Abstract
This is a collaborative teaching & learning (T&L) project between two hotel schools based in Hong Kong and U.S. respectively. The project involves two parallel undergraduate courses offered by the two schools in 2020-21. Each course requires students from both universities to form groups and solve business problems for hospitality companies in Boston and Hong Kong. Despite the different tasks, the two course projects follow the same teaching philosophy, i.e., to improve students’ team collaboration, to offer opportunities for students to solve real business problems, and to enhance students’ critical thinking skills (through researching and evaluating theories and industry practices), design thinking skills (through creative problem-solving processes), cross-cultural sensitivity, and teamwork skills. Students are expected to complete the projects by participating in a series of teacher-directed or student-initiated research and discussion activities. A set of videos will be produced to guide the students through the critical and design thinking processes. Multiple assessments will be used to measure students’ learning outcomes. By design, this project aims to expand “conventional” course projects to include real-world problems, cross-cultural learning opportunities, highly engaging and structured problem-solving processes, and use of most up-to-date online team collaboration tools.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
• Promote systematic teaching and learning (T&L) collaborations with overseas academic partners.
• Design and implement sustainable, replicable T&L activities that enable cross-cultural understanding and learning.
• Improve students’ skills in critical thinking, design thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, oral and written communication.
• Develop assessment criteria and rubrics that help evaluate students’ learning outcomes in a cross-cultural context.
• Create online learning modules and materials that can be applied to other courses / programs.
Activities, process and outcomes
• Collaboration with the School of Hospitality Administration, Boston University
• Project in OB/HR courses: Help hotels solve HR problems during COVID-19
• Simulation and VR video projects in Lodging Management courses
Deliverables and evaluation
• Design thinking workshop: Lecture videos and activities on Mural
• Hotel HR manager interview videos
• Animated videos on Design Thinking
• HR and simulation project work on Mural
• VR tour of hotel facilities and student-made videos posted on VR platform
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
• Shared project at 2021 CUHK Virtual Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo and won Silver Poster Award for Pedagogical Innovation.
• Implemented similar design thinking projects in course jointly offered by our School and another overseas university.
• Conducted design thinking workshops in Undergraduate and Postgraduate student admission and engagement events.
Impact on teaching and learning
• Helped students improve their problem-solving, design thinking, cross-cultural communication, and digital literacy skills.
• Teachers have gained insights into incorporating new eLearning technologies and managerial practices into course contents and assessment activities.
