Knowledge Main Headline

Hands-on learning

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

A good way to learn about event management is by… hosting an event. So says a study by 3 scholars from IFT in which the researchers conclude that such a hands-on exercise is able to translate into high levels of satisfaction among students, and allows them to learn new skills in an effective way.

This type of experiential learning is “an effective pedagogical method for event education,” wrote IFT scholars Dr. Clara Lei Weng Si, Dr. Cindia Lam Ching Chi and Dr. Fernando Lourenço. Their study findings show that students “do not only learn new skills and knowledge but they [also] learn via experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting”.

The conclusions – featured in the paper “A Case Study on Hosting an Event as an Experiential Learning Experience for Event Education” – were published in the Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism.

The study was based upon data collected from 60 students via an online questionnaire. The students had attended a course on event management in the academic year prior to the online questionnaire – 2012/13 – that included lectures on event management, occupying 40 percent of the overall course time, and, as a practical exercise, the hosting of a live, charity-related event.

“The data revealed that experiential learning is a satisfactory learning method for event education,” the scholars wrote in their paper. “The majority of the participants (around 90 percent) showed good satisfaction at taking part in the course work and the organisation of the course.”

The researchers added: “Results showed that the majority of participants [was] satisfied with the various aspects of individual and team performance, the accomplishments of the course work, the working atmosphere, and improvement in skill-sets.”

The findings also noted that “an average of around 78 percent of participants indicated that they have achieved good or expert” levels of proficiency regarding 11 skills studied by the researchers. These included “being a good team player” and “being a good learner”.

Knowledge acquisition

The IFT scholars noted however that the experiential learning exercise was not as effective when it came to knowledge acquisition. “Results were less encouraging than [those regarding] the type of skills acquired,” they wrote. Only an average of 62 percent of participants in the study indicated that they had achieved good or expert levels of proficiency in the various types of knowledge under assessment by the researchers.

“Knowledge on information technology and social media usage, as well as branding of the event were the 2 areas of knowledge” where the greatest number of participants – 78 percent – felt the presence of a “good or expert level” of proficiency, the IFT team noted. “Conversely, only 42 percent of participants believed they had reached a good or expert [proficiency] level in the legal issues of event management.”

To this end educators might need to put more effort into monitoring the efficiency of “knowledge transfer to participants” when using event hosting as an educational tool, stated the IFT scholars. Were any participants to report “no knowledge” having been transferred, that should be “grasped as a serious matter”.

In their paper, the IFT scholars pointed out that the “academic institutionalisation” of event management started in the 1990s, with the number of universities – including those from Europe and the United States – offering event management programmes increasing rapidly since then. “Thus, pedagogical advancement on event education becomes an area of importance,” the IFT scholars noted.

The researchers wrote that while event management “is very much based upon business management”, knowledge from areas such as marketing, sponsorship, finance, risk and sustainability management has been recently incorporated into the subject. “The types of ‘hands on’ experience required for a student taking up a course on event management is usually wider than for a student taking up a general business management course,” the IFT team noted. “Thus, the balance of a right combination between theoretical knowledge and practical experience for such courses is a constant challenge to educators.”

More info

Dr. Clara Lei Weng Si is an Assistant Professor at IFT. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom. Her academic research interests include international business, focusing on the impact on hospitality of foreign investment and knowledge transfer.

IFT Assistant Professor Dr. Cindia Lam Ching Chi holds a Ph.D. in business administration, conferred jointly by the Catholic University of Portugal and the University of Saint Joseph in Macao. She is the coordinator for all of IFT’s evening degree programmes. Dr. Lam has served as a consultant to the Macao Government on many of its projects. Her research interests range from tourist behaviour and customer choice to quality of life and education.

Dr. Fernando Lourenço is an Assistant Professor at IFT. He holds a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship education for sustainable development from Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K. His research interests include entrepreneurship, sustainable development, education, creativity, tourism and social science. He actively engages in supporting local entrepreneurship and the creative sector.

Clara Lei Weng Si, Cindia Lam Ching Chi and Fernando Lourenço: “A Case Study on Hosting an Event as an Experiential Learning Experience for Event Education”, Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, Volume 15, Issue 4, pages 345-361, 2015.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2015.1073573

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