Abstract:

This research is framed within the context of transformation and transition towards new paradigms in education, specifically in the field of tourism education. According to Melich (2024), a lesson cannot be separated from reading, and in every act of reading, whether explicitly or implicitly, there is a transmission. For Melich (2024), mastery works in the following way: the teacher is not only someone who gives a lesson, but also someone who ensures that reading continues, remains alive, and is renewed by the student. Thus, the lesson becomes endless, as each time it is revisited, it appears a new.

To transform education and create new models and paradigms of learning, one can adopt the vision that places the teacher at the center as the transmitter of knowledge—reflecting a more transactional view—or, alternatively, embrace models that position students at the center of their own learning. In this study, the process of learning is placed at the center, with teachers and students assuming roles that ensure this process occurs in the best possible way. Therefore, it supports a transition or transformation in education where both teacher and student focus on making the learning process as enriching as possible.

Regarding the learning environment, previous studies have analyzed the role of teachers in motivating students and creating a favorable environment that facilitates the learning process (Debnath, et al, 2007). This is achieved through course design and the atmosphere teachers foster in the classroom, enabling the co-creation of knowledge with students. In general terms, it is impossible to educate without also transforming due to these active and shared processes (Melich, 2006). Humans are interpretative and relational beings situated within specific times and spaces, and our relationship with the environment is necessarily a process of interpretation and reinterpretation, much like learning.

To address this transformative way of learning, this study aims at exploring the whole learning process (before, during, and after) from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. This will be conducted with postgraduate tourism students and using a combination of qualitative methods.

To achieve this, the SCARF model will be utilized alongside self-assessments through reflective diaries and peer assessments. Other studies have employed the SCARF model (Rock, 2008) to measure the five dimensions included: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. In the analysis of the learning process, status and certainty dimensions are important in the initial stage of the learning process, while autonomy and relatedness are more relevant during the process itself. The dimension of fairness, despite being present throughout, is particularly significant at the final stage once the outcomes of the learning process have been achieved.

While prior research using SCARF has primarily aimed to enhance student motivation (Javadizadeh et al., 2022, Aplin-Houtz et al., 2023) in business management contexts, the current investigation seeks to apply it within the tourism education domain. These tools will help capture the students' interpretation and reinterpretation of knowledge, as highlighted by Melich (2006). Additionally, the research will evaluate course design and the environment created by the facilitator from the teacher’s perspective, emphasizing the shared responsibility of both parties in transforming learning experiences in the 21st century.

Keywords:

SCARF, Education, Learning Process.