International Higher Education Teacher Award ^2024/25

Connected to every aspect of life, tourism has the power to destroy or regenerate destinations - local communities and ecosystems. In the world burdened with a host of interconnected issues, including climate change and the pandemic, it would be irresponsible to leave this potential for positive change untapped. We can hope for a sustainable future in which tourism is a “force for good” only if we prepare the coming generations of tourism professionals for such a journey - knowledgeable, understanding, compassionate, creative, willing, dedicated. This task requires a complex, well thought-through, and devised approach in which all stakeholders’ needs are addressed. As in tourism, the essence of education is experience. Although they cannot be created, experience and transformation can be facilitated and co-created provided the right context. In tourism education, in particular, creating an engaging educational experience is the sensible approach. Textbooks are a common source of knowledge, but a passive educational resource. Still, in the digital era and with a growing need for tailor-made educational experiences, educational meaningfulness can be achieved through creating books as a “live educational matter”. The main innovative achievement of this project is an open-source e-book published in late 2021. It was used at two (undergraduate and master) courses throughout the winter term 2021-22. Although this approach is universal, the first edition is in Serbian, aiding the Balkans region on the road to sustainable tourism. It serves as guidelines for educational experience co-creation for students and helps instructors become facilitators. Through it, the learning process is meaningful, purposeful, transformational, informational; inclusive, genuine, collaborative; useful, adaptable, inspirational, challenging, and fun. For that purpose it contains materials for online/offline collaborative/ individual work, for in-class/ independent environment: * a 100 multiple-purpose and complexity tasks including simulations, * 20 real (global to local) case studies, * latest tourism management tools, initiatives, and approaches, * cards/bookmarks for easier book navigation, * "What I know/ can do" - a (self- or instructor-led) checklists of achievement * "For further research" – pools of resources It helps the process of assessment – fair, transparent, adaptable. It accounts for acquired knowledge, and the ability to defend with logic and reason one’s beliefs.

Methodology

There are two crucial elements that served me as the author as a basis for this different approach to creating a book. First, the experience gained during 15 years of work in higher education gave me the privilege of always being able to see the world from the eyes of young people. We may not have created the world as it is today, but we have inherited it. I believe that it is the duty of my and future generations to make it better. For ourselves and for those who will follow. Recognizing what insights, knowledge, and understanding of sustainability as a key concept in tourism are lacking in students as future tourism experts, I dedicate this book primarily to them. Topics, content, and approach were selected according to their needs and placed within their study programs. Hence the potential danger that the organization of the book might occasionally seem one-sided and predetermined, the text simplified, and the concepts implied. However, experience in working with many young people virtually from all over the world in culturally diverse classes, and especially those from Serbia, has shown me where there is a neutral space where conversation can take place, where many aspects of tourism and sustainability can be considered and where it is possible for them to create their own attitudes and beliefs without mutual disapproval and prejudice. With such a primary purpose I allowed the text to take this risk with it. Second, my active participation in several leading global sustainable tourism organizations and initiatives has allowed me to look at tourism through a unique prism and see how exactly at this moment I can contribute towards a sustainable future through tourism – by making their work available in the Balkans region in one of the local languages, but aiding the invaluable resources “come to life” with students (future tourism professionals). Among those organizations are: • the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (member) • Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group of the IUCN (member) • Transformational Tourism Council (Herald) • Planet Happiness (Ambassador) • Future of Tourism Coalition (signatory and its community platform moderator). It all gave me the invaluable opportunity to access the latest initiatives, materials, and contact with the leading world experts. After numerous summits, conversations, discussions, and consultations, I created the contents. Gathering the literature and other information sources was the next step. Obtaining permissions from different organizations to use selected materials in the book was the next task. Simultaneously, researching the legal aspects of publishing and property rights was an important preparatory activity. This all put me in the position to gain perspective from numerous sides and determine what is necessary for the purpose I set for the book. The creation of the tasks was twofold. For many, I was inspired by the activities I created and used in the classes over the years. That is how I knew what worked and what potential challenges were, so I adapted them as much as possible. I created other tasks and activities together with researching and writing the basic content. This lasted from June 2019 to September 2021. Finally, in the pre-publishing phase (October-December 2021), I used over half of the book chapters experimentally on two groups of students to test my task/ content-related assumptions. I was able to re-adjust them and gain back invaluable feedback from the test groups of students.

Tools, equipment, technology used

The innovative aspect of the book is that it combines traditional book-type resources with engaging digital content. It is full of weblinks that are integrated into interactive tasks that can be used (1) in the classroom; (2) in online teaching; (3) in a combined (hybrid) setting. The tasks are so adaptable and easily convertible to any of the given situations. However, it is designed primarily for blended learning. Each chapter contains too many tasks for any in-class activities available timeframe. Instructors/educators can choose which ones are for the class usage and which ones to leave for individual or teamwork to be posted to the community online platform. It depends on the set course goals and outcomes, and the group needs and dynamics. The experience has shown that students use computers and mobile phones with equal results in completing the tasks. None of the mentioned educational settings is innovative. What IS innovative in this practice is that a book is no longer a passive offline resource, but a digital interactive pool of potential educational experiences.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The book's primary goal is to help future tourism professionals overcome the role of passive observers and become actively involved in all directions in which tourism is moving, that is, to lead the way or even create new ones. Because of that, each chapter contains the section "What I know/can do." It serves as a checklist of the acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes for which the chapter is intended, together with tasks and case studies. It represents a measure of achievement. It can be a self-check list for individual users or a transparent framework for assessment in a formal educational context. To illustrate, here is one such checklist (Chapter 8: How we measure sustainable tourism/ GSTC criteria): After the educational experience provided by this chapter (tick): * I know of GSTC sustainability criteria, where I can find them, and for what purposes to use them * I understand the benefits of their application in tourism destination/company management, and I can give a good example * I understand how the criteria, sub-criteria, and indicators work and what I need to be able to assess the sustainability * I have a certain degree of (independent and/or team) experience and autonomy in applying these criteria on the example of an actual destination/hotel or accommodation facility/tour operator * I know which direction I should go and what resources I need so I can apply these criteria in real life/business to assess the sustainability * I understand that the next step is tourism destination/business certification and the benefits.

Lessons learnt

The fundamental approach to creating every educational experience is conducting a needs analysis (NA). However, it is often not completed, being a complex task that includes a spectrum of stakeholders. This book helps with a broader perspective (the needs of the tourism industry at large, including various even concrete stakeholders and their needs). Therefore, each instructor/ educator should analyze the basic needs of the group of students - their learning preferences and dynamics, previously acquired knowledge, available space, time, and equipment, group size, and the like, and then choose the content according to the NA results. Among the most significant perceived pitfalls is "choosing too big bites," for which students may not be ready, or the context does not support. For example, starting an engaging task (e.g., multiple-phase simulation from the book) for which there is not enough time will make the educational experience meaningless, as deprived of the planned educational outcome, which will also result in students' dissatisfaction. Each task in the book is provided with the approximate time necessary for completion. Still, each instructor should know the group capabilities and dynamics, so the allocated time might not apply to the particular group. The group size is another critical factor. Although each task instructs on the organization and teaming in various group sizes, the instructor must be mindful of other factors determining the activity's fruitfulness.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

The book is designed with the purpose of being adaptable to the most diverse educational contexts. That includes available resources (e.g., time, space, equipment, internet access, and materials), group size, previously acquired knowledge and experiences, attitudes, beliefs, even age, origin, etc. Given the different educational contexts, limiting factors, and purpose of using the book, everyone (university, instructor, practitioner, or an individual book user) can decide which tasks to choose and interconnect into a meaningful educational experience, which ones to skip, and in general how to implement them. Content and tasks can also be just an inspiration for creating numerous other or improved versions of the tasks that meet each educational context's needs. For example, if the destination at which the educational experience is provided suffers from overtourism, it will probably wish to spend more time on the content and on the related tasks (projects, simulations, research assignments) that challenge students to come up with or apply proposed solutions towards a sustainable destination. However, each destination is unique in its problems so the tasks from the book might just be a springboard for further educational developments, e.g., partnering with real stakeholders on the destination.

Promotion of best practice

The book was officially published in December 2021 (although it was available for courses for the entire October-December semester). So, its promotion is still underway - some activities have been completed while others are in motion. Firstly, it is available at the faculty website and the university book depository (Singipedia). It is also available for students at the relevant "course pages" on Moodle platform used at the Faculty. Ex-students received it via email. I will provide the local city tourism authority in Valjevo and local media access to it. Finally, several Faculty's partner high school teachers received it via email. An article is scheduled for publishing on the Faculty website and official social media channels (Facebook and Instagram). It is soon to be posted to the author's LinkedIn profile, visible to a vast network of contacts. They include numerous members of the following organizations that supported the book and whose work was included in it (some have already received it and are posting to their newsletters or websites, while others are disseminating it among their communities): * the Global Sustainable Tourism Council * Planet Happiness * the Transformational Travel Council * the Future of Tourism Coalition (a network of several large-scale organizations) * IUCN TAPAS group The book is, by permission granted, to be sent and deposited in World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) depository. It will also be delivered to the Tourism organization of Serbia and responsible Ministry, IUCN Serbia, and World Wildlife Fund Adria.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• Faculty level
• Institutional level
• Cross-institutional level
• National level
• EU/EHEA/International level

* course/department level: The book is designed to be used at several courses at the undergraduate level with predetermined chapters and accompanying materials, activities, and tasks (Sustainable tourism development, Tourism destination management, and Tourism resource management - years 2, 3, and 4) and at master level (Tourism and sustainable development, and Sustainable destination management) for students to be able to look at the broad picture, but primarily as a source of additional research-relevant resources and literature. * faculty level: As the book is rich with English-language resources and since the section of each chapter "My short glossary of terms" also provides chapter keywords in English, it is useful for collaborative projects in English language courses. The book author also has English language academic qualifications and teaching experience, which is integrated into this book. Also, collaborative projects with other English language teachers have already been conducted (e.g., creating destination articles for the faculty students' magazine in English, or filming short city tours in English). * institutional level: The e-book is available for download from the university's online book depository (Singipedia). It is used at the master level course: Sustainable development in tourism and hospitality. * cross-institutional and national level: Any higher-education institution from the region (due to the language it was written in) can access or use it. Also, certain high schools the Faculty cooperates with have already asked for permission to use some content and activities for their students. * international level: Since the language in which it was written allows most of the ex-Yugoslavian countries to use it, universities across the Balkans can benefit from its content and teaching materials. One of the reviewers of the book is a professor at a university in Croatia, which means that the practice is considered good and desirable for use across the region. There has already been a high expressed interest for the author to prepare an English version of this book. Therefore, the next step is finding the necessary resources for that venture, so the book is available worldwide. The interest particularly comes from various global sustainable tourism organizations whose work was included in the book and for which special activities/ tasks/ simulations and the like were created.

6.1 Digitalization

• Outstanding, innovative, excellent practices of online / blended / hybrid learning
• Digital skills development and assessment both general and profession-related, embedded in course design, in teaching and assessment

Reasoning: An open-source e-book in PDF is publicly available. It contains digital materials with granted permissions, e.g., videos, interactive maps, or data sources based on which new tasks/ activities are developed to serve specific sustainable tourism educational purposes. Links to free tools for sustainability standards and indicators are provided together with accompanying simulations. A special section in each chapter describes the benefits of accessing various websites (for further research).

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6.2 Internationalization

• Developing students' multicultural awareness

Reasoning: The content is purposefully chosen to illustrate cultural and professional diversity as essential in tourism. Diverse case studies reveal unique traditions and develop students’ multicultural awareness – cultural and environmental (e.g., slava as Serbian heritage; mangrove forests as a resource for a traditional lifestyle). Courses based on selected chapters already exist in English for international students. Students are encouraged to engage in presented global sustainable initiatives/ orgs.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Innovative teaching methodology for inclusion and meet diverse student needs
• Other:

  addresses students with limited resources/ access

Reasoning: The book caters to students’ preferred learning styles/dynamics. The instructor or an individual user can assess the capabilities and choose materials accordingly. Although not devised for special needs students, the materials proved feasible (tested in-class with a student with disabilities). The strongest limiting factor to quality education is lack of resources (e.g. financial). Omitting tasks that require equipment and internet access does not take away from a rich and purposeful experience

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6.4 Sustainability

• Sustainability goals are addressed in the course(s)
• Teaching material contains profession related sustainability aspects
• Special courses reflecting to UN 2030 Sustainability goals, Green Deal - mini-courses, microcredentials
• Environmental attitude, skill development and assessment either general or profession-related
• Sustainability aspects are considered in all phases of the learning practice - "hidden curriculum"

Reasoning: The focus of the educational resource (e-book) is sustainability in tourism - what its characteristics are, comprising elements, challenges, tools and methods to overcome them, examples of good and no so good practice, etc. An entire chapter is dedicated to UN SDGs in general and specifically in the field of tourism. Together with accompanying activities and tasks, the subchapters can be used as a micro-course (the author/ teacher used them in this manner prior to including them in the book).

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Ivana Damnjanović	idamnjanovic@singidunum.ac.rs	https://singipedia.singidunum.ac.rs/izdanje/43807-odrzivi-turizam-na-putu-ka-buducnosti