Search

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to study how real world learning was used to engender and enhance sustainability principles and practices with 11 micro-, small- and medium-tourism business enterprises and 101 university tourism students enrolled across three university courses. Design/methodology/approach: Action research processes were used to focus curricula on "education about and for sustainability". A participatory paradigm informed the action research processes. The key methodology was qualitative. Empirical materials were generated through lived experiences, reflexive team conversations, team journals, reflexive journals and student learning materials. Reflexive conversations and reflective dialogue framed interpretations. Findings: The action research process found that pedagogies, andragogies and ethnogogies that emphasize social processes of meaning making and sensemaking enhance and engender "education about sustainability" and "education for sustainability", especially when coupled with real world learning as a platform for social and profession-building processes between university students, course teaching staff and industry, in this case, micro-, small- and medium-tourism entrepreneurs. Research limitations/implications: The qualitative findings of this action research study are specific to the participants involved. Generalizability to other university and business settings and goodness of fit require further study. Practical implications: Insights are provided with regard to implementing real world learning in university undergraduate and postgraduate courses by partnering with industry and focusing on education for sustainability (EfS). A demonstration of the effectiveness of action research as a tool for changing curricula is provided. Social implications: Learning is a social process of meaning making. Time for real world social interaction is critical for learning. Partnering with industry complements student learning and facilitates the translation of theory into practice. Originality/value: EfS is engendered and enhanced when learning-teaching engagements are predicated on real world settings, circumstances and experiences.

Healthy oceans are of great importance in achieving global sustainability, and are thus identified as one of the core Sustainable Development Goals in 'Life below Water' (SDG 14). However, at present, we still face a significant challenge in achieving lay understanding of the influence of the oceans on our lives and the impacts of our behaviour on it. As a key interface, marine ecotourism can support the development of place-based ocean literacy, but this can only be achieved through 'effective partnerships' (SDG 17). This paper examines how stakeholder collaboration can contribute to increased ocean literacy through empirical work on scuba diving in Mallorca, Spain. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted with divers and other key stakeholders (operators, scientists, government, NGOs, and professional associations). Adopting stakeholder models based on pentahelix opportunities for collaboration we analyse the current challenges. The study identified a sector which currently lacks effective partnerships: there is limited systematic transfer of knowledge; staff are poorly trained in interpretation and communication skills; there is weak industry collaboration; and the sector is neglected in government tourism strategy. Consequently, the current structure fails to connect divers to marine issues in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, suitable conditions for developing effective partnerships are present: motivated staff and suitable facilities; interested authorities; an active network of knowledge production; and a vigilant society. This paper proposes a multi-stakeholder structure to put place-based ocean literacy into practice in order to contribute to the aspirations of improved global ocean awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite well-established links between travel, learning and education in tourism studies, there is scant discussion around the ways in which "trouble" emerges and unfolds in experience-based and field course-learning scenarios. This exploratory research aims to understand this neglected aspect of tourism education, drawing attention to its pedagogical value and to debate the purpose of trouble within the field. Specifically, we examine written and drawn memories of trouble encountered by tourism educators who lead and organise field courses. Analysis of findings reveal that unintended instances can become purposeful for both students and educators. We also highlight some of the strategies used by educators to capitalise on trouble, supporting reflection, adopting different personas, and in some cases intentionally creating "trouble". This paper encourages educators to stay with, or more specifically to sway towards trouble, imparting insights around how to create purpose from trouble thereby inspiring educators to facilitate more critically oriented tourism field courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Geographies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The popularity of activity-based tourism is often explained by experiential concepts such as flow. By using a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates how the storytelling intentions of scuba diving tourists are influenced by their flow experience. The mediating role of satisfaction and the moderating role of scuba diving experience level are further examined in this relationship. To test these hypotheses, interviews with 20 scuba divers and a field survey with the participation of 426 scuba diving tourists were conducted in Kaş, Turkey. The findings reveal that the influence of the flow experience on storytelling intentions of scuba diving tourists is fully mediated by their satisfaction. The results additionally show that scuba diving experience level does not have a moderating role in the flow experience-satisfaction-storytelling intention relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the current increase of studies on school trips and experiential learning, questions remain about what aspects of school trips best contribute to students and how it affects students' learning experience. This study attempts to explore students' learning experience participating in 1-day cultural school trips in Papua, eastern Indonesia. Conducting trips to two cultural venues (a cultural museum and cultural village) and integrating topics in secondary schools' curriculum (Papuan local content and Papuan art and culture), we evaluated student learning experiences against Bloom et al.'s (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives. The study found several emergent categories: students' previous experiences, emotional experiences, impressions on seeing new perspective, reidentifying cultural identity, cultural awareness, personal effect, and framing and comparing learning strategy. The results provide insight into the effectiveness of school trip in the cultural setting in less developed countries and suggest areas for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]