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

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

Collaborative teaching is a pedagogical approach involving two or more instructors who work together in

designing, delivering and assessing a particular syllabus to enhance learners. According to Yang (2023), it is

fundamentally grounded in constructivist learning theory developed by Piaget and Vygotsky, and the work of

Freire’s critical pedagogy, which emphasizes dialogue, empowerment, and the democratization of education.

In the context of this study, collaborative teaching (CT) involves an interdisciplinary coalition between Universiti

Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and various public and private industry partners to promote lifelong learning and

development, delivery, and assessment to foster self-learning empowerment among all CT stakeholders (UiTM,

n.d.).

academicians from UiTM Alor Gajah campus partnered with the Embassy of Spain in Malaysia to jointly develop

Management program designed to equip students with the fundamental knowledge about geography and culture

of the South East Asia, East Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East in relation to tourism industry.

hemispheres, and how these factors influence climate, topography, economic resources, the people and their

culture- elements that shape its tourism attractions.

In this study context, “sojourn” is used metaphorically to describe a brief yet enriching cultural journey; a

succinct yet insightful cultural experience participants get from the two-hour webinar offering participants a

meaningful opportunity to explore the rich culture and tourism wonders of Spain. Guided by native expert

through storytelling and visual presentations, this sharing session served as a virtual journey- allowing

participants to immerse themselves in another culture which served as foundation for reflection, and intercultural

awareness. In this regard, collaborative learning, formed the basis for the conceptual progression from sojourn

to synergy as explored in this paper.

tourism practices and responsible citizenship.

While studies on collaborative teaching is methodologically robust and theoretically grounded, Weddle (2022)

argued that the they lack interdisciplinary and critical theoretical framework and further suggested for

longitudinal research and contextual factors as funding, institution’ s size and students demographic be

conducted to assess its effectiveness. Similarly, collaborative teaching enhances sustainable tourism education

by fostering interdisciplinary understanding, modeling cooperative problem-solving, promoting critical and

ethical thinking, and aligning learning with real-world, culturally grounded sustainability challenges.

Based on these premises and grounded in constructivist and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL)

theory, this study investigates how exposure to Spanish culture fosters sustainable tourism education. It assesses

tourism education. Additionally, immediate feedback from the post-webinar survey offers significant empirical

insights into the pedagogical effectiveness, learning outcomes and technical delivery of live-streamed

collaborative teaching in tourism education. Moreover, by aligning with global trends and emphasizing on the

importance of sustainable tourism education within the Malaysian context, this study enriches the theoretical

discourse around sustainable tourism education and provides practical methodological contributions for future

educators.

Collaborative teaching is rooted in two fundamental learning theories namely the constructivism developed from

the work of Piaget, The Origins of Intelligence in Children (1936) and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory pioneered

by Lev Vygoysky (1978) from his posthumous compilation of Mind in Society. Together, they provide a

comprehensive framework for effective, learner-centered, and socially interactive educational environments.

Under constructivism, the central idea lies in learners’ ability to actively construct their own understanding and

The constructivist learning theory posits that learners actively construct meaning through social interaction and

cultural engagement. In relation to the topic understudy, the concept fits ideally in exploring how students

develop sustainable tourism literacy through collaborative exploration of Spanish culture. In terms of cultural

context, the language, diagrams and the presentation slides act as medium to convey the knowledge to help

participants understand local cultural values is central to both constructivism and sustainable tourism. The social

interaction between participants and the speaker enhanced each other’s knowledge by sharing perspectives and

reflecting on them collaboratively. Exploring tourism issues in Spain such as over-tourism, cultural preservation,

sustainable practices and tips and tricks when visiting Spain constitute the real tasks making learning more

meaningful.

Additionally, the principles of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) emphasizes the role of

immersive cultural exploration they get even virtually, help them to learn through experience. This aligns with

experiential learning concept. Real-time engagement between the speaker and participants using the technology,

as well as peer-to-peer interaction, serve to enhance learners’ prior knowledge under the speaker’s guidance.

engagement, guiding dialogue and reflection rather than simply lecturing. In this light, active two-way

communication through shared interaction, reflection, and dialogue in the live discussion helps both parties to

collaboratively construct meaningful knowledge. Both theories in the collaborative teaching model delivered

through the webinar serves as an effective model for sustainable tourism education. It is culturally ingrained,

socially interactive, and globally connected.

Consequently, it empowers participants to understand, analyze, reflect, and envision sustainable practices in real-

learning. By integrating academic insight with Spain’s real-world situation from a native speaker, learners

engaged in cross-cultural experiences that go beyond traditional classroom setting. Additionally, by exploring

Spain’s approach to tourism and culture, the United Nations’ (n.d.) SDG 11 which emphasizes on Sustainable

Cities and Communities, help to raise participants’ awareness of sustainable and culturally sensitive tourism

practices. In the long run, this encourages future tourism travelers and stakeholders to respect and preserve local

heritage.

The United Nations’ (n.d.) SDG 13: Climate Action is supported by highlighting the importance of climate,

geography, and tourism influence on sustainability. It demands strong actions from the participants to protect the

environment and the need to response to climate change through tourism practices adaptability. As for the United

Nations’ (n.d.) SDG 17 which focuses on Partnerships for the Goal, the collaborative teaching initiative itself

demonstrates how global partnerships in education enriches learning and foster international understanding.

A descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize participants’ perceptions of the webinar using frequency,

percentages and mean scores. Results are reported using standard American Psychological Association (APA)

format. Open-ended responses were analyzed thematically to identify key themes. Due to page number

limitations, participant quotes were not verbatim but presented with minor corrections to grammar and spelling

errors for clarity, while preserving the original meaning.

accessibility, knowledge dissemination and transference of the educational content which supports SDG4,

As can be seen on Table 1, participants generally evaluated the program positively, with all mean values

exceeding 4.40. The speaker’s effectiveness in conveying the cultural and tourism highlights of Spain was

perceived as excellent (M = 4.50, SD = 0.63, Median = 5, Skew = –0.87), indicating that most participants agreed

“Regional dress,” “Basic language,” and “The culture, festivals and tourism attractions”. These cultural

academic learning with authentic cultural narratives.

In essence, the thematic analysis implies that webinar key takeaways extended beyond Spanish culture and

tourism fact, integrating the pedagogical value of the collaborative teaching approach and the embodiment of

SDGs spirit.

and intellectual resonance with the session hence reflects affective engagement which is vital in transformative