Student Perceptions of Lecturer-Website as a Blended Learning Platform in Tourism and Hotel Management

Several non-traditional learning opportunities and online instructions have been adopted in the universities and other educational institutions during the past decades. The adaptation of e-learning in higher education has many advantages but, on the other hand, high costs constitute the major concerns of such educational systems. Blended learning systems have been employed to overcome the drawbacks of traditional learning and to avoid the failure of e- learning. This research aims to assess student perceptions regarding some essential factors of blended learning as well as their overall satisfaction and general attitudes during learning process. A cross-sectional survey consisting of eleven questions has been conducted targeting 180 students of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel, Helwan University who have been enrolled in one of the blended learning courses in academic year 2016/2017. The results show that applying blended learning platform has increased markedly the overall interaction between the lecturer and students. Students were significantly satisfied with different communication patterns of the professors, including the communication of important course topics (P=0.043), goals (P=0.006), and important deadlines of various activities (P=0.008). In addition, the role of learning activities in helping the students to construct explanations and solutions, the feeling of students that their viewpoints were acknowledged by their lecturer, and students’ participations in the course discussions were significantly associated with the overall students’ satisfaction (P<0.05, P=0.01, and P=0.02, respectively). Online discussions and students’ interactions   with   the   professors   and   other   students   were significantly enhanced   components   of   blended   learning   in   this   study.   The overall satisfaction rate is highly reasonable due to the attractive methods of providing blended learning through our platform with the help of well-trained professors.