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Smartphones in Vocational Tourism Education: Truly Useful or just another Reason to Find New Excuses

This article describes a longitudinal study of vocational tourism students’ perceptions of the use of smartphones before and after being given the devices. Data includes interviews and online learning diary data from a period of about 18 months (N=14). By providing smartphones for these extremely mobile students, the researchers mainly aspired to promote possibilities to reflect their learning and to improve communication between students and their instructors during their apprenticeship periods. The use of smartphones instead of laptops was an extra option, and not a necessity. Results show that despite quite positive expectations and first experiences, students’ positive attitudes faded during the study. Most students did not take full advantage of the devices provided, and instead used them in quite a conventional way. Only a few students used their phones innovatively to help them with their work tasks during their apprenticeship periods.