Teachers’ training course using synchronous conferencing tools for hospitality and tourism education in Vietnam: A constructivist approach

Abstract

Despite its significant damage to the hospitality and tourism industry, the pandemic of COVID-19 indeed has reinforced the needs for not only the hospitality and tourism education, but also the whole educational system of Vietnam, to make use of technological innovations in education, among which synchronous conferencing tools are currently utilized for changing their mode from physical classroom to online learning. This study adopts the constructivist approaches to propose a training course designed to enhance the skills needed for teaching with synchronous conferencing technology for teachers in Vietnam's hospitality and tourism institutions. We based on the current literature to identify the necessary skills to implement classes via synchronous conferencing environments. We also selected and designed learning activities to translate constructivist teaching theory into online pedagogies. Although it needs to be evaluated in further studies, this course design is expected to contribute to the growing literature on methods to improve instructors’ readiness to teach in virtual classrooms.