The Evaluation of Distance Learning in Tourism Education in the Pandemic Process

Abstract

The most important feature that distinguishes the tourism sector from many sectors is that it has a labor-intensive structure. Therefore, the knowledge and skills of those working in this sector are important for the competitiveness of businesses. In this direction, tourism education curricula are developed on a practical basis. During the pandemic, the functioning of the tourism industry has come to a complete halt, so education has been moved to digital platforms. In this process, many application-based courses were suspended and these courses were started to be carried out on digital platforms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the views of students who receive tourism education in the pandemic process towards distance learning. The action research technique, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Action research is a method actively used by educators who take the role of researchers to systematically and scientifically obtain information and develop applications in various fields of education. The sample of the study consists of 24 students studying tourism in the 2020-2021 academic years. The research data were collected using a semi-structured interview technique. As a result of the research, while the students expressed positive opinions about distance learning, they stated that they lacked the application aspect, which is a necessity of tourism education. In addition, with the statements put forward, it is concluded that students improve themselves by participating in seminars and trainings with distance learning methods in many different countries in the pandemic process. Among the problems experienced, students stated that there is a lack of infrastructure.