B.Sc., MA
Faculty and TREC Curriculum Chair
School of Tourism Management
Faculty of Global and Community Studies
604.986.1911 ext. 3689
Cedar Building, room CE317A
mohnabaichoo@capilanou.ca
Education
MA, Tourism Management, Royal Roads University, 2017.
Master Certificate in Hospitality, Cornell University, 2014.
B.Sc., Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Massachusetts, 2012.
Advanced Diploma, Hotel and Tourism Management, César Ritz Colleges, Switzerland, 2010.
"Learning is an ongoing process that takes place in different ways, and has to be innovative, inquisitive, and at the same time, inspiring and useful."
Bio
Mohna Baichoo (MA, Royal Roads University, 2017) is a faculty member in the School of Tourism Management, the Faculty of Global & Community Studies. Previously, she was the Faculty Lead of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) at Capilano University and the Vice Chair of the Faculty of Global and Community Studies. She was born and raised in Mauritius, an island state with a significant tourism sector. She has visited several countries and is always curious about how people live in different areas of a globalized world.
Baichoo has a cumulative 16 years of work and life experience in the tourism and higher education industries, along with leadership experience, which is accompanied by volunteer work. Baichoo has taught hospitality and tourism for nine years in post-secondary public and private institutions in Canada and Mauritius, focusing on courses with a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) component. She acquired an international education at Cesar Ritz Colleges, Switzerland, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Cornell University, and Royal Roads University. Baichoo was involved across various cities and countries. She has recently been among the four members nationally to be certified Global WIL practitioners awarded by WACE and the University of Waterloo. She is also a certified CEWIL practitioner. She worked for the following companies: Hotel de la Paix, Lausanne, Switzerland, Select Service Partner, Zurich, Switzerland, JA Resorts & Hotels, Dubai, UAE, Ministry of Education & Scientific Research, Mauritius; and Fairmont Empress, Victoria, B.C.
She has also taught in post-secondary private and public schools in Vancouver and New Westminster, British Columbia. Her areas of interest include WIL, global tourism, and hospitality. Aside from teaching, Baichoo was/is involved in various committees and organizations at the university, Provincial, and National level. At CapU, she chaired the University-wide WIL committee, TREC curriculum committee and was the Vice-Chair of the Faculty of Global Community Studies. She was a representative of the Senate Curriculum Committee and a member of the WIL Advisory Committee and GCS Curriculum Committee. Currently, she holds membership in TREC WIL, the TREC Faculty Evaluation Committee, and the TREC PD Committee.
At the regional level, she is a member of ACE-WIL and their external partnerships and events subcommittee, whereby the focus is to actively promote the philosophy and practice of work-integrated learning in our region. She also holds a membership at CEWIL Canada, a leading organization for work-integrated learning in Canada and volunteers to review iHUB funding applications. Being a member of CICan Awards of Excellence program, Baichoo reviews nominations for the Leadership Excellence Award for Non-Managerial Staff committee.
Baichoo has been involved in various research projects during her work and teaching experience. As a passionate EL/WIL practitioner and a hospitality and tourism educator, Baichoo looks forward to contributing to the world of WIL and the tourism industry. Feel free to reach out to her.
My teaching style tends to be more of a liberal reflective approach without losing the main structure and content of what is to be learned. My teaching is focused on embedding different forms of work-integrated learning. Having a community partner as a stakeholder embedded in the course allows students to have an authentic learning experience, and this, in turn, allows them to be ready to enter the workforce
Case study analysis, lectures, guest speakers, in-class activities, field trips, documentaries, videos and Ted talks are all part of my teaching, while quizzes, essays, literature reviews, presentations, reports, reflections, and exams under my coaching and feedback test the knowledge of my students along with the community partner's partner input if the course is a WIL one
I aim to turn them into academically sound critical listeners and be able to function effectively by staying current in their desired industry.
My Masters thesis addressed the issues of the evolution of customer service and how technology has given rise to personalized service in boutique hotels in Victoria, British Columbia.
The aim of my thesis was to investigate the importance of technology in personalized service in boutique hotels, where the following research objectives were identified: what is personalized service, how critical is technology in personalized service, the criticality of the relationship between personalized service and customer satisfaction and what is the relationship between personalized service and customer/company loyalty.
Journals
Fane, J., Baichoo, M., & Loken, T. (2021) A structured approach to developing faculty capacity for course-based curricular WIL opportunities in under-represented disciplinary areas. In Pretti, J, Stirling, A & Zegwaard, K. (Eds). WIL Practice in Canada. WACE/CEWIL.
Books Chapter
Baichoo, M., Fane, J., Loken, T., & Mahood., A. (2023) Establishing and managing the practice of institutional wide WIL within an established institution. In Pretti, J., & Zegward, K. The Routledge International Handbook of Work-Integrated Learning (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781000882490
Baichoo, M., Hinck, A., Loken, T. (2020, September 02). Chapter 9. Customer Service. BC Campus Open Education. Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://opentextbc.ca/introtourism2e/part/customer-service/ Adapted from original works by Freeman, R., and Glazer, K.
HandBook
Editor: CapU University Wide Work Integrated Learning Handbook Released in January 2023.