THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING ENGAGEMENT AND BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE WITHIN TOURISM EDUCATION

Education research consistently establishes a strong correlation between active learning and subject engagement (Roehl, Reddy and Shannon, 2012; Prince, 2004). The argument put forward is that, those learners who are actively engaged in their learning, will form stronger connections to the subject matter, become more engaged (Stone, 2016), have better recall of material and are more inclined to reflect favourably upon the learning experience (Jensen, Kummer and Godoy, 2015).

The use of technology, flipped and blended approaches are widely cited as a means to induce active learning (Rahman et al, 2015). Using a case study of a final year, undergraduate Tourism module at Nottingham Business School, which is delivered across multiple business study programmes, this research will consider the impact of a variety of technologically aided interventions, such as, engagement with Padlet, Video Blogs and Polleverywhere, Twitter, etc. designed to stimulate “active” learning and make students feel part of a learning community.

The learning from this module has been seen as good practice within Nottingham Trent University. It has promoted higher levels of engagement with lectures and increased participation in interactive learning, to form strong connections with the subject matter. Introducing greater interactivity through a variety of means within this module has not been without challenge, however benefits for both students and module tutors have been significant.