Digital transformation in tourism education

Abstract

Purpose – Digital technology is an undeniable prime mover of society, and the ongoing digital transformation seems to be increasing the challenges within Tourism Education. Thus, this study aims at identifying, in the literature, advantages and constraints it poses to the area. Methodology – This work follows a literature review methodology, focusing on peer-reviewed, open source, recently published research, and the selected papers were analysed though a content analysis. Findings – The results yielded that teachers and students agree that some of the clear advantages of using digital technology in Tourism Education are: i) time and space flexibility, ii) the development of technical/systemic competencies, and iii) the possibilities it opens for authentic/situated teaching and learning. Furthermore, even though the use of digital technology appears to have a positive effect on students’ engagement, there is still some way to go to fully address the development of the students’ and teachers’ digital competence. Contributions – This study makes a valuable contribution to the current discussion around the need to reshape Tourism Education by addressing not only students’ but also faculty members’ needs. It has a dual focus, i.e. on the use of digital technology in teaching and learning; and on the development of digital competence. Even though it concerns Tourism in specific, the results of this paper can be seen as a contribution to the state of the art of upcoming and ongoing projects in the Educational area – e.g. "Future Proof Your Classroom – Teaching Skills 2030” (ref. 2017–1– AT01–KA203-034984).