Description
Inga Mons (inga.mons@nhlstenden.com)
Dr. Hanneke Assen (hanneke.assen@nhlstenden.com)
Hotel Mangement School Leeuwarden
NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences
Rengerslaan 8-10
Postbus 1080
8900 CB Leeuwarden , The Netherlands
In recent years, the hospitality industry has faced significant challenges, notably highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic (Bhusan 2019; Sigala 2020), revealing its vulnerability. To cope with these challenges, there is a crucial need for hospitality professionals who possess higher-order thinking skills, such as openness to new ideas, adaptability, flexibility, communication, problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking. Moreover, analytical decision-making based on credible sources, collaboration, and the ability to design innovative solutions seem to be pivotal for future-oriented hospitality professionals (Bhusan, 2019; Iguchi, 2022; Love, 2020; Suh et al. 2012; Wagner, 2014). Hospitality education plays an important role in supporting students to develop these skills, while the industry provides opportunities to translate theoretical knowledge into practice(Wrigley & Straker, 2017).
The University of Applied Sciences involved in this research adopted Design Based Education (DBE) in 2018, aiming to assist students in developing higher-order skills. Students engage in a 15-week collaborative project, in which they work on design challenges provided by the hospitality industry. Facilitated by educators and industry partners students develop meaningful solutions by engaging in iterative design processes. During this process, facilitators observe and activate students’ learning, researching, and designing, while subject experts provide the knowledge needed for the specific challenges, and industry partners deliver the information needed from a company perspective. Moreover, the facilitators, experts, and industry partners provide regular feedback on the progress. At the end of a semester, students showcase their learning experiences in the form of comprehensive digital portfolios containing critical reflections, validated evidence, and feedback on their learning, researching, and designing processes.
This study aimed to explore to what extent students develop higher-order thinking skills in the context of DBE. The methodology consists of a qualitative analysis of digital portfolios of students from different programs (short track, fast track, regular) in 2021. Using the educational ladder (Wrigley & Straker, 2017), the level of students’ skills, from foundational product, project, business to professional level were explored. The findings demonstrated a variation in students' thinking skills, correlating with their prior education and experiences in the hospitality industry. Most students, particularly students of regular programs, used primarily action-oriented (foundational and product level) or learning-oriented reflection (project and business level). There was a noticeable lack of meaning-oriented reflection (professional level). This indicates a lack of higher-order level thinking skills. In light of these findings, educators facilitated students in improving their reflection skills by providing knowledge on reflection methods and guiding them through the iterative design processes. Consequently, in the beginning of 2024, the digital portfolios of students will be analysed, and a comparison will be made between the findings of 2021 and 2024. We expect, due to the abovementioned intervention, an increase in the level of thinking skills across students from the different programs.
This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on innovative pedagogical approaches in hospitality education, emphasizing the transformative potential of DBE in stimulating higher-order thinking skills essential for the next generation of hospitality professionals.
References
Bhushan, S. (2019). Design thinking in hospitality education and research. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 11(4), 449-457.
Iguchi, Y. (2022). Strategic thinking. Institute of Hospitality HQ Magazine.
www.instituteofhospitality.org.
Love, S. (2020). Critical thinking during COVID: Finding facts and planning are keys to good leadership. Principal Leadership, 21(2). Retrieved on March 24, 2022, from: https://www.nassp. org/publication/principal-leadership/volume-21-2020-2021/principal-leadership-october-2020/critical-thinking-during-covid-october-2020/
Sigala, M. (2020). Tourism and Covid-19: Impacts and implications for advancing and resetting industry and research. Journal of Business Research, 117, 312–321.
Suh, E., West, J.J., & Shin, J. (2012). Important competency requirements for managers in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education, 11, 101-112.
Wrigley, C., & Straker, K. (2017). Design thinking pedagogy: The educational design ladder. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 54(4), 374–385.
