Middlesex University Students visit Dubai Museum

Students of BA (Hons) International Tourism Management recently visited Dubai Museum as part of their Global Tourism Dynamics module. The students were asked to look at the museum from both a visitors perspective and the perspective of the venue management in order to transform learning experience beyond the traditional classroom.

The trip was organised by Lulu Baddar, Campus Programme Coodinator for the International Tourism Management Programme and Senior Lecturer in Tourism Hospitality Management. Ms Baddar said of the trip, “experimental learning is an interactive learning method by doing, in which students learn through direct hands-on action or activity, and carry that particular experience into future experiences. Fieldtrips are very useful for theoretical courses to engage in experiential activities for a chance to reflect upon the fieldtrip experience and relate it to their wider reading and theoretical aspects of the course”.

Maryam Farooq, a first year student of International Tourism Management said, “the experience was familiar but fascinating since we had to interact with things from a different perspective, which was educational and beneficial for our coursework”.

“Housed in the Al Fahdi Fort, the oldest and one of the most historically important buildings in Dubai, the Dubai Museum provides a fantastic space for students to experience and engage practically with heritage management, and in particular with how the visitor experiences the museum and how they learn about the history and culture of Dubai. Visits like these allow students to gain firsthand experience as ‘visitors’ that they can reflect-upon, thus enhancing what they have learned in class,” commented Dr Cody Morris Paris, Deputy Director of Middlesex University Dubai.