Purpose: This paper aims to investigate participants’ motivations and perceptions of a field trip. Specifically, this paper examines if and how students’ perceptions change with time and it explores the main factors for ensuring success in an experiential learning tourism program. Design/methodology/approach: The study gathered and compared data collected in two points in time – immediately at the end of the experience and two months afterward. T-tests for paired samples were used to examine potential differences in perceptions and principal component analysis was used to identify the key factors determining the success of the experience. Findings: The findings indicate that there are various motivations behind participation and that time barely affects perceptions of the experience. Furthermore, three factors emerged as important for meeting expectations, namely, social and professional connections, learning and traditional yet engaging teaching. Research limitations/implications: While the outcomes are useful, they need to be thoughtfully applied because of the small data set. It is important to repeat similar investigations to allow more certainty in the propositions formulated. Furthermore, future studies should evaluate a broader variety of outcomes to determine whether perceptions remain constant. The implications are that educators and destination managers can easily apply these conclusions for the benefit and the findings can inform other field trips and broader experiential initiatives. Originality/value: Despite research on learning outcomes and perceptions of experiential learning having expanded considerably, a fundamental question that remains unanswered is how perceptions of such experiences change and, consequently, when the most appropriate time is to assess participant perceptions.

中文翻译：

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教育旅游与体验式学习：学生对实地考察的看法

目的：本文旨在调查参与者对实地考察的动机和看法。具体而言，本文研究了学生的看法是否以及如何随时间变化，并探讨了确保体验式学习旅游计划成功的主要因素。设计/方法/途径：该研究收集并比较了两个时间点收集的数据——即在体验结束时和两个月后。配对样本的 T 检验用于检查感知的潜在差异，主成分分析用于确定决定体验成功的关键因素。调查结果：调查结果表明，参与背后有各种动机，时间几乎不会影响对体验的看法。此外，三个因素对于满足期望很重要，即社会和专业联系、学习和传统但引人入胜的教学。研究局限性/影响：虽然结果很有用，但由于数据集很小，因此需要深思熟虑地应用它们。重要的是重复类似的调查，以便在提出的命题中具有更多的确定性。此外，未来的研究应该评估更广泛的结果，以确定看法是否保持不变。其含义是，教育者和目的地管理者可以轻松地将这些结论应用于收益，并且调查结果可以为其他实地考察和更广泛的体验计划提供信息。原创性/价值：尽管对学习成果和体验式学习认知的研究已大大扩展，