Gee Technology Learning Center

Reshaping traditional views of students, classrooms, and textbooks, the GEE TECHNOLOGY LEARNING CENTER connects TIM School with students, resources, and research located just about anywhere in the world!

The Gee Technology Learning Center (GTLC) has extended the teaching, research, and service reach of the TIM School by erasing geographic barriers and reshaping how education is conceived. To advance the School’s travel and tourism mandate through innovation and research, the GTLC creates a virtual connection among faculty, students, colleagues, and resources located almost anywhere. 

Designed to share TIM School resources with travel and tourism professionals within Hawaii and across the Asia-Pacific region, the GTLC provides the technology infrastructure upon which an extensive series of professional programs, customized courses, colloquia, and degree programs have been developed.

Technology advancements, particularly the Internet, are redefining the business model. TIM School clearly recognizes that success is dependent on: knowing how to use the technologies of the travel and tourism industry, achieving a strategic understanding of technology’s scope, and how this powerful force is restructuring the travel industry. 

Three main program initiatives enable the GTLC to advance TIM School’s mission through virtual collaboration and communication:

• Distributed learning: The GTLC supports TIM School’s distance learning programs by making available synchronous and non-synchronous communication for online credit and non-credit courses. Travel industry professionals constrained by time or distance can pursue advanced education without relocating or interrupting their careers.
   
• Knowledge sharing: The GTLC supports TIM School’s knowledge dissemination commitment by linking global problem-solvers with global thinkers. Virtual collaboration enables talents of resource people, regardless of their location, to be shared widely. TIM School faculty is recognized globally for research in sustainable tourism, technology and tourism, and cultural tourism research efforts. Through the GTLC, TIM School faculty can connect with academic and industry colleagues across the globe without the barriers of distance and cost.
   
• Professional programs: The GTLC supports TIM School’s agenda to provide uniquely positioned professional programs by enabling speakers and participants to communicate and work together in a variety of forms. Course content is often customized to meet specific client needs. Material can be delivered face-to-face using web-based and using multimedia techniques. Enriched learning opportunities, available through the GTLC, provide participants with access to leading industry “thinkers” and enable them to gain valuable experience using the virtual collaboration tools of business. 

Facilities: Comprised of three contiguous units, the GTLC augments the education, research, and service mission of TIM School. In addition to providing specific business and tourism-related software tools, the multimedia classroom enables students to build experience with and understanding of the technology used in the travel industry. The executive videoconference suite creates a virtual connection among TIM School faculty, students, and research opportunities across the globe. It also provides virtual access for students to guest speakers and distance learning opportunities. The Bernice Loui Computer Center provides technology resources and assistance to TIM students.

Legacy & Alumni: The Gee Technology Learning Center is a future-focused reminder that leadership in travel and tourism is tied directly to a lifelong commitment to innovation and learning. Named to honor the School’s former Dean, Chuck Yim Gee, the GTLC is the realization of Dean Gee’s dream to build a center of technology and learning. His goal was to further secure TIM School’s ability to prepare graduates to become innovative leaders in the travel and tourism industry. With the resources available through the GTLC, TIM School is uniquely positioned to address the undergraduate, graduate, and professional program needs of the travel and tourism industry in Hawaii and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. 

A substantial portion of the initial funding for the GTLC was provided through the generous and ongoing fundraising efforts of TIM International, the School of Travel Industry Management’s alumni association, as well as gifts from Leong Hop and Bernice C. Loui.