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170 education effectiveness
efficiency and effectiveness of education and
training through a seamless interface between
desktop computers and digital television with
Internet appliances linked to advanced multimedia
information systems through wired �phone and
cable) and wireless �radio, cellular and satellite)
communication technologies.
Information-technology-based products are
being designed to bring communication capabilities
wherever needed and to facilitate traditional
education or distance education through advances
such as �a) distributed object technology, like
Java, which allows developers to create miniature
applications ± known as `applets' ± transmitted over
the World Wide Web and which are temporarily
used the client end for conducting specific tasks with
full platform independence; �b) the increasing
effectiveness of automated search engines, which
help users to more effectively and efficiently retrieve
customised information, including Lycos �www.lycos.com)
and Excite �www.excite.com); �c) new tools
which are rapidly expanding multimedia capabilities,
so as to help networked systems move large
video images easily without the jerky and unpolished
look of video transmitted through telephone
copper wires; and �d) intelligent agents who act as
personal assistants to perform tasks such as
programs that deliver web pages off-line, including
Freeloader �www.freeloader.com), Pointcast, inc.
�www.pointcast.com) and First Floor Software
�www.firstfloor.com). New advances in computerassisted
education in tourism and other fields will
emphasise ubiquitous computing which focuses on a
human `high touch' delivery system by designing the
computer technology to vanish in the background.
education effectiveness
DONALD E. HAWKINS, USA
The role of tourism education is to train and
develop the knowledge, skill, mind and character of
students through a process of formal schooling and
teaching. This is usually carved out at an institution
of learning, whereby a systematic study of methods,
theories and concepts is applied. To operate
effectively, all educational institutions have a goal.
For most that offer a tourism studies programme,
including hospitality and catering or restaurant
management schools, the goal may be
defined as providing the industry with a reliable
stream of human resources, who bring with them a
diversity of skills, knowledge and attitudes.
Education and work are two sides of the same
coin, in that both should result in making a positive
contribution to the creation of wealth and quality
of life. The system is designed to utilise its
organisational resources to transform individuals,
through the educational process, into `graduates'
who are able to contribute to both tourism and the
society. As the system and educators use the
resources allocated to them, they strive to be both
effective and efficient �see efficiency).
Effectiveness refers to the degree to which
educators and institutions are capable of attaining
educational objectives. To measure the effectiveness,
educational institutions ask whether their
output meets the demands of the tourism workplace.
Institutions must define the skills, knowledge
and attitudes needed for employment, determine
acceptable levels of proficiency, and identify
effective ways to assess proficiency. They must
then develop a strategy to disseminate tourism and
related programmes, such as hospitality education.
Tourism education, to be effective, should meet the
following four criteria: �1) it should occur on a
systematic basis, including educational objectives,
curriculum development, teaching techniques and
assessment; �2) it should be concerned with
developing the skills and knowledge and changing
outlooks and attitudes of the students; �3) it should
contribute to the improvement of the performance
in the present tourism sector practice and provide
the student with the desire for `lifelong' learning;
and �4) it should provide a `bridge' between theory
and practice, due to the applied nature of tourism.
Educational efficiency is the degree to which
organisational resources contribute to the productivity
of an educational system. It is measured by
the proportion of organisational resources used
during the educational process. Due to fiscal
constraints and creeping budget cuts in most
Western countries, tourism programmes are increasingly
under scrutiny with regard to their
training and research outputs. Thus, tourism
education administrators concentrate on efficiency
in order to respond to inquiries concerning