Chapter 6 Learning and Teaching Resources
6.5 Resource Management
6.5.1 Sharing of learning and teaching resources
A culture of sharing is the key to the success of knowledge management. Schools should make arrangements for:
teachers and students to share learning and teaching resources through the Intranet or other means within the school; and
teachers to form professional development groups for the exchange of experience through, for example, the Hong Kong Education City website or face-to-face meetings.
6.5.2 Managing resources in schools
The management of learning resources is an ongoing process which includes budgeting, purchasing, organising and providing access. Resources must be organised and classified according to their nature – books, journals, magazines, encyclopedias, CD-ROMs, interactive media and online resources.
Having a variety of resources is important and students should have access to tourism and hospitality related books, magazines, TV programmes and computer software. Resources prepared in digital and non-digital format should be carefully managed and constantly updated. In particular, more frequent updating are probably needed for online resources.
Finally, resources should be easily accessible to students, but intellectual property rights must be strictly adhered to and respected by teachers and students at all times.
Tourism is a globalised industry and it is therefore necessary to help students develop an international perspective. Selection of learning and teaching resources should reflect tourism from around the world. These resources will help students to clarify the concepts learnt and
supplement them with illustrations from a wide range of contexts.
6.5.3 Accessibility of resources
Students should have access to a wide variety of resources such as books, TV programmes, and computer software. It is useful to set up a learning corner in the classroom so that students have easy access to tourism and hospitality related magazines, journals, books, brochures and multi-media resources. In addition, the learning corner can be modelled on a travel agency or a hotel’s business centre to allow students to practise customer services skills through role-play. Please refer to Appendix 10 for examples of the learning and teaching resources.
6.5.4 School librarians
Librarians play an important part in supporting the implementation of the THS curriculum, by, for example:
providing relevant learning resources to promote students’ attainment of the curriculum objectives and learning outcomes;
informing teachers about resources that might be useful for supporting the curriculum;
maximising the use of resources; and
promoting the ethical use of resources (e.g. citing sources, copyright and intellectual property issues) and the proper use of equipment.
Appendix 1
The effective use of direct instruction in THS lessons
Below are two examples of the effective use of direct instruction in THS lessons:
When teaching the unit on tourism concepts and principles, teachers can spend some time introducing students to a number of essential tourist motivation theories which deal with the complex nature of consumer behaviour. These theories analyse tourists’
destination choices and ultimately explain how their choices determine the rise and fall of a destination’s popularity. Once students have acquired these fundamental tourism development concepts, they will be able to examine in more detail the role and importance of sustainable tourism in maintaining and enhancing a destination’s popularity and competitiveness.
Through viewing a video when learning “Employees’ personal hygiene and safety procedures”, students can easily understand the standardized safety procedures being taught, remember them more vividly and be stimulated to put them into practice.
Direct instruction on THS theories can be effective in the following ways:
Teachers can summarise the key points and explain the central components when guiding students to study a complex theory which they might find difficult to learn on their own. This can ensure that students grasp the basic, but important, elements in the theory, and avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation. This is especially important when a subsequent enquiry on the issue draws on information from this theory.
The most common type of direct instructional strategy in THS is lecturing, with the teacher using a text as a basic guideline. However, the teacher has to make sure that the content knowledge is suited to the academic level of students. Some academic articles are too difficult for secondary school students as they are aimed at a more advanced target audience. In such cases, the teacher may adapt the articles or texts first, presenting the key points to the students at a level suitable for them.
Some articles or theories are written and formulated within a cultural or historical context with which the students are unfamiliar (e.g. the customs and protocols in some major tourism regions). After explaining the theory and its background, the teacher can give local examples or instances related to the students’ lives to help them to understand it. Also, a relevant video can allow students to visualise and
acquire knowledge on, for example, different cooking styles, table settings and service styles.
By using this approach, a teacher can disseminate a great deal of information in a short time. However, this only serves as a means to an end. Direct instruction, should be accompanied by further discussion and coursework to check students’
understanding of theories and whether they can apply them to other issues.
This example illustrates point A in Figure 4.1 on page 45
Appendix 2
Students led into an ocean of learning through the Internet
To enable students to have a deeper understanding in the study of Elective Part II
“Theme parks and attractions”, the teacher recommends the following websites:
Site 1: Theme Park City (www.themeparkcity.com)
Background information: It provides a comprehensive listing of theme parks, amusement parks, water parks and zoos in the United States (by state), Canada and Europe. It also provides directories for circuses and carnivals.
Site 2: Theme Park Insider (www.themeparkinsider.com)
Background information: It provides a listing of theme parks in the United States (by state), Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. It also provides directories for circuses and carnivals. Ask them to work first on their own, and then in pairs, to carry out initial research on a topic of interest to them through the following activity:
Compare the similarities and differences in the information collected from the two websites below.
State three reasons for choosing website (a) or (b) to introduce to a friend who is a theme park enthusiast.
In this way, the students engage in thinking through the initial independent enquiry, then discuss, exchange views and negotiate through pair work. They present what they have learned, demonstrate their expertise, share opinions with their classmates and, in the process, enhance their self-esteem. This allows the teacher to see clearly students’ level of understanding and what interests them.
Adapted from Powers, T., & Barrows, C. W. (2006). Introduction to management in the hospitality industry (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
This example illustrates point B in Figure 4.1 on page 45
Appendix 3
An example of an enquiry learning on sustainable tourism development in Tai O
This field trip uses an enquiry learning strategy to help students develop investigative and thinking skills. The flow of the field trip is outlined below:
Preparation – pre-trip planning (teachers)
Make a preparatory visit to Tai O.
Prepare the pre-trip and post-trip questionnaires to measure the changes in students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Prepare an activity sheet(s) for students to complete during the visit.
Prepare enquiry-based questions for students to answer after the field trip.Preparation – pre-trip planning (students)
Students form groups to gather information on Tai O using newspapers, guide books and the Internet, etc.
They complete the pre-trip questionnaire on Tai O based on the information gathered and their perceptions of Tai O.The visit
The visit involves students in investigating the social, environmental and economic impact of tourist activities on Tai O. The investigations include interviews with some local people and shop-owners. Exploratory visits to the local community centre and both artificial and natural tourist attractions enable students to conduct an impact assessment of tourist activities on Tai O based on personal observations.Follow-up
The follow-up to the site visit is just as important as the field trip as it allows students to share their experiences with the class, and each group is required to do so.
Students have to answer enquiry-based questions after the visit which helps them to explore what they have perceived to be the impact of tourist activities on the community. The following are some sample questions: What is the issue or problem?
Whom does it involve?
Why does it arise in Tai O?
What significance does it have for my life and that of the Tai O community?
What decisions does it involve, who loses and gains from them, and why?
What is the relationship among the people involved in this issue or problem?
Appendix 4
An example of a role-play competition on “The Best Tour Guide of 2005”
A teacher from the United Christian College (Kowloon East) arranged for the S5 Travel and Tourism students to participate in a role-play competition entitled “The Best Tour Guide of 2005”. The competition had the following aims:
to promote active learning through a role-play approach which leads to a more exciting learning environment, and enhances students’ knowledge acquisition and skills retention;
to apply generic skills to an authentic situation so that students learn how to put theory into practice;
to illustrate the multi-disciplinary nature of tourism by formulating a commentary which draws together the social, economic and environmental issues; and
to create an industry setting in a tourism lesson where students can simulate the setting and any problems that may arise.
To cater for student diversity, the teacher prepared a list of attractions from which
students could choose. Some attractions were more difficult and required a greater effort.
Students were allowed to conduct their role-play exercise in the classroom or anywhere within the school. Regardless of the venue, they had to play the role of a tour guide and act as if they were conducting a coach tour. The students’ commentaries were evaluated by fellow classmates in terms of the quality and interest of content, communication skills and the ability to answer questions from other students (the tourists).
This example illustrates point C in Figure 4.1 on page 45
Appendix 5