On-line course development and instructional manual for MATC hospitality program

Abstract

The literature suggests that online training and education will be the foundation of hospitality training and in-service educational programming at all levels for the years to come. According to the future of Hospitality Education by Humme (1999), the continued rapid growth of services and the rapid nature of change within the services sector will require new approaches to training and education. Other researchers have found that the hospitality industry has begun to utilize new technologies to facilitate the flow of information throughout their respective organizations. Large lodging corporations such as Hilton and Hyatt have enabled the transfer of information through extensive inter and intra networks. The recent acquisition of Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites and Hampton Inns by Hilton was enabled by the used of training technology to update those unfamiliar with Hilton corporate operations and philosophy. Trade publications such as Meeting News, Restaurant News, Business Traveler and others all underscore that the training for service industry will now be conducted on the Internet or are technological based systems. More and more training and education in the hospitality firm has migrated towards technology and its easy access twenty-four hours per day. The existing position of the hospitality industry and its focused interest in technological training and education underscores the purpose of this study. With the rapid change in industry towards technology in information transfer it is time that education move closer to the industry it serves. Educational systems in general have been slow to modify its educational programming to meet emerging markets (Gates 2000). The advent of the worldwide Internet has enabled some universities, private, and for profit colleges to quickly offer technological based curricula and full programming. Many educators are very skeptical of this type of programming and degree granting change. “Their overall success has yet to be effectively measured or a true value placed on the programming offered” (Davies 2001). Regardless of the emerging issues, it is essential to underscore that many educational institutions worldwide that are quickly designing online undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs to enable attract enrollment from around the world. The purpose of this Plan B study was twofold. To develop an applied Hospitality student-orientation manual, a device for MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College) students to explore and learn the Blackboard system used for on-line courses. The intent is to eventually offer hospitality programming to outreach those in the hospitality industry unable to attend scheduled class sessions in a traditional format. The manual includes a step-by-step process for students to follow as they begin distance education delivery based on MATC and Wisconsin Technical Education standards. The complete manual is found in the appendix. Hand in hand with the student-orientation manual is the on-line course curriculum for Legal Aspects in the Hospitality Industry. Students will have access to this new on-line course beginning in spring 2002.