MOOC offers overview of hospitality industry

Bill Carroll
Carroll
Jan deRoos
deRoos
Cathy Enz
Enz
Bruce Tracey
Tracey

Did you know that hospitality and tourism generated nearly $7 trillion around the world last year, and that one in 11 global workers are employed by this industry?

Four Cornell School of Hotel Administration (SHA) faculty members will introduce and explore the industry in a new massive open online course (MOOC) titled Introduction to Global Hospitality Management this spring. With the course, SHA seeks to expand its global reach and to broaden understanding of career opportunities in hospitality management.

The course was one of four selected by the Cornell Faculty Senate’s Distance Learning Committee to be developed into a MOOC and presented by edX.org as free online content. Unlike other Cornell MOOCs, the SHA course is not taught as a traditional Cornell University course. The MOOC was designed to provide a glimpse into hospitality management to inform current hospitality professionals seeking to advance, as well as individuals interested in the industry. It may also be used by hospitality organizations as an employee-development tool.

It has been a time-consuming and eye-opening experience for SHA faculty members Bill Carroll, Jan deRoos, Cathy Enz and Bruce Tracey, who worked with the eCornell development team to create the free six-week course.

“Nancy Weislogel [SHA executive director of online learning and collaborative programs] approached me about responding to the university’s call for proposals, and our initial discussions set the foundation for the course,” Tracey said. “We wanted to promote the industry and motivate people to think more broadly.”

“This was a compelling project,” Enz said. “We are reaching out to individuals who don’t have traditional access to Cornell and giving them the opportunity to learn and explore key topics in this multifaceted industry.”

The MOOC, which launches Feb. 4, 2015, will address strategic management and planning, real estate and asset management, e-commerce and marketing, and human resources management. While it was not possible to cover every aspect of hospitality management in a six-week course, online students will gain a solid overview of the four areas. “I felt it was important for the MOOC to contain a significant module on investments in the hospitality industry,” said deRoos, who teaches finance and real estate to Cornell undergrads. “As the world’s premier institution for hospitality education, it is important for SHA to set a standard for excellence for providing cutting-edge materials for a wide variety of audiences.”

Faculty members commit a significant amount of time to develop a MOOC – roughly equivalent to creating a new undergraduate class. For Carroll, the lengthy process was worth it: “I believe in this. Moving online was transformational for the travel industry, and it will be for education as well.”

Enz said: “Education today requires us to experiment and to be innovative. I am pleased that Cornell is looking at and exploring what innovation in education looks like.”

The faculty members hope that after completing the MOOC, participants will see the hospitality industry in a new, multidimensional way. “We want participants to see the challenges and opportunities in the hospitality industry and also to come away with new knowledge of the School of Hotel Administration and Cornell University as knowledge leaders,” deRoos said.

For more information and to register, visit edX.

Leslie Morris is manager of marketing and communications in the School of Hotel Administration’s Office of Online Learning and Collaborative Programs. 

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