Amity School of Hospitality organized a Faculty Development Program from 21st to 25th November 2022. The faculty coordinators were Dr. Garima Parkash, Director, HOI & Professor & Dr. Ruchika Kulshrestha, Assistant Professor from ASH. The event was attended by a total of 358 faculty members inclusive of 11 faculty members of ASH & 347 outside faculty members. The faculty development programme comprised of 16 sessions.
The first day’s initial session was on held on the topic “Teaching and Learning Methods in Digital Era”. The chief guests were Dr. Madhuri Sawant, Director, Department of Tourism Administration, Dr. B. A. Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra & Dr. Sarah Hussain, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. The second session of the day was on the topic “Digital Intervention of Heritage”. The resource person was Dr. Surabhi Srivastava, Associate Professor, Om Kothari Institute of Management, Kota, Rajasthan. The speaker explained that the digitization of documents is playing a key role in preservation; with museums, libraries and private collections around the world using technology to enhance their capabilities and ensure that historic documents will still be accessible for decades & centuries to come.
The second day’s initial session was a ‘Case Study Session’ that was held on 22 November 2022. The resource person was Dr. Ashutosh Pandey, Assistant Professor, FORE School of Management, New Delhi. Dr. Ashutosh Pandey profoundly explained the topic with the help of a PPT & said that case studies are an instructional method & not a theory that refers to assigned scenarios based on situations in which students observe, analyse, record, implement, conclude, summarize & recommend. Case studies are created and used as a tool for analysis and discussion. The second session was on the topic ‘Digital Gastronomy’ and the resource person was Dr. Saurav Chhabra, Associate Professor, Vatel Hotel & Tourism Business School, Sushant University, Gurugram. The final session of the day was on the topic “‘Flavors to Digital Flavors’. The resource person was Dr. Garima Parkash, Director & Professor, Amity School of Hospitality, Amity University Haryana.
The third day commenced with a session on ‘Case Study’. The resource person was Dr. Shashi Bala Rai, Founder, Dev Comm Consulting, Noida. The moderator of the session was Mr. Subir Kumar Malakar. The second session of the day was on the topic ‘Digital Storytelling’ and the resource person was Dr. Ruchika Kulshrestha, Assistant Professor, Amity School of Hospitality, Amity University Haryana. The last session of the day was on the subject ‘Digital Psychology’ with Dr. Priyanka, Assistant Professor, AIBAS, Amity University Haryana.
The fourth day opened with a ‘Case Study Session’ which was held on 24 November 2022. The resource person was Dr. Yatish Joshi, Assistant Professor, School of Management Studies, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The second session was on the topic ‘Digital Skills’and the resource person was Dr. Savita Sharma, Associate Professor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Gurugram. The last session of the day was on topic ‘Digitalization in Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities’. The resource person was Dr. Mahesh Uniyal, Dean and Professor, Dev Bhoomi University, Uttarakhand. The conclusion of this session was that the opportunities associated with digitalization of tourism are customer acquisition, improve online brand visibility, expand international reach, improve service quality & increase customer satisfaction.
The fifth day commenced with a ‘Case Study Session’ and the resource person was Dr. Sharad Kumar Kulshreshtha, Assistant Professor, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya. The further sessions of the day was on the subjects of ‘From Tech Novice to Tech Savvy - Hospitality Housekeeping’ and ‘Digital Trends in Wine Industry’ and the resource persons of these sessions were Ms. Chandana Paul, Assistant Professor, Vatel Hotel & Tourism Business School, Sushant University, Gurugram and Dr. Ashok Kumar, Senior Lecturer, IHMCT&AN, Shillong, Meghalaya. The Valedictory Session was held on 25 November. Vote of Thanks was given to all the esteemed resource persons of the FDP one by one who took out time from their busy schedules & educated all the participants of the FDP on several important topics.
The main objective of these sessions were to educate and acknowledge the teaching fraternity regarding the impact of digitalization on the hospitality and tourism sector. The attendees learnt about the impact of digitalization on the tourism & hospitality industry & the guest speakers/resource persons expressed their interest in delivering more of such expert talks in future.