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Innovative teaching methods in hospitality for Outcome Based Education
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Thursday, 02 June, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Argha Chakravorty, Priyadarshan Lakhawat
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fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Introduction
Education in any discipline and more so in a professional discipline like hospitality should ensure that the learner is able to apply his knowledge in a practical set-up. This realisation in hospitality academic arena has affected the need for s shift of focus in training from being ‘input’ based to being ‘output’ based. This can be possible through innovative teaching methods in which the learning is student-centric and orientation is towards empirically measuring student performance, which is the outcome or the goal. Outcome Based Education (OBE) is an educational theory that bases each part of an educational system around goals or outcomes.
OBE in Hospitality Education
Hospitality education in India exists for more than 50 years in a formal manner with institutes like IHM Mumbai and Delhi established in the decade of 50s’. Today, there are about 50 institutes under the umbrella of National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology and many more under various universities. However, in terms of use of technology, innovation and modern approach towards teaching learning process, the hospitality education is still at a pedestrian stage of its growth. The authors ( 2012) in their published research paper ‘Emerging technology trends in hospitality education’ surveyed the sample size of hospitality educators and observed that the benefits of technology and various tools for teaching, to benefits students with different styles of learning, have not been reaped by the trainers. It was observed that the gap is on account of relatively less focus on teachers’ training to upgrade their skills and also because of the limited availability of resources and modern technology tools in the institute.
OBE will transform this static state of hospitality education to a dynamic continuum which will not only fulfil the demands of variable learning needs of students to achieve desired outcome but will also help the institutes to keep pace with knowledge skill and attitude of hospitality industry. The recent report by Lausanne Hospitality consulting (LHC), Switzerland, commissioned by National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) to perform a gap analysis, emphasised on a complete overhaul of curriculum and methodology to achieve a student-centric learning environment i.e., an OBE model.
Some recommendations with a focus on OBE are given as below:
- The curriculum designed should promote more out of class activity and ensure self learning and group work.
- Introduce course plans to remove ambiguity and ensure consistency.
- Specify broad parameters like course description, learning outcomes, learning methods, evaluation and assessment.
- Training programme for faculty members to equip them to facilitate training sessions which are students-centric.
- Students should be allowed to choose internships in a single department of their choice.
- Change the essence of examination and move from assessing retention to application of knowledge.
- Introduce open book examination to test the comprehension and the application of the knowledge and not the ability to repeat the knowledge.
- Attendance and writing of journals should not be a part of assessment system.
- The number of students should be limited to 40 in theory class and 20 in practical class for optimum level of learning.
- Abandon the concept of minimum attendance criteria so that the faculty is compelled to make classes more effective.
The above recommendations are in sync with the objective of gearing up for an OBE system. The hospitality education in the country is trying to break its shackles to move to a more effective student-centric OBE model from the current traditional method which is input-based and trainer-centric. NCHMCT is already in a process of adopting and implementing the above steps for its affiliated institutes. It can be assumed that the market compulsion will force the other hospitality management institute in the country to follow the suit sooner than later. Therefore, it can be said that the focus of hospitality education has shifted from the educator to the learner. However, this shift requires change within the educational system in order to facilitate learning.
The following steps should form a part of it:
1) To decide on the type of professionals needed for the industry.
2) To decide the learning outcomes at the end of the education process.
3) To decide the curriculum content.
4) To identify various applicable teaching methodologies.
5) To decide the assessment process in which outcomes provide the benchmark.
6) To set up a system of management and administration of curriculum and its delivery.
Innovative Methods
In a fairly unbiased analysis or introspection, most of us who are stakeholders in hospitality education sector of this country, will accept that in hospitality education we have not travelled far beyond ‘repeat after me’ style of teaching. Most of us still use lecturing as our staple method with board and chalk our only teaching tools. To achieve the objective of OBE we need to follow a concept of blended learning.
The five training methods which according to research are ideally suited for OBE are detailed below:
- Simulation
- Role Play
- Guided Practice
- Project-based Learning
Case Study
Simulation: - Simulation exercises are attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis or prediction. For instance, a student may be given three different situations in an exercise on Room Revenue Management.
With the help of software and through his own assessment of situation he may be asked to fix room tariff in all three scenarios. Later a discussion on merits and demerits of the decision-making may be conducted in the classroom or with the student on one- to-one basis. Similarly management of restaurant operations in simulated environment may lead to outcome oriented learning for the student. While the student is managing the training restaurant operations in a routine style he may be given situations which puts stress on his resources and time. His handling of different situations makes for a learning exercise.
Role Play: - Role Play is a make believe representation of some real life event, carried out in order to help participants get better at managing the event itself. In Role Play participants assume a specific role, enter a scenario and behave as they should in the circumstances. In hospitality, Role Play is a very effective teaching method as it provides a perspective to the learner and lead to a greater empathetic understanding. Given in the table in the earlier page are indicative examples of Role Plays one can undertake in hospitality teaching.
Guided Practice: It is a method in which teacher provides effective instructions or demonstration of a new skill which is followed by direct practice by the student under the supervision of the trainer. It allows the teacher to monitor the outcome of the learning and adjust according to the pace of the student. It gives a chance to each student to exhibit his grasp of a new skill by doing an activity or exercise under teacher’s supervision. In hospitality education, Guided Practice can play a key role in food production training or in learning food and beverage service skills.
Project Based Learning (PBL): In this method students gain knowledge and skills by working for extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, task or challenge. PBL is ideal as a group learning activity. This also develops behavioral competencies of the student such as team work, situational leadership, communication, problem solving and creativity. In hospitality education, PBL may have a wide variety of usage including industrial projects, research projects, projects on specific regional cuisine or international cuisine or wine regions and so on.
Case Study: A case study is a story about how something exists within a real world context that is created by carefully examining an instance. It is an in-depth study of particular situation rather than a sweeping theoretical statement. Cornell University has effectively shown how this method can be used in hotel management institutes. However, in India hospitality education sector is yet to realise the actual potential of this very powerful teaching tool. We need to give case studies to the students to research a problem scenario in the form of business challenges and to come up with their recommendation on this. It may also be in the form of ‘success case studies’ and ‘failure case studies’ from the industry. ‘Best practice case studies’ provide a great insight to the learner about his chosen profession. This method helps the student to internalise a concept instead of just learning it from a book. Therefore, this method is highly useful as an outcome focussed learning option.
Summary
In today’s academic set-up at the hospitality training institutes in the country, the student must be empowered to be able to withstand the global challenges of the 21st century. The role of education is to ensure that students who are from socially, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and have different learning preferences, pace and competencies are able to achieve the desired skill and knowledge which is expected out of them. In this research paper, we have recommended the application of OBE model in the field of hospitality education and have identified few innovative teaching methods which can be applied in our discipline to achieve the desired outcome. At the end of this research, the authors are of the opinion that conventional methods of teaching fail to produce desired changes in the behaviour of the student. From the technique of ‘chalk and talk’ we need to move to more innovative methods to engage students. Methods like Role Play, Simulation, Guided Practice, Project Based Learning, Case Study, and so on can be used by the trainers to create a ‘blended-learning’ environment. This in turn will enhance the employability prospects of the students and will positively influence their career growth.
(Chakravorty is principal, IHM Gurdaspur, and Lakhawat is HoD, IHM Gurdaspur. They can be reached at plakhawat@gmail.com)
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