From Classroom to Game Room: A Case Study on Gamification in Hospitality Education in Nepal”

Abstract

In the hospitality industry, changes that take place in this industry are pretty fast, Traditional classroom instructional strategies, commonly fail to equip students well in working in an industry that is fast-paced and focused on customer interaction. The case study is based on how gamification in teaching activities can be implemented and makes teaching more fruitful in a hospitality management institute in Nepal.

The study aims at targeting the location of the introduction of game-like characteristics like role playing exercises, point-based rewards, interactive problems and some simulation based instruction to the chosen hospitality courses. Student surveys as well as interviews of the instructors and classroom observations (conducted during one semester) were used to collect the data.

The results indicate that those gamified methods made the learning process more interactive and interesting as such, students were more motivated and developed soft skills via teamwork, communication, and critical thinking. The teachers also had more active classroom environment and student responsiveness. Nevertheless, some obstacles are also depicted in the study, such as poor availability of digital tools and the necessity to introduce more faculty training.

On the whole, the case shows that a wise application of the principles of gamification can become a helpful means of reorganizing the field of hospitality education to meet the needs of the actual workplace more closely.