EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TRADITIONAL TEACHING METHODS IN THE HOSPITALITY CLASSROOM: REVIEW AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Jokima L. Hiller
Indiana University Northwest

Jennifer L. Forney
Jamestown Community College
Eric A. Brown
Iowa State University

ABSTRACT
Colleges and universities face challenges in the traditional teaching delivery methods, such
as lecturing, that are still being utilized more often in the hospitality classroom. By the same token,
instructors have embraced “experiential learning activities” that provide discipline knowledge and
relevant transferable skills required for industry. Such activity demonstrates an effective way for
“departments in colleges and universities” to collaborate internally in order to enhance the student
experience, as well as externally with industry partners.
This study has two objectives: The first objective is to get feedback from a sample of
instructors on both “experiential learning activities” and “traditional teaching delivery” used in
Hospitality classrooms. The second objective is also to get feedback from a sample of students’
experiential learning activities used in Hospitality classrooms when students learned more, and the
“students’ evaluation rate” of “experiential activities” based on their ability to relate learning to
industry. The study results concerning the first objective indicated that “guest speakers and field
trips” were the specific experiential learning teaching delivery methods that were the most effective.
“Classroom discussions” are used very often by all responding instructors. Group projects followed
next with PowerPoint being the third most used traditional teaching delivery method.
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Keywords: Hospitality classroom, experiential learning, traditional teaching delivery method, feedback from
instructors and students