Hybrid Learning Environments in Tourism Education

The goal of HyLTE is to explore the potential of new technologies in the domain of tourism education with the aim of creating optimal conditions for the training of students and teachers. Current digital solutions in online education in this domain either do not take practical education (e.g., cooking lessons) into account or do not yet exist. Unique features and technology should support users to work in subject-related practical training environments. The focus is on connecting the physical and digital worlds by creating novel digital interactions for sufficient learning and future hybrid learning approaches.

Project goals:
Examine challenges within Participatory & Co-Design.
Develop innovative interaction approaches.
Create prototypes to support hybrid teaching in practical courses.
Evaluation of the sufficiency of the concepts.
The new construction of the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (Tourismusschulen Salzburg) enables the realization of these concepts in a holistic way, as well as enables their integration into the building.

Result:
Through in-depth research and observations at the Tourism School Kleßheim, we identified key challenges like space constraints and limited teacher-student interaction. Our solution, KNOWtable, uses gesture control technology to provide dynamic support for both educators and students. For educators, Knowtable offers a dynamic platform to record and annotate lectures in real-time, exploring beyond traditional teaching methods. With a wave of their hand, teachers can create immersive top-view videos, annotate them to enrich learning experiences. For students, KNOWtable simulates service scenarios with virtual guests to prepare them for their final HOFA exam. Both table etiquette and deep knowledge are trained in an engaging learning environment.