Students’ comments were classified into positive or negative to observe which kind of feedback was more abundant. After this classification, the comments were analyzed through discourse analysis to study the level of politeness. Maximizers, minimizers and other types of similar indicators were identified to carry out this analysis. In this study, three types of politeness strategies as described by Brown and Levinson (1987) were identified: bald on record, negative and positive politeness. With respect to bald on-record, the absence of indicators is the main characteristic. The lack of politeness in some students’ feedback

In return, Group 6 replied: Thank you for all the positive things that you believe we have. We thing that fluency is an important factor and we think that is necessary to do a good presentation, although we think our fluency was OK with the level we have. Regarding negative politeness, students used minimizers and softeners to reduce the threat. The indicators that were found in this study were: “a little”, “sometimes” and “maybe”. As for positive politeness, the following indicators can be found in the students’ comments: Expressions of flattery. They are expressions that are used to flatter the other speaker (e.g. Congratulations, fantastic, great). Amends and justification. They are used when the speaker excuses his/her interlocutor and justifies the interlocutor after having made a face-threatening comment about him/her (e.g. Sometimes they read the screen but it’s normal in this types of activities because you get nervous). Accompanying expressions. These expressions are used to soften the facethreatening comment (e.g. The only thing we think that can be improved is the fact that they were usually reading. But in general it is a great presentation. Congratulations!!! The three girls were fantastic!!). Emphatic punctuation marks. Punctuation can also be used to emphasize a comment (e.g. Congratulations!!! The three girls were fantastic!!). The students’ comments were analyzed in accordance with the abovementioned indicators and were classified into positive and negative.



Focus on politeness

resulted in one group reacting negatively to another group’s feedback. A good example is what happened when Group 3 provided the following comments: Negatives things: They need fluency.

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are mentioned, except for the criterion: “Interactive communication: initiating & responding, hesitation and turn-taking”. Now, the last few minutes of the students’ oral presentations were devoted to asking questions and replying to them. This was a moment for relevant meaningful communication between the audience and the presenters – we must bear in mind that the students will be mostly engaged in oral interaction in their professional lives and they must prepare for it. The reason why this aspect is completely overlooked in their blog comments might be due to the fact that the last part of their presentations did not receive enough attention as they had already focused on other issues. This shows the need to make the students aware of the importance of oral interaction. It will be a matter for teachers to increase their opportunities to interact meaningfully – in and outside a classroom setting – so the learners can make the most of their communication resources effectively.

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As a result of the data analysis, it becomes obvious that even though the three strategies of politeness were used, every group of students provided more positive than negative feedback. This is probably due to the fact that in order to establish a polite relationship with an interlocutor, it is better to minimize the acts that can potentially endanger the positive image of the interlocutor.

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It has been mentioned that students gave negative feedback in three different ways. Perhaps strategies for giving negative feedback should be presented in class in order to prevent other students becoming offended or not taking the feedback well. The lack of politeness in negative feedback usually corresponds to less proficient students who have problems expressing themselves in a foreign language. It is important for politeness to be worked on from all levels, especially when students are carrying out peer evaluation. Furthermore, politeness is an essential aspect of communicative competence in terms of socio-cultural adequacy, particularly for future professionals who will be dealing with customers in English as a foreign language. Customer care implies taking care of details when relating to clients and is a crosscurricular key competence that needs to be fostered among tourism students. Finally, the participants were specifically asked through a questionnaire how they felt about watching their presentations. While 70% reported that it was interesting and helpful, 30% considered it was a helpful experience, and nobody believed it was not useful.

CONCLUSIONS On the whole, this experience was very successful from the students’ point of view, according to the results of the blog


questionnaire. Moreover, the students’ positive opinions were also recorded in some of their portfolios and they pointed out that it had been a motivating experience. In one of the students’ own words: “An improvement in the class was the “new technologies”, because it is a great motivation for students, because in this way, the class becomes interesting and amusing and this is very important when students learn a language.” On the other hand, in the researcher’s view the experience was also satisfactory. The students seemed motivated indeed and the blog evidence shows that it was a good opportunity to work on their professional skills as well as their communicative competence. Therefore, the aims of the project were accomplished. These findings are consistent with previous research conducted by Shih (2012), in line with the aforementioned theoretical conceptions underpinning our project in terms of what constitutes a valid teaching/learning/ assessment process that has a communicative approach through blogging. Nevertheless, there were a number of drawbacks during the development of the project. Firstly, the time and energy devoted to its preparation was considerable, as some technical difficulties arose which required external guidance. Moreover, the blog sessions were scheduled for the last week of the course, which meant that the timing of the experience was not optimal and affected the students’ attendance and involvement. In fact, despite having been encouraged to continue using the blog outside the classroom, nobody did. This was the main limitation of the study in terms of facilitating learners’ autonomy. For future learning experiences based on the use of this tool it would be a good idea to bear in mind two potentially limiting aspects: the timing and the technical requirements. It is advisable to use this tool gradually throughout



Stemming from this small scale project, the blog as a learning and assessment tool has been used in subsequent academic years up to the present time for the benefit of other groups of learners. New blog materials are posted periodically and made accessible to the rest of EUHT CETT-UB students. We hope this paper contributes to show possible blog applications and make them extensive to the global educational community. #02

References Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental Concepts in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment. Principles and Classroom Practices. New York: Pearson Education. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Calsamiglia, H., & Tusón, A. (1999). Las cosas del decir. Manual de análisis del discurso. Barcelona: Ariel Lingüística.


the term in order to promote students’ engagement and autonomy. As for technical requirements, it is important to take into account the resources that are necessary from the moment their performances are recorded to their broadcasting through the blog. During the class there might be some unforeseen technical difficulties, such as problems with the Internet connection. On the whole, however, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, as blogs are an excellent means to develop students’ competences and enable them to take part in their own learning process.

Campbell, A. P. (2003). Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(2). Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In J. C. Richards & R. W. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and Communication (pp. 2-27). London: Longman. Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47. Chang, C. W., Pearman, C., & Farha, N. (2012). Second Language Acquisition: Implications of Web 2.0 and Beyond, Critical Questions in Education, 3(2), 52-64. Retrieved September 16, 2013, from http://education. missouristate.edu/assets/AcadEd/Web_2.0_final.pdf Colén, M. T., Giné, N., & Imbernón, F. (2006). La carpeta de aprendizaje del alumnado universitario. Barcelona: Octaedro-ICE. Council for Cultural Co-operation. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://www. coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf European Commission. (2007). Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. European Reference Framework. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/publ/pdf/ll-learning/keycomp_en.pdf Goñi, J. M. (2005). El espacio europeo de educación superior, un reto para la universidad: competencias, tareas y evaluación, los ejes del currículum universitario. Barcelona: Octaedro.


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Hymes, D. H. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 269293). Harmondsworth: Penguin. Raith, T. (2009). The Use of Weblogs in Language Education. In M. Thomas (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning (pp. 274-291). Hershey: Information Science Reference. Shih, R. C. (2012). Integrating blog and face-to-face instruction into an ESP course: English for hospitality and tourism, The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, (11)4, 204-209.


Sigala, M. (2002). The Evolution of Internet Pedagogy: Benefits for Tourism and Hospitality Education, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 2 (1), 29-45.

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Adukaite, A.; Kalbaska, N. & Cantoni, L. (2014). E-learning on tourism destinations. The case of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 27-34.

E-learning on tourism destinations. The case of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course

Abstract While Information and Communication Technologies have offered Destination Management Organizations the possibility of reaching tourists and prospects in a direct way, dis-intermediating such communication, they can also provide a suitable platform for involving travel agents and better preparing them to sell a specific destination through ad-hoc designed e-learning courses. This paper presents one such online course – Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist (TSTS) – published by the tourism office of Ticino, a Swiss canton, in order to train travel agents on the destination itself. While the goals and structure of the course are briefly outlined,

the evaluation process is described in detail, especially when it comes to the experiences and perspectives of participants. Results show that e-learning courses play an important role in the different strategies used by professionals in order to obtain knowledge about a destination and that those who finish the course and get the TSTS certificate are more likely to study in the office, also investing working hours. As a consequence of doing the course, more than half the participants visited the destination’s official website, discussed the destination itself with their colleagues, and suggested the course to colleagues.

Keywords Tourism destinations, e-learning, DMOs, Human Resource Management



Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland {asta.adukaite; nadzeya.kalbaska; lorenzo.cantoni}@usi.ch


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Asta Adukaite Nadzeya Kalbaska Lorenzo Cantoni

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E-learning on tourism destinations. The case #03 of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course

Introduction. DMO e-learning courses

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The tourism sector has been deeply affected by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in all its core activities and various tourism experiences. Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) around the globe have been using ICTs for several purposes: for online promotion and marketing, distribution of tourism products, coordination of main stakeholders involved in the creation and delivery of the tourism products/services. Moreover, in the last decade, DMOs have started to use ICTs for education and training activities for their external business partners (Cantoni et al., 2009). An interesting example of the use of technologies for educational purposes by DMOs is provided by online training (or e-learning) courses, which have been used by several destinations around the globe to educate travel trade partners: travel agents, travel consultants, and tour operators. These online training activities are designed in order to provide travel agents with the knowledge and skills they need in order to better sell travel destinations and their attractions (UNWTO, 2008). Online training courses are provided by the destinations at national, regional, or local level. There are currently 75 online training activities courses offered by DMOs at the national level. Examples of such courses include Botswana Tourism Training Course, Switzerland Travel Academy, and the Aussie Specialist Program (Kalbaska, 2012, for a complete list, see www.elearning4tourism.com).

The case of the Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course The “Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist” (TSTS) e-learning course project started in


November 2010 based on collaboration between Ticino Turismo, a Swiss regional DMO based in Bellinzona, and webatelier.net, the research and development lab of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano, Switzerland). The main educational goal of TSTS e-learning course is to train travel professionals, travel agents and tour operators, to sell Ticino as a destination and to provide them with the TSTS certificate. The online training consists of five training modules: “Discover Ticino”, “Selling tips and testimonials”, “Culture and events”, “Excursions and nature”, and “Rivers and lakes”. In order to obtain the certificate, participants need to go through all training materials (read slides, watch videos, and play interactive animations), and pass the final exam. All course materials have been developed in English and the time needed to complete all studying and testing activities is estimated to be about 90 minutes (Kalbaska et al., 2012). The ADDIE model has been chosen as the framework for the course development (Morrison, 2010), with each letter representing a certain phase in the project’s implementation: Analyze. Six interviews with Ticino Turismo DMO representatives helped to define educational and business goals of the e-learning range. Instructional and content analysis through a benchmark of similar courses provided by different DMOs worldwide (37) was used to inform the instructional design of the course. Design. In this phase, structure, content materials, instructive templates, interaction elements, and the course functionalities were defined. Information architecture allowed the formation of the specific steps of the successful training narrative for the course, as well as helping to allocate possible interaction and activities within the platform. Instructional design clarified the structure of the modules, their functionalities, and the



The following section discusses three different evaluation activities undertaken on the TSTS course: (1) pre-launch “beta version” usability testing ; (2) evaluation survey with travel agents who have attended the course, run after approximately one year of course operation; (3) follow-up evaluation survey with course attendees two years after the course has been

1st phase Firstly, a user test was carried out with travel agents who had completed the full online training course (alpha version) to evaluate their experience, asking them to speak aloud their thoughts/feelings (Nielsen & Mack, 1994). Interviews were conducted before and after the usability test and the actual testing activities were video recorded. Content, navigation, and interaction quality, as well as overall usability and satisfaction with the e-learning platform, were measured. Usability analysis was conducted with eight users from Switzerland (German-speaking part), Egypt, Poland, Belarus, Serbia (2), Armenia, and Montenegro. The participants were between 25-35 years old; 3 male and 5 female. Four out of the eight users had not previously been to the Ticino region. Each usability session lasted between one and two hours, during which participants needed to go through the whole training platform, study the course materials and pass the final exam. The overall participant satisfaction with the platform was encouraging. Users described their overall study experience as exciting, interesting, and not boring. Interviews with participants revealed their positive attitude to using such an e-learning platform. As a negative side, some of the participants noted that some parts of the course lasted too long in comparison to others. In addition, the educational value of certain parts of the course, such as the “Intermediate test” or some of the videos, was not clear to the participants. As a main shortcoming of the



Evaluation phases of the Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist (TSTS) course

released. Every phase had different objectives, but always contributed to one goal: a better understanding of the learners’ experience in order to improve and enhance the course to meet learners’ needs and the DMO’s mission.

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possible interaction of the user within each module. Develop. The open source software Moodle 2.0 has been chosen as the Learning Management System. Moodle 2.0 layout has been aligned with corporate design of Ticino Turismo by using CSS and PHP customization. The first outcome of the Development phase was the technical implementation of an alpha version of the e-learning platform, launched in May 2011. It was exposed to a focus group and a group of volunteers who participated in usability tests. The results of the usability tests (presented in the Evaluation section) made an important contribution to the improvements of the alpha version, and, by September 2011, after the upgrades, the beta version of the e-learning course was set up and released at the following URL: www.ticino. ch/e-learning. Implement. After the release of the “beta version” of the course, an extensive online promotion was carried out through professional social networks, direct mail, and back-link campaigns. The 10-week promotional campaign resulted in a total of 199 travel professionals creating an account on the platform, 77 of them becoming TSTS Specialists. Evaluate. Three different phases of course evaluation were carried out and will be presented in the following sections.

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course, participants pointed out that there was no information available about actual prices of tourism packages. The results of the usability tests made an important contribution to the improvement of the alpha version, and, by September 2011, after the upgrades, the beta version of the e-learning course was set up and released.

travel agents who had started the course but had not completed (yet) it, two main reasons were identified: namely lack of time, and course length. Nevertheless, many travel agents stated that the course was of great importance to their professional occupation, and that they intended to complete the training in future.

3rd phase E-learning on tourism destinations. The case #03 of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist course

2nd phase

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The second evaluation step was a survey of the travel agents who had attended the course within approximately one year of it going online. It consisted of two different questionnaires – one for those who passed the final exam and successfully acquired the TSTS certificate, and one for those who subscribed, did some activities and maybe also participated in the final exam, but never obtained the certificate. This survey aimed to discover the attitudes and satisfaction of the travel professionals with the Ticino e-learning course. The main objective of the survey for the second group of participants was to reveal why they did not pass the final exam. The survey was constructed according to Kirkpatrick’s (1994) evaluation model of a learning activity, measuring reaction, knowledge, transfer and impact. 72 travel agents out of 298 that had subscribed to the course answered the survey. 39 out of 72 were travel agents who had started the course and finished it successfully, while 33 were travel agents who did not obtain the certificate. Travel agents who had followed and successfully finished the course, evaluated the online training highly and were convinced that the course had significantly increased their knowledge about the Ticino destination. In addition, results demonstrated that the knowledge and skills gained were of high relevance for them, and had been applied to their professional environment. Looking at


One year after the last evaluation and two years after the course went online, a followup evaluation has been carried out intended to analyze the perspectives of learners who had attended the course. Both groups were surveyed again: those who had obtained the final certificate upon completion of the course, as well as those who had accessed online training without taking/passing the final test. By March 2013, a total of 493 travel professionals (214 certified) had subscribed to the platform. An online survey was designed in order to reach the following goals: To understand the channels and strategies through which travel agents acquire skills and competences about tourism destinations they sell; To identify perceptions about certain aspects of the learning experience when it comes to the TSTS course: location, timing, provider, and certification; To understand whether the TSTS e-learning experience triggered further informal learning actions. The survey consisted of three types of questions: (i) demographics; (ii) understanding of the importance of destination’s knowledge for travel consultants’ professional activities, and the different channels they use to obtain such information; (iii) evaluation of their learning experience about Ticino (Switzerland) through the TSTS e-learning course.



Figure 1. Channels used by travel agents to obtain information about tourism destinations

Travelling to the destinations Internal training eLearning courses about tourism destinations Attending seminars/conferences Peer-to-peer interaction (discussing, sharing materials with colleagues). Websites of Ministries of Tourim/Regional Tourism Boards Reading books/magazines/guidebooks

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Attending road-shows

TV programs/movies/radio programs Subcription to mailing lists Following relevant groups on social networks 0%

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A total of 493 personalized emails have been sent, contacting e-learning course attendees and asking them to fill in the survey. 214 contacts were certified users, and 279 had not (at the time) obtained the certificate. After one reminder, in July 2013, a total of 99 valid responses were collected, corresponding to a response rate of 20%. Of all the respondents, 58 were certified users (27% response rate in their group), and 41 uncertified ones (15% response rate in their group). Travel consultants from thirty two countries replied to the survey, with the biggest share of respondents (44%) coming from India. 52% were male, and 48% female, 65% falling in the 20-40 age range. 74% of the respondents had university degree and an average of ten years of work experience in the tourism sector. 66% of the respondents were representing individual businesses (i.e. working for independent travel agencies), while 28% were working for chains, or franchise

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travel agencies, or tour operators. The remaining respondents were from destination management organizations, and destination event management companies. Overall, 99% of the respondents believe that it is very important or important: (i) to have a deep knowledge of a destination, and (ii) to constantly update and upgrade knowledge about a destination in order to sell it. Respondents suggest that they dedicate the following time to studying tourism destinations every week: 20% - less than 1 hour; 38% - 1-2 h; 41% - more than 2 h. Figure 1 illustrates the importance of different channels travel agents use in order to obtain information about destinations they sell. 97% of the respondents said that it is important to travel to the destination itself. Secondly, internal training was evaluated as important, followed by e-learning courses. The least relevant channels appeared to be TV programs,



Websites of other tourism players (hotels, restaurants, museums, etc.) Information generated by tourist (including travel blogs, videos and photos) Webinars (presentations, lectures, workshops or seminars transmitted over the Web)

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movies, radio programs, subscription to mailing lists and relevant groups on social networks.


Learners’ perceptions about TSTS course In 93% of cases, the TSTS e-learning course was followed as a consequence of a personal decision. Half the respondents planned to do the course, while the other half found the course accidently and did it spontaneously. The respondents were asked to provide their degree of agreement using a four-level ordinal scale (strongly agree – agree – disagree – strongly agree – not applicable) in order to evaluate various statements describing their learning experience of the Ticino e-learning course. Location The course attendees were asked to indicate where they did the course. Figure 2 shows that

those who completed the course and received final certificate mainly did the course at work. Meanwhile, those who had not finished the course were doing it at home, or both at home and in the office. Timing Travel agents were mainly doing the course during their free time (Figure 3). The group of participants who completed a whole course were also devoting a substantial amount of working hours to it. Overall, 91% of all respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the course provided a great deal of flexibility in terms of where and when the work could be done. Provider The learners’ view of the provider revealed that 59% of those who completed the course

Figure 2. Location for doing course work

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Figure 4. Perceptions on the course provider. Answers to the question “This type of course should be designed by an educational institution and not by a Destination Management Organization”

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Figure 5. Actions triggered as a consequence of course attendance 70%

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Subscribed to specific mailing list

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Visited thedestination as fam/educational trip

Scannedpaper magazines about Ticino and/or Switzerland

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Attended road show/ presentation about the destination

Visited websites of tourism players in the destination

Shared materials with my colleagues

Suggested the course to my colleagues

Discussed about the destinations with my colleagues

Visited official website of Ticino and/or Switzerland tourism

Certification Because the TSTS e-learning course provides a possibility of obtaining a certificate, proving that the course has been completed and the evaluation tests passed, it was interesting to understand participants’ perceptions on the issue of getting such a certificate or not getting one. In fact, 89% of both groups (certified and uncertified) would have recommended a colleague to sign up for the course even without having time to pass the final test. Even though the course was designed with the final goal of certification, the cases of spontaneous and incidental course studying cannot be neglected. A spontaneous instance of finding the course while browsing online means an attempt to complete the course might be led purely by curiosity. A user might not access the course to

receive the certificate but just to meet her or his information needs, studying only up to the point covering the desired piece of knowledge. Outcomes and triggers 65% of respondents declared that as a result of taking the TSTS e-learning course they were able to sell more trips to the Ticino destination. Finally, whether following the course had triggered any further related action was investigated (Figure 5). The main actions triggered by the TSTS experience were the following: travel agents visited official website of the Ticino and/or Switzerland tourism destinations (65%), they discussed the Ticino destination with colleagues (62%), and they suggested the course to colleagues (52%).

Conclusion and limitations In summary, course participants confirmed that this type of learning provides a great deal of



disagreed with the following statement: “This type of course should be designed by an educational institution and not by a Destination Management Organization”. On the other hand, 59% of those who did not complete the course seemed to prefer that this type of courses should be provided by an educational institution.

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flexibility in terms of where and when to attend. However, certified users tended to complete the course more during the working hours and they also agreed with the fact that this type of courses could be designed not only by an educational institution. In addition, although for 69% of respondents the course seemed to be more a destination marketing tool than a training course, 89% of them would recommend signing up for the course even if the person they were talking to would not have time to pass the final test.

destination for professionals. The study also provides insights into the design of more suitable learning activities, with the ultimate goal of supporting the professionals concerned in order to deal with challenging work situations in a timely and effective manner. One possible solution could be integrating more informal learning – for example, cooperative tasks with colleagues – based on the fact that more than half the participants have discussed/ suggested/shared materials with their colleagues.

The findings of the study contribute to a better understanding of a learning experience on an e-learning platform concerning a specific tourism destination and how travel agents construct knowledge about a tourism

The study presents only one specific course, results cannot therefore be generalized. Future research could explore further similar courses and could also study travel agents’ motivations in accepting such e-learning offers.

References: Ardito, C., De Marsico, M., Lanzilotti, R., Levialdi, S., Roselli, T., Rossano, V. & Tersigni, M. (2004). Usability of E-Learning Tools. In Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Visual Interface, Gallipoli, Italy. New York: ACM Press, 80-84. Cantoni, L. & Kalbaska, N. (2010). E-learning Offers by Destination Management Organizations. In Ulrike Gretzel, Rob Law & Matthias Fuchs (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, Springer, Wien New York, 247-259. Cantoni, L., Kalbaska, N. & Inversini, A. (2009). E-learning in Tourism and Hospitality: A Map. JoHLSTE - Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 8(2), 148-156.

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Kalbaska, N. (2012). Travel Agents and Destination Management Organizations: e-learning as a strategy to train tourism trade partners. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism. 13 (1), 1-12. Kalbaska, N., Jovic, A., & Cantoni, L. (2012). Usability evaluation of an e-learning course presenting a regional destination. The case of “Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist”. e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), 10(2), 31-34. Kalbaska, N., Sorokolit, O., & Cantoni, L. (2012). Development and evaluation of an e-learning course presenting a regional destination. The case of Ticino Switzerland Travel Specialist. Proceedings of the EuroChrie Conference 2012, 406-415. Kirkpatrick, D. (1994). Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Morrison, G. (2010). Designing Effective Instruction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Nielsen, J. & Mack, L. (1994). Usability inspection methods. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. WTO (2008). Handbook on E-marketing for Tourism Destination. Madrid: World Tourism Organization & European Travel Commission.



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Kalbaska, N. (2014). National Tourism Organizations’ online training offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 35-44.

National Tourism Organizations’ online training offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study Nadzeya Kalbaska

Abstract A large number of studies have been undertaken so far both by academic researchers and by communities from the industry on the use of the Internet for educational purposes. However, very limited research has yet been done on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as educational and training modes within the hospitality and tourism field. Travel agent training, certification processes and the use of ICTs to deliver training to the travel trade have been largely excluded from previous academic research. This study aims to address this research gap in order to understand the range of e-learning in the tourism field. It explores the

use of e-learning courses created by national tourism organizations for the education and certification of their travel trade partners. This research will present the managerial perspective and will evaluate one of the best cases of e-learning courses presenting tourism destinations – the Switzerland Travel Academy. This paper will present the overall cycle of the course design, looking in particular at how the e-learning course has been designed, developed, implemented and assessed. Switzerland Tourism’s motivation for having such a training tool, the history of the training platform, management structure and usages will be discussed as well.

Keywords Tourism Training, E-learning, DMOs, Travel Trade, Destination Marketing


#04 National Tourism Organizations’ online training offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study

Institute for Communication Technologies Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland [email protected]

National Tourism Organizations’ online training offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study

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National Tourism Organizations’ online training #04 offer. Switzerland Travel Academy Case Study

Introduction

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Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) operating as an umbrella brand for all local stakeholders: tourism suppliers, including accommodation, transportation, catering and attractions, use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as the main tool for planning, managing and marketing (Xiang et al., 2008). Several DMOs around the globe have understood and embraced potential opportunities arising from ICTs, which are helpful in spreading promotional messages worldwide, as well as improving a country’s performance on the global tourism market. DMOs around the world are using official websites for interacting with tourists (Choi et al., 2007) and providing essential information about the destination. Furthermore, the development of Web 2.0 techniques has resulted in additional information sources and more sophisticated and effective tools which can be used by the destination marketers (Lee & Wicks 2010; Xiang & Gretzel, 2009). Nevertheless, the constantly increasing competitive and dynamic nature of the tourism industry prompts tourism destinations to develop and integrate effective marketing plans and strategies for possible collaboration with all stakeholders, including trade suppliers and intermediaries. For instance, ICTs can enable DMOs globally to better support and train travel professionals, travel agents and travel consultants, while offering them more extensive, structured and current information about the tourism destinations they sell. In fact, according to UNWTO (2008), there are several ways in which this support can be performed: website, e-newsletters and online trainings: “destination specialist” programs. In the last fifteen years, DMOs around the globe have started to use the opportunity of involvement of ICTs in the provision of tourism education. As of 2013, seventy five DMOs at national level were offering e-learning courses in order to educate travel agents and travel


consultants on the destination particularities, help them in their sales activities and certify them as destinations specialists (Kalbaska, 2012). These e-learning courses are designed for the needs of the travel agents and provide travel consultants and distributors with a comprehensive view of what a destination is about and what it has to offer. E-learning courses are able to give to the travel trade the knowledge and skills to sell the destination effectively and to the right people. Although a growing interest has been shown by tourism practitioners in the field (ABTA, 2008; Tnooz, 2011), scant academic research has been done on the use of ICTs as educational and training modes within the hospitality and tourism field (Braun & Hollick, 2006; Kuttainen & Lexhagen, 2012, Liburd & Christensen, 2012; Sigala, 2002). In particular, little is known about the status of e-learning training practices for the travel trade. For instance, no empirical research has yet been done on the corporate, DMO perspective on the issue under study. In order to present the best practice in the field of e-learning courses created by Destination Management Organizations at national level, the following research objectives were defined: Describe strategies that were used for pedagogical, technical, content and testing activities development; Present integrated approaches for online training promotion and positioning; Evaluate the history of the e-learning course, its management structure and statistical data.

Research design and limitations From the preliminary online questionnaire that has been undertaken in 2010 with the travel agents globally (Kalbaska & Cantoni, 2011), the



This study has been conducted combining both primary and secondary data analysis. Primary data collection has been done in two phases: firstly expert analysis of the platform has been undertaken. This looked at the teaching methods integrated, contents and incentives strategies used to develop the practice of e-learning. Afterwards, semistructured interviews were undertaken with the representatives of Switzerland Tourism who were involved in the production and delivery of the e-learning offer. The interviews were carried out in order to provide an indepth corporate view on the subject matter: Switzerland Travel Academy. The next employee of Switzerland Tourism was interviewed: Project Manager Market Services at Switzerland Tourism. The interview was carried out in February 2012 in the headquarters of Switzerland Tourism in Zurich (Switzerland) and lasted two hours. The second interview was completed using the VoIP service Skype with Market Manager Western India, who is also responsible for education and training in India within Switzerland Tourism. The interview took place in March 2012 and lasted 55 minutes. The use of secondary data analysis (e.g. internal corporate reports and historical data) helped to build on existing knowledge and therefore enhanced understanding for professional theory and practice within e-learning in the hospitality and tourism field.

The case will be presented along the next structure. The description of the management structure of Switzerland Tourism Board will initiate, followed by the discussion of the online presence of Switzerland as tourism destination and strategies used in order to support trade partnerships globally. Furthermore, the history of the e-learning platform and its success in terms of the e-learning usages will be discussed in order to generate an overall context and understanding. The case will be presented alongside ADDIE model (Morrison, 2010). It will be concluded with the discussions of the findings and an overall evaluation, taking into consideration both strengths and limits of the case presented.

Findings Swiss National Tourism Office, its online presence and trade partnership Switzerland Tourism is the national tourism board of Switzerland, whose main purpose is to encourage demand for trips and holidays in the country by foreign and local visitors. Switzerland Tourism is a complex institution whose main aim is to market products and services for Swiss tourism in a given number of countries. Subsequently, it is responsible for evaluating and responding to international tourism trends, market analysis and designing and implementing promotional campaigns around the country. Switzerland Tourism is in charge of organizing promotional events, as well as the provision of services for the media and trade partners. Switzerland Tourism also works with regional and local tourism agencies on promotional activities. Organizationally, Switzerland Tourism is divided into six different units: Market services department and meetings; Portal management, e-marketing, and IT;



list of 15 best-evaluated online training courses about tourism destinations was received. All 15 DMOs were approached with the proposal on undertaking interviews in order to evaluate their experience. Two course providers agreed on participating in current research, one representing a European destination and another one representing a destination in the Asia-Pacific region. This research will present a European case study: Switzerland Travel Academy set up by Switzerland Tourism (Zurich, Switzerland).

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Corporate communication, media and market research; Marketing and strategic partnerships; Business development; Finance, control, and human resources.

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Switzerland Tourism embraced all the possibilities that the development of ICTs and the Internet has brought in recent years. The latter is believed to be the most important source of tourism information, coming into contact with all potential tourists planning to visit the country. In the online market sphere, Switzerland Tourism mainly operates with a website named www.myswitzerland. com. This operates as a hub for all required information that potential clients might look for while preparing their trips to the country. The website acts as Switzerland Tourism’s central unit for online communication, allowing marketing and sales activities on the website itself. Textual and multimedia content, which are present on the main website, can be adapted and published on partners’ websites and/or distributed via other applications e.g. iPhone applications (Inversini et. al, 2012). Switzerland Tourism is managing also an online trade corner, which can be found at the web address: www.tradecorner.stnet.ch. This website provides travel consultants, travel agents and wholesalers with important information and current updates about Switzerland, enabling effective design and planning of a tourist visit to the country. Moreover, it serves as a core component to provide additional support and resources to assist trade partners with travel sales activities. Along with the trade corner, Switzerland Tourism has an extensive policy of trade partners’ coordination and their expertise and knowledge development. This happens through initiatives by Switzerland Tourism such as sales calls and one-to-one meetings with market representatives, road shows, webinars and familiarization trips, as well as through online training.


The Switzerland Travel Academy, which can be found at the web address: www.elearning. myswitzerland.com, is an e-learning training course created by Switzerland Tourism for travel professionals. The online training course has been created as the main tool to educate trade partners with practical information on how and where to travel in the country, enhancing their knowledge to plan and market trips. This e-learning course is being offered free of charge to travel agents globally.

History of Switzerland travel Academy and its usages The idea of Switzerland Travel Academy setting up an e-learning course came up in January 2004. After a series of internal discussions and developments, the training programme was launched as a pilot project for Chinese and Korean market in December 2005. At that time, the platform was managed internally at the head office in Zurich (Switzerland) within the IT department. The Market Services department is currently coordinating all the activities involved in the online training support and delivery. The employees from this department have decided on the information architecture of the current version of the online training, for instance, which modules and what type of evaluation activities should be presented. The marketing team was responsible for creating the content and testing activities for the international version of the platform. Contents and testing activities were then passed to the markets where Switzerland Tourism has representatives and different markets adapted the content to the specific needs of the travel trade. The Switzerland Travel Academy has had rather different levels of success in different markets, possessing a varying number of users accordingly. According to the internal evaluation of online training course



performance by the management, the best examples of e-learning platform management and delivery by the markets are the German and Indian versions.

According to the Indian market representative: “The Indian version of the platform became very successful for several reasons. First of all, due to the fact that Switzerland is a very popular tourism destination among Indian tourists. Additionally to that, very few agents and front desk personnel that are based in India have the possibility to get a visa and travel to Switzerland. For those very reasons, with the help of the e-learning courses, travel agents are getting much more information about the destination itself and the way it should be sold properly to the clients. Moreover, they are getting the possibility to visit the destination one day, while being eligible to participate in familiarization trips.”

Switzerland Travel Academy presentation along ADDIE model Course developed and implementation procedure will be presented along ADDIE model, which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation.

Definition of goals and strategies; Instructional and content analysis through a benchmarking study of similar courses provided by different NTOs worldwide. In order to acquire and strengthen online business-to-business communication with national and international travel professionals, enhance training activities and deliver a modern brand identity for Switzerland as a destination, the opportunity to set up an e-learning course has emerged within the head office of Switzerland Tourism. As has been stated by its head office, the main goal of the project was to create a web-based platform for the training and certification of tourism agents in the markets in which Switzerland Tourism is represented (Switzerland Tourism, 2005). In addition to defining the goals and strategies for e-learning course development, Indian market representatives have done benchmarking research on how other destinations worldwide are developing and supporting their e-learning courses. The following e-learning offers on tourism destinations were taken into consideration in the benchmarking study: Aussie Specialist, provided by Tourism Australia; Kiwi Specialist program, provided by the New Zealand Tourism Board, and the South African Expert training program, created by South African Tourism Board. ii) Design The instructional strategy and teaching materials of the e-learning course were undertaken through the information architecture and instructional design. At this phase, the structure of the training, content materials, interaction elements, and course functionalities were defined by the Market



The Indian version of the online training course was launched in June 2011, when the content was specifically adopted for the market needs. Before 2011, travel agents based in this country were able to access an international version of the online training content, which was not specifically designed to cater for them. Within the first nine months of the activity, the Indian platform attracted 1,347 registered travel agents. Out of them, nearly 10% have successfully completed the course and received official certification. On average, the Indian version of the e-learning course receives around six to seven new registrations every day.

i) Analysis The analysis of the needs and the definition of educational and business goals of the Switzerland Travel Academy e-learning course were undertaken through two main steps:

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Services department. Information architecture allowed the establishment of specific steps for successful navigation within the training course and then helped to allocate possible interaction and activities in the online training. Instructional design clarified the structure of the online training modules, their functionalities and possible interaction of the users within and after each training module.

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The international version of the online training course was structured into eight online training modules. The first module provides a detailed overview of the country, while the others focus on various topics useful for planning and selling trips to Switzerland: “Summer”; “Winter”; “Cities”; “Accommodation”; “Transport”; “Meetings/MICE”; “Top attractions”. Course materials for the “international version” of the online training course were developed in English and are presented mostly in the form of texts. On nearly every training page there is a representative image, which in most cases is modified for the web, meaning that is presented in a small resolution and is not particularly effective for the user. On a few pages, video links about the destination, tourism product, food or traditions are integrated. No audio materials were used in this online training course. Each seminar was designed with approximately two to four hours of study time. In order to get a certificate, participants need to go through all training materials while reading slides, watching videos and passing a test after each module. The tests were designed in the form of multiple-choice questions, which had to be answered correctly in order to proceed to


the next training module. There are twenty multiple-choice questions per training module. The online training course has a randomized question database with 500/600 testing items, allowing constant rotation. Participants get a maximum of three attempts to pass the final exam. Once all the testing activities have been successfully completed, the user becomes a Certified Switzerland Specialist. The status awarded is proved by a certificate, produced at headquarters and sent to the certified specialist by an e-mail or traditional post. Content and testing activities were developed by the Market Services of the headquarters of Switzerland Tourism and then passed to the markets. Market representatives were responsible for the translation of the content from English into their languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese), while creating training contents and testing activities according to specific market needs. For instance, pieces of training information such as “how to get to Switzerland”, “local currency exchange”, “flights and airports” are adapted to market needs by market representatives. At the beginning of 2013, apart from the international version of the e-learning course, there were ten other active platforms for different markets: Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Korea, United Kingdom and Ireland, Russia, United States and Canada. Two other countries where Switzerland Tourism is represented and looking for enhanced communication with trade partners are currently designing their own online training offer: Poland and Spain. As a general strategy, during the registration process, Switzerland Tourism is not checking whether travel agents possess an official IATA code. The course is therefore open also to potential tourists, media partners and tourism students. However, market representatives are managing single registrations manually.



For instance, in the Indian market there is a differentiation in the certificates and qualifications obtained on completion of the online training course: Individuals or companies working in the Indian outbound travel trade obtain a “Certified Switzerland Specialist” diploma; Indian students studying hospitality and tourism obtain the certificate for successfully passing the exam.

An e-learning environment for the end user – travel trade representatives. It includes the online registration process, content interface, testing activities and the possibility of checking certification status online; A management interface for market representatives, with the possibility of content management, monitoring user registrations and certification processes; XML interfaces for the integration of external content; Import and export of training seminars and tests; The option to transfer training information – content and testing activities between different markets. An internal mailing tool has also been developed, so the market representatives can pass their direct communication to travel agents in order to remind them about the course, congratulate them on the certificate

UNIX / Linux; Programming language: PHP5; Database: Oracle 10g; User interface/CMS: AJAX, DHTML. The overall graphic design of the e-learning course was developed to follow the corporate identity and image of Switzerland Tourism. iv) Implementation The Switzerland Travel Academy course was implemented with delivery to travel agents. Centralized promotion of the e-learning course is carried out through the trade corner on www. tradecorner.stnet.ch and it is rarely featured on the printed materials issued by Switzerland Tourism. Additionally, online training modules are being promoted by market representatives at sales calls, workshops, trade fairs, and meetings with travel agents and consultants. Switzerland Tourism has no centralized strategy on continuous relationships and incentives program with agents after certification. Head office makes the decision to offer certificates as well as the Swiss Specialist logo to those who have successfully completed the course, while the markets then decide for themselves on other incentives. Together with an individual certificate, a travel agent receives a transparent door sticker, which enables clients to recognize its knowledge and specialization as a fully trained and qualified Switzerland Specialist. Moreover, a certified travel agent receives the rights to use the Certified Specialist logo for business letters, brochures, and in online marketing strategies. In addition, if three travel agents who are working at one branch are certified, the agency is listed on the www.myswitzerland.com website as a suggested Switzerland Specialist in the region. All Swiss certified agents are automatically subscribed to the Switzerland



iii) Development An external agency has developed the e-learning tool in collaboration with the IT department of Switzerland Tourism, which has coordinated the development process. According to the developer of the platform (Xiag, 2012), based on the requirements expressed by Switzerland Tourism, the following e-learning solution has been developed and currently includes the following features:

obtained or send out promotional brochures. As for the technologies used for the platform development, the following should be mentioned:

41



Tourism newsletter of with the latest news and updates.

42

v) Evaluation No formal activities to evaluate the quality of the training materials or testing activities, overall e-learning performance or impact of the training received on the travel agents’ current business activities of have been carried out centrally by the head office of Switzerland Tourism. According to the headquarters representative, such evaluation activities should be initiated and undertaken in the future by market representatives. Moreover, no activities on measuring the return on investment in the development of such an e-learning course have been carried out or are planned in the near future.

Switzerland Travel Academy overall assessment The Switzerland Travel Academy case study has shown the successful performance of the e-learning course, despite the fact that the management of the platform and its support is not a primary activity of Switzerland Tourism either in terms of employee time or financial involvement.The following strengths and limitations can be highlighted from this case: Strengths: The training content is adapted for different market needs and is aligned with the language preferences of the respective markets. Switzerland Tourism has different strategies for incentives in different markets, analyzing and reflecting market needs. The e-learning course is open not only to officially registered travel agents, but also to the end clients, media partners and hospitality and tourism students, which can serve as an additional marketing or sales tool.


Switzerland Tourism follows the strategy for developing and expanding online training for the BRIC countries, which are strategic growth markets also in terms of potential tourists: for instance, the new platforms that have been launched by the Brazilian and Russian markets at the beginning of 2013. The first results from the performance of the Indian platform confirm the success of this strategy. Limits: No formal evaluation activities, such as e-learning course usability or usages studies, were undertaken or are planned to be undertaken in future by Switzerland Tourism. The visibility of the training on the NTO official website or any other online channel where Switzerland Tourism is present is very low, as most of the promotion is done through direct marketing and face-to-face training activities with travel trade. Little promotion and integration into the NTO’s marketing and training activities has been undertaken so far. There is no centralized strategy on the relationship with the travel agents after course completion.

Conclusions and implications The study has resulted in the presentation of a successful case of an online training initiated by a national DMO. It has looked at the evaluation of the pedagogical and technical strategies used for the online training creation. The study has shown a clear interest by a national DMO in exploiting the opportunities presented by e-learning in order to provide travel agents and consultants with a comprehensive training option, while using ICTs for the proper training development of their



travel trade partners. Switzerland Tourism, with the help of the e-learning course for its travel trade partners, is able to attract its intended audiences, achieving its internal goals in terms of the coordination and training of its global trade partners.

This research has implications for both academic and tourism industry communities. The academic community is presented with the results of one of the first empirical evaluations in the fields of Human Recourse Management

The results of the study also have industry implications, particularly as it presents the first understanding of destination-related e-learning options through the evaluation of the managerial perspective on the issue under study. This research can help representatives of DMOs globally to better understand the role of online training for travel agents, and, therefore, develop more efficient and effective strategies and actions in their global trade and training partnerships. Although this study identifies and provides a successful case study and generates best practices in the field, the results and conclusions should be discussed under the following limitations. The interviews were conducted with the employees who are currently working with online training. Those who have left the company might have a different perspective on the platform development, history, success strategies or failures.


Thanks to the interviews with the destination representatives, it can be concluded that the main motivation of a destination to have an online training is to have well-educated travel agents who can actively sell the country as a tourism destination. Another key driver for the implementation of the e-learning platform is that, with its help, a tourism destination can enhance educational opportunities globally. This “accessibility” issue enables tourism destinations to upscale agents in the areas that are not easily physically reachable and where a DMO does not have active market representatives.

for the travel trade and e-learning usages within on-the-job training in the hospitality and tourism industry.

References 43

ABTA. (2008). Travel industry training. Retrieved in February 2014 from www.abta.com/filegrab/ TravelIndystrytraining2008.pdf Braun, P., & Hollick, M. (2006). Tourism skills delivery: Sharing tourism knowledge online. Education+Training, 48(8/9), 693-703. Choi, S., Lehto, X., & Oleary, J. (2007). What Does the Consumer Want from a DMO Website? A study of US and Canadian Tourists’ perspectives. International Journal of Tourism Research, 9, 59-72. Inversini, A., Brülhart, C., & Cantoni, L. (2012). MySwitzerland.com: analysis of online communication and promotion. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism, 13(1), 39-49. Kalbaska, N. (2012). Travel Agents and Destination Management Organizations: e-learning as a strategy to train tourism trade partners. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism, 13(1), 1-12. Kalbaska, N., & Cantoni, L. (2011). e-learning Courses on Tourism Destinations: Travel Agents’ Perceptions. Industry report. Retrieved in June 2013 from www.webatelier.net/research/reports/e-learning



Kuttainen, C., & Lexhagen, M. (2012). Overcoming Barriers to SME E-Commerce Adoption using Blended Learning: A Swedish Action Research Case Study. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism, 13(1), 13-26. Lee, B., & Wicks, B. (2010). Tourism Technology Training for Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs): NeedBased Content Development. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 9(1), 39-52. Liburd J., & Christensen, I. (2012). Using web 2.0 in higher tourism education. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 12(1), 99-108. Morrison, G. (2010). Designing Effective Instruction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.


Sigala, M. (2002). The Evolution of Internet Pedagogy: Benefits for Tourism and Hospitality Education. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 1(2) 29-45. Switzerland Tourism. (2005). Report on progress situation Switzerland Travel Academy China/Korea. Zurich: Author. Tnooz – Talking Travel Tech. (2011). Top 20 things every travel agent should do right now, online and offline. Retrieved in June 2011 from www.tnooz.com/2011/03/16/how-to/top-20-things-every-travel-agent-should-doright-now-online-and-offline/ UNWTO. (2008). Handbook on E-marketing for Tourism Destination. Madrid: World Tourism Organization & European Travel Commission. Xiag. (2012). Schweiz Tourismus. E-Learning Zertifizierungslösung. Retrieved in July 2012 from www.xiag.ch/ projekte/details/id.29/content.1 Xiang, Z., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of social media in online travel information search. Tourism Management, 31, 179-188.

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05

De Rose, M.; Marchiori, E.; Kalbaska, N.; Cantoni, L. (2014). Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. In search of a map and possible quality indicators. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 45-55.

Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. In search of a map and possible quality indicators

Università della Calabria, Cosenza, Italy [email protected] Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland (elena.marchiori; nadzeya.kalbaska; lorenzo.cantoni)@usi.ch

Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. In search of a map and possible quality indicators

Abstract Elearning offers in the tourism and hospitality sector have been investigated, recently and four main types of courses have been identified, according to their provider: Academic, Destination Management Organizations, Corporate, and Independent. While for other types several studies are available, there is a lack of research when it comes to the online independent courses. This study focuses on e-learning courses issued by independent providers: they include training offers of

very different nature, e.g.: language trainings for waiters, food and wine matching courses, sustainability communication training, cooking for celiac people, etc. The results of this exploratory study provide an initial map of such educational offers; it discusses also some inferential indicators of satisfaction expressed by the users on social media, which may provide useful insights for the identification of possible quality indicators of tourism-related online independent courses.

Keywords E-Learning, Tourism, Hospitality, Quality Indicators, Social Learning.


#05 Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. In search of a map and possible quality indicators

Maurizio De Rose Elena Marchiori Nadzeya Kalbaska Lorenzo Cantoni

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Independent e-learning offers in Tourism and Hospitality. #05 In search of a map and possible quality indicators

Introduction

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become important tools for all players involved in the tourism and hospitality sector, in particular for supporting promotional strategies and efficiency in the management of products and services. Moreover, tourism players found it to be critical for their managerial performances to remain up to date on the opportunities offered by ICTs (Adukaite et al., 2013). In this context, tourismrelated training offers took advantage of the use of ICTs, as they allow a greater audience to be reached, possibly reducing costs, and enhancing lifelong learning processes for employees in the sector, generating a large new e-learning market in the tourism and hospitality field (Cantoni et al., 2009). Main types of e-learning providers have been identified (Cantoni et al., 2009), classified into four main groups: a) Online Academic Courses, b) Online Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) Courses, c) Online Corporate Courses, d) Online Independent Courses. While the first three groups have already been studied, little attention has been paid to the Online Independent Courses group. When it comes to the quality evaluation of an online course, academic and corporate training courses have usually established evaluation processes in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and return on investment, thanks to institutionally approved quality standards. On the other hand, DMOs and related independent courses do not have such a structured process for evaluating their quality. However, while the courses provided by DMOs have been extensively analyzed, including the viewpoint of feedback from the travel agents following them (Kalbaska et al., 2012; 2013), research on the Independent courses category is still lacking, and it should be further studied in order to identify possible quality indicators.


In this research context, it has been assumed that online conversations might be used as a first analysis layer for understanding possible quality indicators for an online course, similarly to what happens with online travel reviews that contain instances of evaluation of a tourism product or service (Marchiori & Cantoni, 2012). This exploratory study therefore aims to map offers of Online Independent Courses and to identify possible quality indicators expressed by users in social media.

E-learning providers in the tourism and hospitality field E-learning providers in the tourism and hospitality field have recently been explored by Cantoni et al. (2009), generating a map according to their providers. Four main e-learning providers emerged in the research: Online Academic Courses: corresponding “to all online training courses whose provider is an officially registered academic/educational establishment”. Online Destination Management Organizations (DMOs): courses, corresponding “to courses offered by destination management organizations (national, regional or local) to travel agents and travel operators, who sell the country (region, city, etc.) as a tourist destination”. Online Corporate Courses: “whose provider is a company or an institution working in the tourism field, and manages online training for its own employees as well as for travel agents who sell its products”. Online Independent Courses: “all the courses, whose provider is a third party other than an academic institution, a tourism enterprise, or a destination management organization. Nevertheless, the topics of the



course lie within the tourism and hospitality industry”.

The role of online conversations in identifying quality indicators of a service Indeed, quality is a complex construct (Barbera, 2004; De Pietro, 2012; Ehlers, 2004, 2009; Martínez-Argüelles et al, 2010). However, it is possible to define several levels of service quality: quality assurance, quality control, total quality management, while the identification of quality indicators generally require interviews and an in-depth analysis. This study explores a complementary approach, and investigates quality indicators from opinions expressed online (Wang, 2008; Zheng, 2009). Online conversations might contain instances of an indirect evaluation of the offer of a tourism product or service (Marchiori & Cantoni, 2012) and might thus be used as a first layer of analysis in the understanding of possible quality criteria of an offer. Because of this, hotel and destination managers are paying more and more attention to them. These online conversations might also be considered

Research design and methodology This study focuses on online independent courses in order to draw an initial map of them and to identify possible quality indicators to fill the existing research gap. Accordingly, this research will answer the following research questions: What are the characteristics of the online independent courses related to tourism and hospitality in terms of price, geographical origin of providers, and topic offered? Can the contents of online conversations be used as inferential quality indicators for online independent courses? In order to answer the above questions, two steps have been taken within this research.

Phase A: analysis of Independent hospitality and tourism-related e-learning offers The methodology used to identify independent hospitality- and tourism-related e-learning courses reflected and continued previous work carried out by Cantoni et al. (2009). In particular, in order to address the first research question, a series of sixty keywords, related to topics about online training courses (Figure 1), was searched using the most popular search engines – Google and Bing – in June 2013, from Lugano (Switzerland). The first three pages of the search engine results have been analyzed for every possible combination of the above keywords (4x3x5=60



Whereas the first three categories (academic, DMOs and corporate) have received most of the attention from research community (Cantoni & Kalbaska, 2010; Collins et al., 2003; Kalbaska, 2012; Kuttainen & Lexhagen, 2012; Liburd & Christensen, 2012; Sigala, 2004), Online Independent Courses have not been investigated so far. Such courses should be interpreted within the broad framework of lifelong learning, which stresses the necessity for people living in the knowledge society to continuously learn and up-skill through different formal and informal strategies, many of them connected with ICTs (Longworth, 2013; De Pietro, 2011; De Pietro et al., 2013).

by e-learning providers, as future e-learning users could use them while taking the decision whether or not to attend a specific online training.

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Figure 1: Keyword selection schema

Figure 2: Framework for quality indicators in social media

Research desing and methodology

To Buy or not To Buy


Type of settings

48

settings

eLearning Course Online Program Distance Training Blended learning

topic

Hospitality Tourism Travel Catering Ecotourism

The learner is informed by OTHERS

combinations). Among the results obtained, with a total of 1,800 URLs analyzed, 314 online training courses have been identified as belonging to the relevant category – Independent tourism-related e-learning courses. The courses analyzed were published by 22 providers. The following characteristics of courses and providers have been analyzed: topics of offered online training courses and their prices, as well as the location of the provider and its nature (i.e.: profit vs. nonprofit).

Phase B: analysis of the quality indicators in social media An ad-hoc framework is proposed in order to answer the second research question, which assumes that learners themselves evaluate the quality of the online training courses they attended, and that such comments/opinions are published in social media. According to Kahn & Strong (1998), information quality is the characteristic of information to meet or exceed customer expectations; in this case, the second strategy is adopted: quality is measured as a match with actual users’ expectations towards an object (Ehlers, 2009; Eppler, 2006; Gretzel


Other learners expressed their opinion about online courses

Courses and Providers mostly positioned! 22 providers 314 courses

et al, 2006; Hajraf & Salah, 2012; O’Reilly, 2005). Therefore, the proposed framework consists of the following elements (Figure 2): Prospective learner (receiver of the online message/s): an online user who is interested in signing up for/purchasing an online training course; Senders of online message/s: the learner is informed not only by the provider of the course, but also through information expressed online by those who have already attended such a course, or other courses from the same provider, through exposure to online conversations published on social media; Message/s published online: related to the online course concerned or its provider. The prospective learner might decide whether or not to buy an online training course also considering comments found on social media, and can eventually further contribute to such conversations, publishing her/his own evaluation of it. In this second step, the social media presence of the providers of independent online courses has been assessed. A search



Results

and catering, which together represent approximately 86% of the entire online educational offer considered. Other types of e-learning courses are: ecotourism, tour operator, tourism management, sales, and cabin crew. Taking economic indicators into consideration, the price of the online training offers has been analyzed in order to determine the average cost. Results show that 44% of the providers display a price for the courses offered; 16% of the providers instead offer courses free of charge. For the remaining 40% of providers, the price was not indicated for the training courses offered and it was necessary to call the provider to find out. The average prices of the courses for each category are shown in Figure 4 (prices are standardized in US dollars). Courses with no indication of their price and those that were free of charge were not considered for the analysis.

The main results of the two phases of the research are presented below.

Phase A. Structure of Independent hospitality- and tourism-related e-learning offers In the first research phase, a series of dimensions were analyzed. As shown in Figure 3, among the 314 e-learning courses analyzed, the main topics covered are: hospitalityrelated e-learning courses, travel and tourism,

It appears that the most expensive courses do belong to the following categories: tourism management ($529), and ecotourism ($450). The cheapest ones belong to the categories hospitality ($170) and catering ($88).


was made for course providers on the main social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+. Subsequently, the research focused on the most active social media platform, which resulted to be Facebook. The first posts related to e-learning courses were analyzed in order to identify main topics covered, and related sentiments expressed (Inversini & Cantoni, 2009; Litivin, 2009; Marchiori & Cantoni, 2012). The analysis considered also the number of page likes, shares, pictures or videos posted, and profile updates within a period of one month (June, 2013).

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Figure 3: Number of independent online courses by categories Hospitality

114 92

Travel and tourism 63

Catering Tour operators

15

Ecotourism

15 8

Tourism management Sales

6 1

Cabin creew 0

20

40

60

80


100

120


Figure 4: Average price of courses per categories 529

Tourism management Ecotourism

450

Travel and tourism

286

Cabin crew

199 170

Hostitality 88

Catering


0

50

100

200

300

400

500

600

Figure 5: Number of providers per nation USA UK Australia Based in more than one country Canada India 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Figure 6: Social media presence of providers of independent e-learning courses Facebook Twitter YouTube Linkedin Google+ 1

3

5

7

9

11

13

As for the type of organization, which provides online training activities, 64% of the studied providers are for-profit organizations, while 36% are for non-profit ones.

must be said that such a result greatly depends on the fact that the online search was done using English keywords.

For the geographical origin of providers, their head office was considered, as indicated on the website (Figure 5).

Phase B: analysis of the quality indicators in social media

As can be seen, the majority of providers are based in the US, UK, and Australia. However,


To answer the second research question, first the social media presence of every provider has been analyzed (Figure 6).



As can be seen from the graph, it appears that social media platforms mostly used by providers studied were Facebook (13 providers) and Twitter (12). Only two providers have a page on Google+. Another interesting finding is the fact that only two providers were present in all the social media considered, while eight providers did not have any social media presence.

The first step in the analysis was to identify a set of quantitative indicators for each Facebook profile relating to the number of likes, number of “talking about this”, number of videos and pictures posted, and the frequency of profile updates.

Table 1: Data on the Facebook presence of providers. Results ranked according to the number of Likes E-learning provider

Courses offered

N. of likes (Facebook page)

N. of videos

N. of photos

Freshness

Coeliac UK

catering

15303

11

154

yes

The International Ecotourism Society

ecotourism

15,017

0

185

yes

OTEN - Open Training and Education Network

hospitality /tourism management

11,591

1

194

yes

Sustainable Travel International

ecotourism

7,974

1

41

not

Online Courses Australia


5,367

0

28

yes

OTT - Online Travel Training

hospitality /tourism management/travel tourism/sales

4,864

1

983

yes

Mindleaders

hospitality

3,777

15

63

not

Training Course Professionals

hospitality

1,147

0

1251

not

oregonrla


543

0

70

not

Online Travel EDU

hospitality /tourism management/travel tourism

352

0

105

not

Career Quest Training Center

travel tourism

194

0

18

yes

etrainu

hospitality/catering

103

0

10

not

Cogentys

hospitality

30

0

16

not


Due to this initial result, further analysis has considered the most used social medium: Facebook. According to the framework

described above, qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Facebook pages of providers was carried out, with the aim of identifying possible indicators of the quality of the courses they offer (Cox, 2013; Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2013).

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Data has been extracted on the same day by taking screenshots of the relevant pages, which were subsequently processed for further analysis. The criterion used to establish the degree of freshness of a Facebook profile was as follows: the profile is considered to be updated if the distance between two subsequent posts does not exceed seven days; the analysis considered the period from April to June 2013. Table 1 presents the results of this first quantitative analysis.

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A certain positive correlation between the number of Likes and freshness of the Facebook profile can be noted, which suggests that regularly/frequently updating one’s social media profiles can have a positive impact on the number of Likes. Along with this first quantitative analysis, an indepth analysis of the individual posts has been made, in order to identify the comments and opinions expressed by the users, while looking for possible quality indicators. In order to do so, ten most liked pictures for every profile were analyzed, as it has been noticed that the pictures posted online were the main elements that generate interactions with the users and therefore reach of instances of opinion towards the providers. Moreover, photos posted on the Facebook pages are generally archived in specific photo albums accessible to users and therefore visible at all times.

providers and of individual teachers, tutors and other training staff. In particular, the most popular providers on Facebook published posts with the following topics, generating mainly positive comments: The provider Coeliac UK (category Catering) reported positive opinions on the following elements: teachers, guest lectures and promotions. The provider OTEN – Open Training and Education Network (category Hospitality and Tourism Management) on: tourism destinations, cultural events, and books. The provider The International Ecotourism Society (category Ecotourism) on: educational tips, and successful stories from students. For the following types of courses – hospitality, travel and tourism, tourism management) – the photos that generated more Likes were related to: team/staff, e-learning model/educational materials, promotion of the course, success stories of students, contest, conferences. For the Catering category, the photos were about: food competition, charity event, guest lecturers; for the Ecotourism category, the photos were about: destinations covered by the courses, events, students’ experience with the courses and books related to the courses.

For every photo, the following sub-indicators were analyzed: topic of the photo, number of likes, number of shares, number of posts, number of comments, as well as an evaluation of whether the comments were positive or negative.

Regarding the presence of negative comments, it has been noted that they were generally not related to the topic of the commented picture. For example, a picture about a tutor might host comments related to the usability of the e-learning offer.

Results show that contents published on social media by the providers allowed learners to express their opinions on various elements concerning the tourism-related online educational range on offer both at the level of

The main negative discussions were about:


The fact that online training courses were not always useful for finding further employment,



Lack of support from tutors online, Lack of usability of the Learning Management System Moreover, the presence of discussions with negative comments has been reported mainly for providers offering expensive, for-profit courses. Finally, an overall limited interaction/ response to the comments by the providers of the online training activities has been noticed.

This study contributes to the research on e-learning in tourism and hospitality, providing an initial map of the range of independent tourism-related e-learning courses. Hospitality, travel and tourism and catering are the main courses offered in this e-learning segment; and Facebook appeared to be the main social media platform used to interact with learners. A bottom-up approach has been undertaken in order to identify possible quality indicators emerging from online conversations. In this approach, considerable attention is given to the learners within the online training environment, where users become the focus of the entire educational range in a training context that increasingly integrates formal criteria into the informal training context. The initial hypothesis of considering a bottomup approach for the identification of possible quality indicators within social media turned out to be promising. The results of this study show that, with the help of social media, learners express their opinions on various elements concerning the tourism-related online educational range both at the level of providers and individual teachers, tutors, usability of the e-learning offers, and usefulness of those online courses in terms of carrier possibilities. The analysis of online conversations generated

The presence of negative comments among the messages posted online suggested the way social media pages are used by the users of independent e-learning courses for posting questions to providers, expressing doubts about the range and reporting complaints. Indeed, the presence of discussions with negative mentions suggests learners’ needs to discuss and interact both with other learners and/or providers. Future research should consider several limitations of this study: expanding the e-learning providers and analyzing all the posts, including posts with text, links or video. Moreover, other social media profiles (YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+) can be analyzed in order to evaluate whether the quality indicators identified are accordingly present on those social media websites. Future studies might consider a comparison between providers for profit and not profit audiences, expensive and budget training offers, in order to clarify whether the quality expectation in the e-learning offer varies according to the economic expenditure for the courses. Subsequently, possible web-based automatic tool for the analysis of online conversations about independent e-learning courses might be designed in order to allow users to easily benchmark existing online training courses and better evaluate their offers. E-learning providers should take into account the analysis of the online conversations presented in their social media as they might



Conclusions and future research

by the photos posted on Facebook pages by the e-learning providers, shows that learners tend to use those online spaces not only to comment the topic of the photos, but also to report their experience of the courses, and, in turn, of the providers.

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contain instances of opinions regarding the quality of their offers. Therefore, e-learning providers might use the analysis of online conversations to learn about the learners’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the courses offered, complains, questions, suggestions for the improvement of the courses.

Finally, this study might be of interest for providers operating in the tourism and hospitality online training field, as it might help to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of the online training offer, as well as helping in the review of their social media presence.


References

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Miralbell, O. (2014). Social networking sites and collaborative learning in tourism. eLC Research Paper Series, 8, 56-67.

Social networking sites and collaborative learning in tourism

Social networking sites and #06 collaborative learning in tourism

Oriol Miralbell

56

Business and Economic Studies Universitat Oberta de Catalunya [email protected]

Social networking sites and collaborative learning in tourism

Abstract This research is intended to identify the key factors that make online social networks become useful environments for professional development and knowledge exchange among tourism professionals. We also want to understand how tourism professionals are using virtual networks for exchanging knowledge and how users perceive that social networking sites can help lifelong learning. Our results show that tourism professionals tend to use social networking sites more

for increasing their professional relations and less for exchanging knowledge, though they perceive that autonomy, openness, diversity and interactiveness influence their perceived usefulness of these sites for exchanging knowledge. Finally, we conclude that for professional development and efficient knowledge exchange social networking sites need better resources to facilitate better moderation of the interaction between members.

Keywords Social Networking Sites, Tourism Professionals, Professional Development, Knowledge Exchange, Connective Networks of Knowledge




Introduction

Learning and knowledge exchange in social networking sites Online social networks have an extraordinarily high educational potential, especially from a new perspective of education and lifelong learning and taking into account the social nature of knowledge construction. However, depending on the design and the degree of development of its own tools and applications, some social networking sites, such as Facebook, are not yet the best choice for implementing a collaborative project, especially if the requirements for management and flexibility in learning are high. Instead,

As a collaborative learning environment, the social networking sites and the Web 2.0, based on the generation of user content facilitate the creation of personal knowledge environments in different ways, with users deciding which instruments and resources to use for interaction and exchanging knowledge. This idea of personal autonomy in learning is directly related to the personal learning environment (PLE), understood as an environment where people, tools, communities and resources interact very freely (Wilson, 2008) so that learning control is shifting from the institution to the student. PLE points to the idea of student empowerment inside the Web 2.0, creating a new concept of e-learning 2.0, which takes a new approach based on the free combination of simple but complementary tools and combined social networking services such as blogs, wikis, social networking software and others to support the creation of learning communities (Downes, 2007a). From a collaborative perspective, one of the ways in which virtual communities can be organized for learning is in the form of practice communities, which have been shown to be a very suitable environment for collaborative creation and exchange of knowledge (Wenger, 2009. As in the case of networks for knowledge exchange among professionals, members have great autonomy of interaction and involvement These open networks where peripheral participation is important, require moderators who can lead and coordinate the tasks and rhythms of the functioning of the communities. This is an organized structure that is able to take advantage of open and flexible resources of Web 2.0 and social networking sites, as shown in table 1.


#06 Social networking sites and collaborative learning in tourism

In the network economy, where information and knowledge exchange are key for companies to innovate and gain competitive advantage, social learning has become a normal practice for students and professionals interacting and cooperating in common interest groups such as virtual communities, many of them hosted inside social networking sites. Tourism professionals and students use online social networks as cross-platforms to interact with friends, peers and colleagues while exchanging professional knowledge, overcoming what have been traditional barriers to professional and interorganizational cooperation, strong competence and diffidence among tourism actors (Walder, Weiermair, & Sancho Pérez, 2006). Traditionally, innovating and sharing knowledge between tourism professionals has been difficult (Barras, 1986; Chalkiti, 2012; Hjalager, 2002; Miralbell, 1999; Reverté & Izard, 2011; Sancho Pérez, Maset Llaudes, & Martín Vallés, 2003; Sancho Pérez, 2008; Srivastava, Bartol, & Locke, 2006) due to endemic distrust and a fierce competition among tourism companies (Trejos, 1992) paralyzing innovative activity by firms (Sancho, Cabrer, Gonzalo, & Rico, 2004).

they gives access to lots of resources and information in an open and universal way, which is very useful for learning (Llorens & Capdeferro, 2011).

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Table 1. What performances and features required for a technological platform of a virtual community of practice are available in the four social networking sites? Adaptation of the author from (Wenger, 2001)


Features / performances

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Facebook

LikedIn

Ning

Twitter

The home page where the existence of the community remains evident and explains the scope of action and activities

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Discussion area for different discussion topics

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes (using hashtags)

Yes, but integrated in the group’s wall

Yes

Yes

Yes (using hashtags)

Yes (partly available, only each member’s profile)

Yes (partly available, only each member’s profile)

Yes

Yes (partly available only each member’s profile)

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes (Photos, videos, and external links to other repositories)

No

Yes

No

A search engine efficient and powerful enough to find the information about the knowledge base.

Yes, but not powerful enough

Yes

Yes

Yes

Tools for managing and coordinating the community, which allows the identification of those who are more actively involved, which documents have been downloaded, what is the traffic within the community, what documents need to be updated, etc.

Yes, (cannot register each member’s activity)

Yes

Yes

No

Easy to learn and operate, without requiring time to learn how to make best use of it

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Easily integrated with other applications and programs requiring little investment in the community.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Space for making occasional queries to the community or community groups

Members’ Directory with information on their areas of expertise with respect to the domain of the community Shared workspace for collaborating, discussing or meeting synchronously

Repository of documents from its own knowledge base.

Personal Knowledge Networks Out of this organized structure there are other ways professionals can exchange knowledge in the virtual environment. Often when professionals try to manage


social networks for knowledge exchange autonomously, this is usually not done through collective or group interactions, as happens in communities of practice.Instead, the predominant relationships are within personal networks at a dyadic (person-to-person)



level (Huber, 2011). According to Huber, this feature seems to be part of a new social trend in modern society; where people increasingly build their social networks around themselves, individually. This is phenomenon, called networked individualism, is a shift between the group-based society towards a society based on individualized personal networks (Wellman, 2002). The autonomy of the members plays a fundamental role in this kind of relationship.

Within social networking sites, dyadic relations can be maintained through direct, private, or even real-time conversations with messages using chat as easily as group relations. Furthermore, external and transversal connections allow the transfer of contacts between social networking sites, and the establishment of new relationships with contacts of other members. On social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, users can easily find the contacts of any member, blurring all the boundaries of communities and groups created within social networking sites. However, the design of social networking sites reinforces individualism within a context of a social network of egocentric networks (Llorens & Capdeferro 2011), in which each member’s page is used to publish the person’s identity, likes and hobbies, pictures, thoughts, while, through the member’s wall, friends or contacts can add comments etc. Intense collaborative knowledge sharing occurs here in dyadic relationships. What seems obvious is that within social networking sites interaction occurs at both levels; one to one and many to many.

Some recent models of learning, such as connectivism, tend to blur the boundary between formal and informal learning as a result of the potential of collective repositories of knowledge, such as social online networks (Llorens & Capdeferro, 2011) also known as social networking sites. Professionals use many of these sites for building their virtual communities to interact with peers and colleagues. When virtual communities dedicated to learning and sharing knowledge want to be successful, they need special features such as (1) “openness”, as a factor facilitating the free flow of communication within and outside the network; (2) the member’s “autonomy” in managing their relationships and content, and (3) the “diversity” of members and ideas as an opportunity to obtain new information and knowledge. In connectivism Downes and Siemens relate these features with a conceptual framework to explain the dynamics of the connectivity of knowledge in networked learning from a social constructivist approach. Personal learning networks are formed from proper connections to learning communities (Downes, 2006, 2007b; Siemens, 2005, 2006). The distribution of knowledge in all corners of a knowledge network is one of the fundamental features of connectivism. In this sense, learning communities are nodes that are part of larger networks, so they can have characteristics of the potential network and their weight as a node in the network depend on the concentration of knowledge or even the number of individuals who surf around (Downes, 2008). The most important characteristic features of connectivism are (Siemens 2005):



The second relational level of intra-firm personal knowledge networks connects knowledge communities from different organizations, bridging external nodes or integrating structural holes (Burt 1992).

Connectivism and connective knowledge networks

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60

Learning and knowledge are based on the diversity of opinions. Learning is a process of connection of specialized nodes or information sources. Learning may reside in non-human appliances. Promoting and maintaining connections is necessary to facilitate continual learning. The ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts is fundamental. The validity of knowledge (precise and updated) is the goal of all connective learning activities. In connectivism, the starting point of learning occurs when knowledge is driven through the process of connecting the individual with the learning community, which also provides information (Kop & Hill, 2008). These communities are clusters arising from overlapping areas of interest in order to interact, share, discuss and reflect together (Siemens, 2003). The diversity of views and opinion fosters learning and generates knowledge (Siemens, 2008) so that individuals must negotiate with communities. Therefore, two of the main skills of the individual that contribute to learning, are seeking current information and filtering out irrelevant or secondary information. The reason is that, given the abundance of information, acquiring new knowledge is more critical than what we know at the time, which may have become obsolete (Siemens 2008). The importance of knowing how to make decisions based on the information is crucial in the learning process, as, in this cyclical process, individuals are connected to a network to share and find new information that will change their beliefs and what they have learned, linking them to a new network to share these ideas and find new information and new knowledge (Siemens 2008). Thus, Siemens sees learning as a process of knowledge creation,


not merely consumption. In this sense, personal learning networks are formed according to how individuals organize their own connections to learning communities, which is linked to their self-efficacy and autonomy. In the learning process, the individual may traverse multiple domains of knowledge (Siemens 2008) and can reach the outskirts of porous networks of knowledge that will establish interdisciplinary connections. Therefore, according to Siemens, a fundamental skill of individual connective networks is being able to identify the connections between networks, ideas and concepts (Siemens, 2008). These features make connectivism have achieved such prominence because browsing the web 2.0 and social networking websites, which form a large global network of knowledge, is a reference environment for such processes of generation and exchange of knowledge.

Connective learning in social networking sites Conversation and collaboration have been identified as very important in the learning process, but what has changed is the scale at which the communication occurs, thanks to the new environment of the Internet and social technologies (Kerr, 2007). The networks in which people can communicate can be large or spacious, but the main features that these networks should have to facilitate knowledge development are: (1) encouraging diversity, (2) being open, (3) allowing autonomous process management, and (4) facilitating connection through interactivity (Downes 2007a; Siemens 2006). In connective knowledge networks (Downes 2007a; Siemens 2006) openness and autonomy



are fundamental factors, as they facilitate external and cross-connection control and the participation of individuals. This would make social networking sites good platforms for connective learning.

On social networking sites, individuals have access to external connections with other members, either among different social networking sites or after incorporating contacts from other applications, such as a personal address book. This fosters an open structure of social networks connecting them with other dispersed networks (Boyd & Ellison, 2008) so new personal networks can be created around topics of interest. Through openness, on social networking sites, users can autonomously manage their contacts and the way they interact with them. Autonomy refers to the capacity of members to contribute voluntarily, interacting with other members independently of their knowledge and values, and not depending on other agents. As in connective knowledge networks, users of social networking sites manage their participation, and the features of the web sites that can help them to interact and exchange knowledge, autonomously. This includes the freedom to manage their relations and participation, and the freedom to choose the features and applications for this purpose. From the perspective of Personal Knowledge Environments, social networking sites offer

Diversity or heterogeneity of members, their behaviour, their points of view and the content flowing inside the knowledge networks are fundamental in the construction process of learning or co-modification of knowledge. Diversity appears through structural holes and is an opportunity for access to new information and its integration into the network, which, in communities of practice, would be the periphery. Interactivity is another decisive factor for the success of connective networks of knowledge (Downes 2007b) and refers to whether knowledge is the product of an interaction between the members, or simply the aggregation of members’ perspectives. Interactivity refers to knowledge produced in the network as a result of the connection, rather than simply released. Therefore, interactivity involves the way the knowledge is generated, collectively and collaboratively, and whether in this processes it is reviewed and re-developed or reified through members’ participation. Interactivity also implies that knowledge is complex and does not belong uniquely to an individual, but rather is the result of the member’s participation. Mutual reciprocity is essential in interaction as it influences the trust between the members and the community (Gefen & Straub, 2004). Trust is understood as a set of specific beliefs dealing primarily with the integrity, benevolence and skills of the other members of the group (Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub, 2003; Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995). In other words, trust is important in the performance of computer-assisted social networks (Nelson & Cooprider, 1996), in exchange of knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), in creating organizational value (Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998)



Openness is the mechanism that allows members of a community to have access to different perspectives, which can be heard, discussed and exchanged between members. If a community is open, there is a sufficient flow of information to generate new knowledge (Downes 2007). Open knowledge networks facilitate fluid communication without internal constraints and external boundaries. They are easy to join and to leave and there are no limitations on member participation.

individuals autonomous management of the required services for learning.

61



62

and in online transactions (Gefen et al., 2003; Gefen & Straub, 2004; Pavlou & Gefen, 2004). Trust is therefore particularly important in the olitivo behaviour, as would be the exchange of knowledge in a virtual community. as it builds and maintains exchange relationships, which can foster knowledge exchange (Blau, 1964).

In total we found 28 virtual communities distributed on the following social networking sites: LinkedIn (13 groups and 65,000 members), Facebook (8 groups and 3,133 members), Ning (6 communities and 14,136 members) and finally a virtual community, Hosteltur, with its own platform and 3,343 members.

For a community to succeed in connective learning, openness, autonomy, diversity and interactivity are critical (Downes 2007b). Virtual communities thus need the technological platform the information systems they use to make these possible. Social networking sites have features and technological solutions that enable communities to interact within these four driving characteristics of knowledge generation in a community. In order to understand whether users perceive that social networking sites are especially useful as environments for virtual knowledge communities to generate collaborative knowledge through interactivity, we have studied whether these four factors influence users› perception of usefulness, which has been proved to be decisive for usage.

We designed and tested a survey, inviting members of the 28 virtual communities to respond through a questionnaire on the Internet, designed according to the variables identified in the theory. Questions were grouped in four sections: (1) socio-demographic data, (2) information on Internet behaviour and the use of technological resources, (3) information on the perceived factors that influence knowledge exchange on social networking sites and (4) information on the features influencing the adoption of social networking sites.

The aim of our research is therefore to test whether these characteristics can serve as constructs to assess how they influence the members of knowledge communities in adopting and using social networking sites.

Methodology We conducted a case study of the virtual communities of tourism professionals found on the Internet in which members can improve their professional development, strengthening their skills and knowledge and improving their personal career. As we observed, social networking sites were used by these communities as informal learning platforms for professional development.


In a sample of 363 respondents obtained with the sample size formula for infinite population (Novales Cinca, 1996), 56.8% were males, and 44.7% females. The largest age group were individuals between 30 and 44 (48.3%), the second largest were those between 20 and 29 (23.4%), the third, those between 45 and 54 (20,6%) and the smallest, those older than 55 (7.6%). 48.85 of individuals were working in tourism companies mainly in service providers; 43.3% working in knowledge organizations related to tourism (academia and consultancy), and only 9.9% in tourism authorities (DMOs and local, regional or national government). 53.7% of respondents were earning less than 30,000 USD per year, and 86.5% of individuals had achieved a degree at the University (37.2% of bachelor’s degrees and 49.3% postgraduates) To study the usefulness of the Social Networking (SN) sites for knowledge exchange and the impact among the factors we analyzed the data with questions to be answered on a Likert scale in accordance with the model shown



Figure 2. Acceptance model for social networking sites for knowledge exchange and informal learning

Autonomy H1

H3

Interactivity

Perceived usefulness

H9

H2 H8

Openness

H6

in figure 2 following the hypotheses driven in the model. The analysis was carried out with the structural equation model using SPSS v.19 AMOS through an exploratory factor analysis, first and then a confirmatory factor analysis, checking the validity of the measurement model and the structural model.

Findings The descriptive analysis showed that the majority of the professionals we have studied had long experience in using the Internet (80.2% used it for more than 11 years) and had good skills in using social networking sites (63.6% reported having a high or very high level of mastery of these sites). This was a group of experts who had gained enough knowledge in using the SN sites, perceiving SN sites as useful in their careers (63%), and efficient for knowledge exchange among professionals (62%). The data shows also that even there is a big consensus among the members of the

H4

H7

Diversity

H10

Use

virtual communities of tourism professionals in considering online social networking to be good environments for learning and for knowledge exchange; they are more motivated by learning how to network than by generating new knowledge. They also have discrete expectations about find professional opportunities in their online social networks. According to the confirmatory factor analysis, we can say that the level of autonomy users perceive has a direct effect on their interaction and on the perceived usefulness of SN sites. Meanwhile, autonomy and openness have a correlated impact on each other, that is that the increase of one influences the increase of the other. In turn, the openness of SN sites influences the diversity of members and ideas. Diversity also has an important influence on the level of interaction, which could be a motivator for members to contact one another or discuss different ideas. The level of interaction has a direct influence on the perceived usefulness of the SN sites, which has a direct impact on usage.



H5

63



Results show, however, that openness does not influence the perceived usefulness of SN sites directly, but rather indirectly, as diversity that impacts the perceived usefulness of SN sites is influenced by openness. Nor does openness directly influence user’s interactions although diversity, which is perceived as being influenced by openness, has direct impact on the level of interaction inside the SN sites.

64

While tourism professionals using SN sites have great interest in improving their relations (62%), they tend to share knowledge and publish information (79% of individuals perceive a high level of participation) rather than interacting with other members (only 57% perceive much interaction between users). Maybe more open communities with more diverse profiles of professionals and ideas could increase interaction. In a collaborative learning environment, the generation of new knowledge is important, although from our study, a slight majority stated they were involved in generating new knowledge (57%). Even though 65% of the professionals are satisfied or very satisfied with using SN sites only the 53.7% feel trust among the community, and 47.1% feel committed to their networks, while only 44.9% feel loyalty to other members. As a result, we can conclude that virtual communities inside social networking sites are highly appreciated and used for socializing, but that the level of commitment in exchanging professional knowledge seems less significant.

Discussion SN sites are used principally for socializing and less for professional development and knowledge exchange. On the other hand, although SN sites can help to overcome the traditional distrust existing between tourism professionals, which is a fundamental condition for knowledge exchange, our study shows there


is still a low level of trust and commitment between the members of virtual communities of tourism professionals inside SN sites. In other words, although SN sites have excellent features for knowledge exchange, this does not guarantee a high level of trust, commitment and loyalty of their members. Tourism professionals perceive that autonomy, diversity and openness inside SN sites encourage interaction among members and increase the use of social networking websites for knowledge exchange. Online VC inside SN sites are organized as open, unlimited networks where flexibility of relations, autonomy of members, openness of structures and diversity of relations between members and ideas facilitate information and knowledge exchange. Professional associations can take advantage of SN sites to improve professional development, although in order to increase the levels of trust and commitment of their members, which are necessary for social learning, they should integrate features that help moderators to monitor and organize the interaction inside working groups, as it happens in “virtual communities of practice” (Wenger, 2009). This research may have some limitations, firstly depending on the process by which the information has been gathered, although other studies have used the same methodology to obtain data though voluntary responses to a questionnaire posted on the Internet (Chiu et al. 2006; S. H. Kim et al. 2009; T. C. Lin & Huang 2008; C. L. Hsu & J. C. Lin 2008; De Valck et al. 2007; Chen & Hung 2010). Another limitation could be the sample we have studied, as the respondents to the survey are members of the virtual communities of tourism professionals with special interest in the use of social networking sites, and they probably belong to the group of the most active and participative experts in their communities. Maybe a more



diversified group in the level of expertise could have provided other results. Finally, we believe that having collected this data between December 2009 and July 2010 could also limit the validity of these results, because since 2010 the use of social networking sites has dramatically increased and users’ experiences may also have influenced their perceptions.

Future research

Given the radical proposal of connectivism which means the tutor›s role is diminished, one wonders whether autonomy, understood as a capacity to take responsible decisions in the direction of a learning process, does not require special training. In this case, virtual communities of professionals should have sufficient training and training management skills in order to achieve learning through a connective knowledge generation process without moderators or tutors. Future research should study of the limitations of social networking sites for learning and knowledge generation in greater depth, attempting to identify whether technological constraints are more important than attitudinal or the relational ones.


One of the conditions of connective learning is that the tutor or instructor disappears and it is the students who direct their own learning process, creating knowledge and connecting to remote networks in an informal learning environment. Some believe that the tendency to interact with people with similar or related ideas can reduce the level of commitment in e-learning (Norris, 2001). However, others believe that the figure of the instructor is useful and should take a leading role, but through dialogue with the students as a process of learning and knowledge, rather than conversations that can remain at individual level (Freire & Macedo, 1999). The debate

is open, raising questions such as whether instructors should only be facilitators, as it is the case in many in e-learning programs (Salmon 2004). In a study it was found that students prefer the guidance of a tutor in using resources and activities to validate information and to assist them in critical thinking, instead of managing it on their own (Kop, 2008).

References 65

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