During December 11-12, the Central and Eastern China Educational Symposium of China Hospitality Education Initiative 2015 sponsored by the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation was held in Anhui Zhong-Ao Institute of Technology. The Associate Dean of the School of Tourism and Aviation Services of Wuhan Polytechnic Li Jun and another three faculties from this school - Wang Li, Fan Lijuan and Guo Yingdong – were invited to participate in the symposium.

    At the opening ceremony, President Wang Yuanhao from Anhui Zhong-Ao Institute of Technology and Anne Gunsteens, executive director of J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation made a speech respectively. Within the two day symposium, professor Gene Lamke from Hotel Management School of San Diego State University, the senior academic adviser of China Hospitality Education Initiative, presented a series of teaching methods by demo class to bring students into the discussion on customer services, and taught students how to be more concentrated on their class study through the drills of telephone communication skills. Joy, the project manager of China Hospitality Education Initiative hosted the reviewing of the work placement experiences of teachers from different vocational colleges, where all teachers present shared their experiences. Prof. Gene Lamke and Nicholas Thomas from the United States shared the learning theory, learning patterns, and learning strategies of tourism and hospitality courses in colleges and universities, and exchanged information with their Chinese counterparts. They also shared their experiences in how to optimize learning environment, how to create interactions between teachers and students, and how to establish learning management platforms with more freedom with the popularity of high-tech, smart phones and social media.

    The rich learning content, the experiences of exploring teaching methods with world famous academic and industrial experts, and the access to hand-on skills in this symposium will help teachers of the School of Tourism and Aviation Services to improve their teaching ability.