The Influence of Online Teaching on the Pedagogical Skills: The Case of Tourism and Hospitality Education

In recent years, the Tourism and Hospitality Education (THE) has been facing many challenges. Many of them are related to the ones facing the tourism industry; political instabilities, economic crises, Covid 19 Pandemic…etc. For Example, the COVID-19 Pandemic forced all educational institutions worldwide to a sudden and unprepared transform to remote online learning. Lecturers as well as students were forced to instantly adapt recent technologies. They have faced several difficulties while dealing with various advanced platforms due to lack of training and infrastructure problems among others.
This study aims to evaluate the experience of online teaching from the educators’ perspective. Both qualitative as well as quantitative approaches were used, where an online questionnaire was distributed among the lecturers at tourism and hospitality institutions. Interviews with people from the industry were conducted to gather their evaluation of fresh graduate skills who experienced online teaching. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed.
Study findings show that on-site classes, especially practical ones, lecturers’ face to face guidance, discussions and comments on students are irreplaceable. Educators’ pedagogical skills are then more efficient and more effective. Online teaching has immense capability and becomes in certain circumstances a necessity. However, it cannot be generalized and requires subject-specific attention and feedback. The transitioning to an online platform requires effective tools   and curriculum modifications to fill the gap in industry expectations regarding student employability.