Author(s)

Zilan Gong, Tao Feng

Corresponding Author

Zilan Gong

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand whether internships can improve the PBL outcome of hospitality management undergraduates. This study conducted a PBL teaching project and divided the participants into two groups depending on whether they had internships. A mixed-method of textual analysis, observation, and semantic network analysis was adopted. This paper finds that participants relied on their own experiences after internship. Internships also weakened participants’ motivation for active learning and thus the PBL effect. To achieve sustainable learning abilities, this paper suggests hospitality management undergraduate programs follow the order of Problem-Based Learning first, then internships.

Keywords

Problem-based learning, Internship, Hospitality management undergraduate programs, Active learning