An Empirical Study on the Usefulness, Effectiveness and Practicability of Vocational and Professional Education and Training's (VPET) Open Educational Resources (OER) in the Hotel Industry

Open educational resources (OER) is increasingly popular amongst all levels of educational institutions. However, it is noticed that adaptability of OERs for in-service training in specific industry is a major factor. Training managers, trainers and trainees also have concerns on the training packages’ practicability developed by vocational and professional education and training’s (VPET) subject teachers and academics. Although advice and consultancy were obtained from industry practitioners during the development of the training packages, it is always an issue of generalisation and adaptability because of the difficulty for one jacket to fits all. Each organisation has its training practices in terms of organisational culture, protocol and standard. This empirical study looks into the aforementioned factors with a hope to provide solutions and insights on future development, and application of OERs in the hotel industry. Using the concept of expert judgement, feedback and comments were gained from trainers and trainees on the following areas (1) instructional design, (2) user interface and (3) functionality as well as qualitative feedback on the usefulness and adaptability to suit industry’s training needs to examine the effectiveness and practicability of the training packages developed for a VPET OER Project. Findings revealed that trainers and trainees in the hotel industry well accepted the OERs and regarded they are practical, comprehensive and well designed to meet their needs. Feedback also showed that the training materials are very useful especially for those learners who are new to the hotel industry.