Evaluating effectiveness of student collaboration: A critical reflection from three case studies

Abstract

Given the challenges of preparing students with work-ready collaboration skills for the hospitality industry, there is a need for pedagogically sound collaborative learning experiences and their effectiveness embedded in the teaching process and assessments. To delve into how collaborative projects/assessments support hospitality students' development of collaborative knowledge and skills, this study adopts a qualitative approach. This study will analyse the collaboration relating to the teaching practices of three instructors and their students' reflections on the collaborative learning process together with the instructors' reflections. Through the lens of social interdependence theory, the instructors' and their students' critical reflections on their experiences will be interpreted. This study is expected to contribute to the hospitality education literature and collaborative learning practices in higher education.