Abstract
Hospitality educators today face a growing challenge of engaging students and developing new means of bringing the industry into their classrooms in a contextually relevant and timely manner. Four educational institutes received EU funding to explore the potential of using low-tech AR/VR tools in the hospitality classroom as a means of addressing these
concerns. Currently, lecturers with limited time and resources, seek simple options that they
can adopt without lengthy training and advanced technical support. Hence, this paper explores the practicalities of implementing certain AR/VR tools, with a view to adding to theory surrounding embedding technology in teaching practice.
An exploratory study was conducted, with a sample of eight university lecturers on how the implementation of AR/VR tools in the hospitality classroom unfolded. Students were immersed into various immersive experience across a variety of hospitality scenarios such as a complaining guest. Data was collected via participant journals. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
This paper presents findings from lecturers in higher education who adopted the AR/VR prototypes. The participants identify the substantial benefits offered by adding these tools to the hospitality lecturer’s toolkit. Benefits included increased engagement from learners, particularly emotional responses resulting from the immersive experience and increased class engagement. Various obstacles reported included: connectivity issues, time required to set up the experience and issues around glitches in the system when using in class. This paper provides insights into the usability, practicality, and flexibility of low-tech options. Implications from this research are that AR/VR can be applied in the classroom, however lecturers need sufficient support to develop it effectively. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on the use of this technology in the classroom.
KEYWORDS
Technology-enhanced learning
Immersive technology
Hospitality education