Understanding Personal Learning Environment Perspectives of Thai International Tourism and Hospitality Higher Education Students

Abstract

This paper is part of a periodic research conducted in developing a personal learning environment for Thailand’s higher education students with English as medium of instruction. The objective of the first phase in this research was to understand the personal learning environment perspectives of Thai International tourism and hospitality higher education students. A structured questionnaire of personal, learning and environment perspectives based on various literature reviews and practical applications was constructed and distributed to 111 Bachelor of Business administration students majoring tourism and hospitality management to measure their agreeableness towards elements of PLE. The results revealed that all the three stakeholders, i.e., the student, teacher and the college have control or ownership over the self-learning phases of the students. The students use social media and smart phones to search and find relevant information in various formats such as videos, audios, news, articles from internet and teach each other by giving feedbacks within themselves on completing their assignments during self-learning phases. Keywords: personal learning environment; international tourism and hospitality students; self learning phases; higher education; Thailand