On 22 October 2015 a dissemination session and round table for industry stakeholders and students were prepared at Ekonomska šola Murska Sobota. There were 2 representatives of 2 spas in the region (5 hotels altogether), 2 representatives of 2 hotels in the town, one representative for a tourist information centre, one for a tourist agency, one for the Institute of environment and tourism, one for Nature Park Goričko and one for the coffeehouse Metropol. There were also second-year students of our college and some school employees present.
The participants were informed about the project in general and the project results so far. I very briefly presented the needs analysis report, the course syllabus and the project website. I presented the FrontDesk programs and the mobile apps in more detail, especially for the students. The stakeholders were involved in the project piloting so they already knew both project products. However, the presentation was useful for the later discussion at the round table. I also presented the e-learning platform in more detail as there are now many tasks for all the 12 languages for all the different topics. I showed them how to use the platform, how the system works and what kind of tasks we prepared. The participants were quite impressed by the amount of tasks and the diversity of them. After the introduction and presentation a discussion started about the FrontDesk programs and the mobile apps whereby a lot of things were mentioned that had already been mentioned during the piloting period. Their opinions and suggestions were discussed at the Riga project meeting. Nevertheless, now all the participants of the piloting had the opportunity to exchange opinions and to see what kind of problems occurred at other places. They also came up with some ideas about how to use the e-learning platform for their employees. They were thinking of some kind of “refresher” course for them but also for practising. Regarding the topic “Restaurant kitchen” they liked the idea of the glossary but suggested to add some typical drinks as well. The students also liked the e-learning platform very much and are eager to try some of the tasks.
Finally, I handed them out the project flyers to provide them with some more information about the project and asked them to tell friends and other people about it. I also asked them to fill in the evaluation sheet prepared for the meeting to get some feedback on the presentation.
The evaluation sheet asked for general information and more specific information regarding the presentation of the project, the presentation of FrontDesk programs and mobile apps as well as the presentation of the e-learning platform.
22 participants of the presentation filled in the evaluation sheet. All of them gained useful information on the project. 21 found the presentation of the project very useful, whereas one thought it was useful. Regarding the smartphone app all of them answered they gained useful information, whereby 19 thought the presentation was very useful and three of them found it useful. All of the participants gained useful information about the FrontDesk programs. 2o of them found the presentation very useful and two thought it was useful. Again, all of the participants gained useful information about the e-learning platform, whereby 21 thought the presentation was very useful and one found it useful.
There were also some suggestions made. One of them was the sound record of words, phrases or whole sentences. Another was the colour difference for languages in the FrontDesk programs. When you have translations in more than 2 languages it would be easier to differentiate among them if they were coloured. Those two suggestions were already discussed at the Riga project meeting. There was one more suggestion about expanding the topics, such as spa tourism, wellness, medical tourism and other. However, this would be enough material for a new project. The representative of the TIC in Moravske Toplice offered to help with promoting the project as she finds the products and contents of the project very useful, especially for people employed in the tourism sector. One more suggestion was already mentioned during the discussion – adding some typical drinks to the glossary under “Restaurant kitchen”.
All participants, especially stakeholders expressed the wish to be updated about the project, particularly on the e-learning platform.
Erna Vöröš,
Project manager of Ekonomska šola Murska Sobota,
Slovenia
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.