Abstract:

The object of this work is to analyse the impact of innovative teaching and educative activities on learning outcomes of young university students. Through a literature review, we find out the main gaps in the literature on the topic. We take in consideration the European learning outcome framework and its evolution (Nusche, 2008; Nortvig, Petersen, Balle, 2018 ). In order to support our results, we also include a survey to measure the impact of teaching activities applied in the hospitality sector.

This paper provides a systematic literature review, supported by a bibliometric analysis focused on innovative teaching activities, underlining the recent literature trends. In the literature, an excursus of the main theories in the field is illustrated underlining the most important practices and how they have been developed in recent years (e.g flipped class- room, teamwork, digital tools and digital work).

The second part of the methodology is based on an empirical study through a Delphi Panel method among teachers, among students, between students and teachers and between teachers and psychiatrists and anonymous questionnaires submitted to students. Panels will be conducted by both physical and on-line manners. Teachers will discuss about their innovative teaching practices applied in their course and the challenges that they faced during their activities. Students will discuss about the advantage and disadvantages of this new teaching approach and what they have learned, they will self-manage their focus group moderated by an external professor to avoid to be inhibited in their discussion.

The study field reveals that through a set of innovative teaching practices students develop professional skills closely connected to their study-field, in this specific case competences related to management and leadership in hospitality sectors, and soft skills related to their way to organize their job, the ability to meet deadlines, their relational skills with others or verbal and non-verbal communication, the leadership ability, to work in a group, to be flexible in different working contexts and therefore their ability to relate to the context. Students are not anymore passive actors that assimilate knowledge, but they are co-creator of knowledge sharing their knowledge with professors and classmates.

This work is a result of both a literature review and an empirical study on Hospitality Management education and wants to contribute to reduce literature gaps that can be solved only evaluating empirical evidences. Innovative educational practices will be illustrated to favour the dissemination of innovative teaching.

Practical evidences suggest new educational frontiers to explore, as the role of student that co-creates new knowledge supported by academic staff, the ideation of new innovative teaching strategies and the identification of new learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Innovation, teaching activities, bibliometric analysis.