Course Goals and Learning Outcomes: What Did We Acheive?
One of the two main Course Goals in this class was "to fulfill the requirements of the international general education requirement". This goal can be broken down into four specific goals that we have achieved over the course of the semester, and on this page, I have explained, using specific examples, how we have managed to achieve each goal.
1. Each student will be able to identify cross-border phenomena influencing the international tourism system (language, cultural, economic, political, etc.)
This goal was easy to achieve, as a major theme of this class was centered on the things happening within foreign lands, cultures, and governments, and their influence on the tourism system. Each week we learned about a new facet of the tourism industry; For example, we learned about sustainable tourism in week 6, fair trade in week 8, and endangered places and cultures in weeks 10 and 11. We then had the opportunity, through our individual blogs on specific topics, to see just how these phenomena are influencing places and cultures and species in the tourism industry today.
2. Each student will be able to identify current/contemporary issues impacting the international travel industry, or shows how historical approaches are relevant to contemporary issues (i.e., World Peace, Human Rights, Climate Change, Fair Trade, etc.)
The way our class is set up with our blogs and individual topics lends itself very well to achieving this goal. Without the blogging aspect of our class, we would probably have the time to learn about topics like Fair Trade and Climate Change in a general sense, but we would not have the time to discover so many specific examples. Because of the real world applications of these examples, I think visiting my classmates' blogs really helped me to understand the topics we were supposed to be learning even better.
We were each asked to do a blog relating to Fair Trade and our topic. You can read mine on the Kashmir people HERE.
3. Each student will be able to identify the different perspectives existing within an international country. (Perspectives of the host community residents, locally owned travel businesses, national/government agencies, global corporations, and/or the international tourist).
In week 5 we learned about Travel Motivations and Ethical Marketing. We studied the perspectives of the travelers themselves, the host countries, and the business owners in the areas and how they either get people to come to their country, or why the tourists travel where they do. This lesson, I think, was one of the main ways we achieved this goal.
4. Each student will understand sustainable tourism development and contemporary tourism issues from a global community perspective.
This class helped me realize that I am a part of a global community, not just a citizen of a town or a state or a country. It is all of our jobs to help sustain the beauty of our Earth, and our people. In week 6 we learned about how to travel smarter and the basics of Eco-tourism and Sustainable Tourism. Each student was required to write a blog post about some aspect of their topic that had to do with Eco-tourism. I wrote mine on The Grand Dragon Ladakh, A hotel in India that strives to be friendly to the environment and culture. Visiting my peers' websites I learned about places and organizations all over the world that are committed to Sustainable Tourism. On Pinterest I learned that there are many issues surrounding tourism and many organizations dedicated to solving them.
The other main goal in our class was "To fulfill the requirements of the upper division communication/writing requirement". This goal can also be broken down into specific goals that we have achieved over the course of the semester. There are 5 specific goals that were achieved in this category.
1. Each student will be able to effectively communicate in written form, specifically revise a minimum of 2 written reflections incorporating the instructor's feedback and comments from the writing team.
I don't know about anyone else's writing, but my writing definitely improved over the course of these past few months. We wrote plenty more than 2 reflections and got so much helpful feedback. I like that we got to have so much practice in improving our writing; it worked.
2. Each student will demonstrate the effective use of technology to improve their writing and speaking. Students will need to demonstrate how they have utilized the online resources to improve their writing skills, incorporate photographs from the Internet, information from electronic journals, and online experts to improve and broaden their perspectives as indicated by the quality of their written and oral communication, and multi-media presentations
Before this class, I had no idea that I could make a blog with pictures and links to other pages and shared information. This has expanded my range of communication. I now have a Pinterest account, a blog, a twitter account, and a face book account, all of which can be used to promote the things that are important to me. How did I ever get anything done before having these resources? If this class was effective in anything, it would be this.
3. Each student will demonstrate their ability to adapt his or her speaking and writing to different audiences and purposes (i.e., from the perspectives of the host community residents, locally owned travel businesses, national/government agencies, global corporations, and/or the international tourist).
We focused a lot on this goal in the beginning of the course. We learned about certain websites that can be used to evaluate your writing. This software will tell you exactly who you're writing to. It tells you your readability and gives suggestions on how to make it sound more educated or, on the other hand, more for the everyday person to read. This "targeting" of an audience was definitely achieved through learning about readability.
4. Each student will effectively incorporate suggestions provided by the writing team, teaching assistant, instructor, and writing center to improve their effective writing and communication skills (i.e., demonstrating improvement in the use of syntax and mechanics of American English in written and oral work).
Like I said earlier, my writing has improved tremendously. I tried to take the advice of my teacher in our graded rubrics and use it in my next blog post. The quizzes on grammar helped me know what I needed to focus on, and what more I needed to learn.
5. Each student will effectively utilize multiple forms of writing and communication (i.e., written reflections, Microsoft PowerPoint or Corel Presentation slide shows, outline for discussion, debate, evaluation, and online reflections).
In this class, we mostly used written reflections to discuss ideas, but we also had discussions in class on certain subjects. Also, the graduate students created powerpoints to communicate ideas. In the final, we also have the opportunity to make a video as a submission to one of the questions. This goal was achieved.
OVERALL: This class was very successful in its attempt to accomplish all of the aforementioned goals. I would recommend taking this class to all of the students interested in travel, or business, or even communication.
1. Each student will be able to identify cross-border phenomena influencing the international tourism system (language, cultural, economic, political, etc.)
This goal was easy to achieve, as a major theme of this class was centered on the things happening within foreign lands, cultures, and governments, and their influence on the tourism system. Each week we learned about a new facet of the tourism industry; For example, we learned about sustainable tourism in week 6, fair trade in week 8, and endangered places and cultures in weeks 10 and 11. We then had the opportunity, through our individual blogs on specific topics, to see just how these phenomena are influencing places and cultures and species in the tourism industry today.
2. Each student will be able to identify current/contemporary issues impacting the international travel industry, or shows how historical approaches are relevant to contemporary issues (i.e., World Peace, Human Rights, Climate Change, Fair Trade, etc.)
The way our class is set up with our blogs and individual topics lends itself very well to achieving this goal. Without the blogging aspect of our class, we would probably have the time to learn about topics like Fair Trade and Climate Change in a general sense, but we would not have the time to discover so many specific examples. Because of the real world applications of these examples, I think visiting my classmates' blogs really helped me to understand the topics we were supposed to be learning even better.
We were each asked to do a blog relating to Fair Trade and our topic. You can read mine on the Kashmir people HERE.
3. Each student will be able to identify the different perspectives existing within an international country. (Perspectives of the host community residents, locally owned travel businesses, national/government agencies, global corporations, and/or the international tourist).
In week 5 we learned about Travel Motivations and Ethical Marketing. We studied the perspectives of the travelers themselves, the host countries, and the business owners in the areas and how they either get people to come to their country, or why the tourists travel where they do. This lesson, I think, was one of the main ways we achieved this goal.
4. Each student will understand sustainable tourism development and contemporary tourism issues from a global community perspective.
This class helped me realize that I am a part of a global community, not just a citizen of a town or a state or a country. It is all of our jobs to help sustain the beauty of our Earth, and our people. In week 6 we learned about how to travel smarter and the basics of Eco-tourism and Sustainable Tourism. Each student was required to write a blog post about some aspect of their topic that had to do with Eco-tourism. I wrote mine on The Grand Dragon Ladakh, A hotel in India that strives to be friendly to the environment and culture. Visiting my peers' websites I learned about places and organizations all over the world that are committed to Sustainable Tourism. On Pinterest I learned that there are many issues surrounding tourism and many organizations dedicated to solving them.
The other main goal in our class was "To fulfill the requirements of the upper division communication/writing requirement". This goal can also be broken down into specific goals that we have achieved over the course of the semester. There are 5 specific goals that were achieved in this category.
1. Each student will be able to effectively communicate in written form, specifically revise a minimum of 2 written reflections incorporating the instructor's feedback and comments from the writing team.
I don't know about anyone else's writing, but my writing definitely improved over the course of these past few months. We wrote plenty more than 2 reflections and got so much helpful feedback. I like that we got to have so much practice in improving our writing; it worked.
2. Each student will demonstrate the effective use of technology to improve their writing and speaking. Students will need to demonstrate how they have utilized the online resources to improve their writing skills, incorporate photographs from the Internet, information from electronic journals, and online experts to improve and broaden their perspectives as indicated by the quality of their written and oral communication, and multi-media presentations
Before this class, I had no idea that I could make a blog with pictures and links to other pages and shared information. This has expanded my range of communication. I now have a Pinterest account, a blog, a twitter account, and a face book account, all of which can be used to promote the things that are important to me. How did I ever get anything done before having these resources? If this class was effective in anything, it would be this.
3. Each student will demonstrate their ability to adapt his or her speaking and writing to different audiences and purposes (i.e., from the perspectives of the host community residents, locally owned travel businesses, national/government agencies, global corporations, and/or the international tourist).
We focused a lot on this goal in the beginning of the course. We learned about certain websites that can be used to evaluate your writing. This software will tell you exactly who you're writing to. It tells you your readability and gives suggestions on how to make it sound more educated or, on the other hand, more for the everyday person to read. This "targeting" of an audience was definitely achieved through learning about readability.
4. Each student will effectively incorporate suggestions provided by the writing team, teaching assistant, instructor, and writing center to improve their effective writing and communication skills (i.e., demonstrating improvement in the use of syntax and mechanics of American English in written and oral work).
Like I said earlier, my writing has improved tremendously. I tried to take the advice of my teacher in our graded rubrics and use it in my next blog post. The quizzes on grammar helped me know what I needed to focus on, and what more I needed to learn.
5. Each student will effectively utilize multiple forms of writing and communication (i.e., written reflections, Microsoft PowerPoint or Corel Presentation slide shows, outline for discussion, debate, evaluation, and online reflections).
In this class, we mostly used written reflections to discuss ideas, but we also had discussions in class on certain subjects. Also, the graduate students created powerpoints to communicate ideas. In the final, we also have the opportunity to make a video as a submission to one of the questions. This goal was achieved.
OVERALL: This class was very successful in its attempt to accomplish all of the aforementioned goals. I would recommend taking this class to all of the students interested in travel, or business, or even communication.