From Synergy to Sojourn: How Collaborative Teaching on Spanish Culture Fosters Sustainable Tourism Education

Abstract

Sustainable tourism education integrates tourism economic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts and learners’ understanding while fostering critical thinking, systems thinking, and responsible action toward sustainable development goals (SDG). While previous studies focused on collaborative teaching and sustainable tourism education separately, the integration of Spanish culture, computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and sustainable education are notably scarce suggesting the current research as both timely and innovative. This study addresses the gap by assessing learners’ overall perceptions and understanding of Spanish culture in relation to sustainable tourism education. It exemplifies a collaborative pedagogical design that augments formal academic with authentic cultural insights from a native expert under the collaborative teaching module between HTT280 Geography and Culture in Tourism lecturers at UiTM Alor Gajah Campus and the Embassy of Spain in Malaysia. A post-webinar survey was administered to 98 participants following the session. Descriptive analysis summarized participants’ perceptions while thematic analysis was employed to identify key cultural takeaways and additional feedback. Findings indicated that the webinar significantly enhanced participants understanding of Spanish culture, demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering cultural awareness. The webinar’s content delivery and the value of the cultural experience was found to be effective. The native speaker’s deep-rooted knowledge and firsthand experience in Spanish culture and tourism and shared reflections acted as key drivers that shaped their learning experience. The webinar’s format, duration, and platform were perceived as effective in delivering ethical and cultural learning outcomes, suggesting that sustainable tourism education conducted virtually can be as impactful as conventional face-to-face methods. The study’s implications suggest that adopting collaborative teaching to create authentic learning experiences fosters intercultural understanding, vital for sustainable tourism education. Furthermore, investing in digital technology demonstrates a scalable and environmentally-friendly approach to align cross-cultural education with sustainability principles. Consequently, stakeholders and policymakers should design a comprehensive syllabus integrating collaborative pedagogies and digital learning to enhance cultural competence while minimizing the carbon footprint.