Abstract:

In this paper I describe the process followed to structure the practical part of the curricular unit (CU) ‘Itineraries for Tourists’ (Roteiros turísticos). This is an option in the 3rd year of UTAD's Tourism degree, which corresponds to 3 ECTS and 2 hours of face-to-face classes over 15 weeks. In the 2015-2016 academic year, a slight reformulation of the degree curriculum introduced half a dozen new optional curricular units, including ‘Itineraries for Tourists’. I was assigned to lecture that subject.

As part of the Dourotur project, Tourism and Technological Innovation in the Douro, (No. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000014; https://dourotur.utad.pt), a national project led by a UTAD colleague, Xerardo Pereiro, which promoted tourism in the NUTS III Douro region between 2016 and 2018, one of the research themes allocated to me was ‘itineraries’. From the outset, my aim was to develop something that would stimulate networking and that would have a real, positive impact across the region.

As the Dourotur project is medium-term, I was able to proceed gradually. In 2015-2016, together with the students who had chosen the optional CU ‘Itineraries for Tourists’, we focused on getting to know the reality on the ground: what is available in terms of routes and are there ways to optimise the offer? As a result, in 2016-2017, the student groups drew up municipal itineraries. In 2017-2018, realising the importance of connecting the area, inter-municipal itineraries were drawn up. In 2018-2019 the students were ready to show their work to tourism experts and discuss with them how to optimise their proposals. And finally, in 2019-2020 they were able to prepare quality content for a subpage of the project's website. In other words, we chose to move forward slowly in small steps, applying a combination of methodologies - case study, learning by doing, project work, group work, cooperative learning - introducing improvements every year, based on a critical analysis of the progress made.

Over five consecutive academic years, I had the opportunity to introduce changes to the course programme, based on field work and receiving feedback from various stakeholders. With the strategy I devised, I involved, firstly, around 100 students who learnt about the reality of tourism in the Douro through a cooperative learning assignment, putting theory into practice. Secondly, I opened up a discussion on the subject of ‘tourist routes’ with the municipal tourism experts who know the real strengths and weaknesses of the area. Thirdly, I was able to involve other UTAD lecturers in this mini-project and together we were capable to share more diversified scientific knowledge with all parties involved.

Acknowledgements:
This work was supported by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.), under the project CETRAD UIDB/04011/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/04011/2020).

Keywords:

Critical thinking, pedagogical innovation, tourism, learning by doing, undergraduate education.