Virtual reality to enhance Purdue Hospitality and Tourism Management courses

Shawn Jung, assistant professor in the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, instructs his event planning class before attempting virtual reality exercises last spring in the Purdue Envision Center.

Written by: Tim Brouk, tbrouk@purdue.edu

A new reality for the student in-class experience powered up this fall for the Purdue University White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM).

The arrival of six Meta virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets has opened the possibilities of training students in human resources, event planning, customer relationship management, and hotel or restaurant management. With the visors strapped to their heads and controllers in hand, students can tour venues and upscale hotels virtually. They can better see the layout of their virtual event — from stages to decorations — as they build it in real time. They can practice performance evaluations or even terminations in a virtual restaurant setting.

“With our field being so hands-on and practical, I think there’s a lot of potential for this,” said Susan Gordon, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management.

Led by Gordon and assistant professor of hospitality and tourism management, Shawn Jung, graduate and undergraduate students have been practicing with the new technology. Thanks to a subscription to Engage VR, the exercises can be viewed on a large, television monitor for the rest of the class to see. Engage provides numerous environments like convention centers, meeting rooms and even bars — all customizable, of course.

This initiative was funded by a $48,505 VR/AR Learning Grant from the Purdue Innovation Hub. Jung, Gordon and their students showcased their VR skills during HTM’s Spirit of Hospitality Summit last month. The annual event offers industry leaders, alumni, faculty and students opportunities to network and learn from sessions exploring critical topics in experience innovation, including digital transformation, experience design, luxury, sustainability, entertainment, technology and more.

Innovation immersion

Jung investigated bringing VR and AR to HTM last spring. He booked his event planning class into a training session at the Purdue Envision Center. The students were able to get their feet wet with the tech, practicing with the user experience by moving around in environments, picking up digital objects and interacting with classmates’ VR avatars.

“We have to continue to train the students to get them exposed to this technology so they can get the opportunity to use it more often,” Jung said.

HTM senior Havyn Midkiff was among those pioneering HTM students and has been hooked on VR since.

“I was really nervous when I first started using it, but it became very easy to get adapted to it,” she revealed. “It’s very easy to remember the controls. Once you get used to it, it’s easy.”

Inspired by some of Jung’s recent VR research, Midriff said VR could teach a nondisabled event planner how to literally see things from a physically disabled attendee’s perspective when designing the layout of a convention or conference. The immersion will help the planner for that event and future gigs.

“Stepping in to how they see everything, it makes it easier for you to plan something that’s more accessible,” she added. “You want to make sure everyone is included.”

 

Graduate students’ take

A handful of HTM graduate students recently gave the VR sets a whirl. The scholars’ feedback was positive as they agreed VR will take the student experience beyond the lecture. PhD candidate Roya Alavi Pour’s studies focus is on customer relationship management. VR could help her students work in more “natural” scenarios when dealing with an upset customer. VR can train them how to react and handle the situation in their careers, she said.

Ben Wang, another PhD student, said VR could enhance HTM research and teaching. With his research focus being on restaurants, he said VR games that revolve around food safety and service could assist students’ understanding without leaving the classroom to tour a restaurant’s kitchen. Like event planning, VR could also help a student see their own restaurant and kitchen design come to life, from the equipment to the furniture.

“Naturally, I think the biggest gap VR devices can help overcome, especially for HTM students, is the distance between the classroom and the real workplace,” Wang added.

Just the beginning

Jung and Gordon acknowledged six VR headsets is not enough to engage their larger classes of more than 40 students. However, getting them acclimated in shifts this academic year can help them for the future.

Gordon said artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced VR will be perfect for students in her human resources courses. Instead of two students using a script or relying on their improvisational acting skills for a roleplay scenario assignment, a student could work with an AI avatar in a virtual setting. The student’s interaction with the AI-powered “employee” or “upset guest” could give them as authentic responses in the annual evaluation or termination scenarios as humans.

“Students are the manager. How are you going to handle this guest or employee situation?” Gordon asked. “Being able to have them go through those scenarios before they even get an internship or certainly before graduation, then that gives them that confidence. ‘OK, I know how to handle the situation. I’ve practiced it.’”