KCC clears wide path for degrees in tourism

Kapiolani Community College has launched a third-year tourism program as part of a new agreement with the University of Hawaii West Oahu to allow junior college students a more direct pathway to earning a bachelor’s degree in tourism.

The program aims to help associate degree students continue their education without having to retake similar coursework. For decades, junior college students who wanted to transfer to the University of Hawaii’s Travel Industry Management School could get credit for only about three tourism courses. Hawaii junior college students who wanted to transfer within the university system to earn a bachelor’s in hospitality were looking at extra time and cost. While some Hawaii junior college graduates were willing to endure the added expense and red tape, others left the island to go to mainland colleges where more of their credits would be accepted, some changed majors and others simply abandoned their dreams of earning a bachelor’s degree.

Sarah Lopez almost ended her advanced education with an associate degree after graduating from Kapiolani Community College in May and discovering that the Travel Industry Management School at the University of Hawaii would not accept most of her junior college coursework.

“I was so disappointed. I went to Kapiolani Community College to save money. I didn’t have the funds to retake my coursework,” said Lopez. “You can’t imagine how excited I was when they told us that KCC would be offering a third year of hospitality classes and that we could transfer to UH West Oahu for the fourth year and earn a four-year tourism degree without having to retake any courses.”

Dave Evans, professor and chairman of KCC’s Hospitality and Tourism Education Department, said the third-year offerings will help students like Lopez swiftly and cost-effectively earn four-year degrees. Students who graduate through the new KCC and UH-West Oahu agreement will earn a Bachelor of Arts in business administration with a concentration in hospitality and tourism.

However, Evans said the three-year program also is meant to stand alone as a practical step up from a two-year degree. After completing the three-year program at KCC, students will earn an advanced professional certificate signifying that they have completed additional training in subjects that their employers desire like tourism security, environmental and cultural sustainability, and real estate such as fractional ownership and timeshare.

“We wanted to respond to how the industry is shifting and changing,” Evans said. “We looked to add courses that weren’t being offered and focused on our strength, which is really on the hospitality operations side. We want to get people away from the idea that community colleges are a last chance or second choice.”

Third-year classes will meet once a week from 4:30 to 7 p.m. so that working professionals will have the opportunity to take the courses, he said.

“We will work with the industry to ensure that they understand the value of our advanced professional certificate program,” Evans said. “It means that these students have completed the courses that the industry needs right now.”

Evans said KCC took about three years to put together its new three-year program, which is possible due to some $400,000 in grants from the Obama administration to community colleges. In addition to developing new KCC curriculum programs, grant money also is going to classroom upgrades such as smartboards, cameras, speakers and microphones.

“We’re moving away from the old traditional classroom models, where you have a sage on stage that pontificates for an hour, to more technological and interactive experiences,” Evans said. “We think that these course offerings will be very popular with students. They will also allow neighbor island students to dial in and be part of the third-year program in a synchronized way.”

Kawehi Sellers, KCC assistant professor for hospitality and tourism education, will pilot gamification, the technique of turning standard curriculum into games, this spring and fall with the idea of teaching other instructors how to incorporate the technique by fall.

“We take the curriculum and turn it into a game. We use technology and language to make lessons more exciting. Instead of class assignments, we have course challenges. Instead of students, there are players. Instead of homework, they complete quests. Tests are called missions,” Sellers said. “There’s a leader board with avatars where students can track how they are doing against others.”

Sellers said the idea behind gamification is that active students are more apt to retain material.

“We know that millennials (those born from the early 1980s to late 1990s) are very hands-on,” Sellers said. “Sitting and listening doesn’t cut it for them. We want to show them how exciting the industry can be and how exciting learning can be in the classroom.”