Abstract:

The Covit-19 pandemic experienced during 2020 has placed considerable pressures on all spheres of education. Many students, teachers and academic institutions rose to the challenges posed. But many others were left behind! Indeed it has exposed issues that were already being pointed out in earlier studies.

Likewise, this research exercise highlights the need for continuous training in the use of educational technologies in higher education, for both students and teachers. This paper will focus in detail on some of the problems faced by university teachers. It is based on the implementation of a blended learning environment for the teaching of intercultural competence for tourism undergraduate students.

A series of in-depth interviews were carried out with a group of staff members working within the Institute of Tourism, Travel and Culture at the University of Malta. Thematic analysis was adopted in order to code the data and identify the main themes that illustrate the teachers’ concerns.

The research outcome clearly indicated that there were some serious shortcomings when it comes to working within a blended learning environment. University teachers lamented a lack of knowledge and skills in order to interact effectively with the online portion of their learning/teaching experience.

However, the study also points out the need for training in non-ICT related skills and competences. Academic staff were finding difficulties in working within an outcomes-based teaching and learning environment which then has to be transformed to operate within a blended learning mode. The training given was oriented towards a ‘face-to-face’ scenario with little related to an ICT-based environment. Moreover, many found themselves working in isolation, with very little support from fellow academics but also for the ICT support services available at the institution. They argued that better networking between fellow academics may help share techniques and thus be a form of support. Another issue pointed out was that the 21st century student is different in many ways from what they were used to and some are finding it difficult to interact in an effective manner. Working in an online mode may be an opportunity to reach out to these students, but it may act as further barrier pushing some students further away.

The study clearly shows the need for academics to be provided with an adequate tool kit of knowledge, skills and competences in order to be able to engage effectively with the blended/online learning environments, their peers and the ‘other’ group/s, forming part of the higher education learning community. Given the changing nature of blended learning environments, it is clear that such training needs to be given the form of continual updates in order to provide university teachers with the right set of tools for period of time.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Blended Learning, Competences, Skills.