Instructional Systems Research in the Hospitality Industry

This article is the first of two papers that focus on instructional systems and educational technology research in the hospitality industry. The purpose of this article is twofold: 1) to expand the readers' knowledge about what has been done by academicians in hospitality education to evaluate the effectiveness of various instructional systems in hospitality education, and 2) to suggest future research needed to advance the ability of hospitality educators to assess the effectiveness of instructional systems. The authors provide terminology definitions and discuss assessment methods that have been used in hospitality education and documented in academic journals. Empirical articles are critically evaluated as to their contribution to the theory of instructional systems and any methodological shortcomings are identified. Findings imply that there are major limitations in this body of research, including: no landmark studies were found that developed generalizable rubrics of assessment; very little of the research built upon previous assessment or evaluation techniques; many researchers asked opinions about instruction as a method of determining its educational value; and many studies are of limited generalizability due to small sample sizes and/or the exclusive use of basic descriptive statistics. Also included is a discussion centered on suggestions future researchers should consider when assessing the effectiveness of various instructional systems.