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By Dr. Christine Demen Meier, Managing
Director, Les Roches
Year 2020 has
been a turning point in the educational sector forcing many institutions to
switch to remote and online teaching in a matter of weeks. While almost only
online institutions or those of a certain scale and reputation used to provide
their students with online courses before the pandemic, this method of learning
has now become a necessity for most schools worldwide.
It is not only
the transmission of knowledge that is important when switching to remote
teaching, but also student experience which, while different from face-to-face
classes, must comply with and even exceed the level of school’s standards. For
hospitality education, largely putting customer experience in the centre of its curriculum, the use of
innovative methods and technologies for remote and classroom teaching is
crucial.
Through the
application of latest technologies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI),
it is now possible to ensure the level of plagiarism during online assessments
is kept to a minimum and teacher efficiency is increased due to AI systems
dealing with automated admin tasks. Moreover, using AI, it is now possible to personalise the
educational content adapting it to students’ needs.
Virtual
classrooms using digital tools like Padlet, an online notice board, Mural, a
digital workspace for visual collaboration and Wooclap, an Audience Response
Tool that offers teachers and students the opportunity to communicate via
polls, test questions, word clouds, or gamification, contribute to successful
and even improved study process between teachers and students in remote or
hyflex study modes.
While culinary
classes in hospitality education are yet to bridge the gap between real-time
cooking and using Virtual Reality (VR) to access cooking tools and spaces using
VR headsets and sensors, this technology has already been widely used by
educational institutions to welcome students on (virtual) campus during the
pandemic when travelling was not possible. While nothing can compare to
practical experience hospitality, it is only a matter of time until this
technology complements the physical learning.
It is essential
not only for the educational institutions to apply the latest technologies in
order to keep up with the digitalization in the education sector, but also for
the students to become accustomed to the use and presence of these tools.
Giving students a possibility to work on case studies collaborating with actual
organisations in developing these solutions is the next step for the
hospitality industry to educate tomorrow’s graduates. At Les Roches in
Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and Marbella, Spain, two of the very few Innovation
hubs in hospitality education have been launched this autumn. Entitled
Innovation sphere “SPARK”, these centres will serve as multipurpose online and
physical platforms for students, companies, start-ups, public institutions and
entrepreneurs to come together and work on projects lead by modern technologies
such as blockchain, AI, augmented reality and VR, robotics and
Internet of Things to name a few.
These innovation
spheres on a basis of three pillars, will enhance student learning by first,
allowing them to experience new technological solutions and trends by using
these themselves. Secondly, they will give students the understanding of how to
create future solutions for and with the hospitality industry and thirdly,
providing them access to the resources and knowledge needed to start their
business while still studying at Les Roches.
In addition to
using modern technologies, it is also important to adapt the curriculum and
offer courses that will prepare the students to the changing industry. At Les
Roches we had identified already the growing need for the hospitality industry
to find tech solutions in order to match the expectations of the customers,
elevate the user experience and modernize the internal company processes. For
this reason, we launched last year the Master’s in Hospitality Strategy and
Digital Transformation in Crans-Montana to educate the future professionals of
the industry on this indispensable trend. This is the time for the future
graduates of the hospitality institutions to surround themselves with the
training in hospitality technology and digitalization. Through courses focusing
on digitalization, students can access the necessary tools to be able to assess
the needs of hospitality organizations and select the most appropriate tech
solutions to optimize the processes, maximize the emerging technologies and
enhance the customer journey. |