The document outlines the adaptation of the 'Live Festival Management' module at Robert Gordon University due to the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning from on-campus workshops to a digital format. It highlights the challenges and successes of delivering the module online, emphasizing the importance of maintaining student engagement and fostering a collaborative online community. The reflections also cover lessons learned regarding communication, support, and the need for a hybrid approach in future iterations of the course.

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Written by:
Katie Jones
Lecturer in Events Management
Email: k.jones8@rgu.ac.uk
School of Creative and Cultural
Business
The Robert Gordon University
Garthdee Road
Aberdeen
AB10 7QE

2. DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION:
EVENTS BASED
MODULE &
ASSESSMENT
KATIE JONES | 02
'Live Festival Management' is a module
taught to undergraduate Stage 3 Event
Management students, within the School
of Creative & Cultural Business. The
module acts as an integral part of
students' experience portfolio in industry
practice and also as practical development
in establishing a ‘career ready’ events
graduate.
Additionally, the module prepares the
students for an event project, which they
undertake in their Honour’s year. This
module is often viewed as a highlight of
the Events Management degree and it is
considered by prospective students in
their decision to join RGU.
Katie Jones, Lecturer in Events
Management
School of Creative & Cultural
Business (RGU)

3. Prior to the Pandemic
The module, prior to the pandemic, was run
on-campus as a 5-hour weekly workshop
session, which engaged the students actively
in the co-creation of events. This culminated
in a festival weekend, including varying
physical events in Aberdeen City, named
'Aberdeen Student Festival'.
In previous teaching, students received a
series of lectures, engaging with industry
sessions as well as practical workshops to
allow them to contextualise learning.
Subsequently, students would be required to
present an event pitch to the module and
stakeholder teams in their event groups,
demonstrating the feasibility of a planned
physical event and how it would constitute a
class wide festival. Students would then
reflect on their grade and feedback to
facilitate the next stages of event planning &
delivery, with the module team shifting from
lecturers to mentors and supervisors.
All of this would take place on campus and
staff when attending physical events would
act as stakeholders, to support the delivery
and grade the event. Student engagement
with this format was consistent and they
would commit themselves to the
requirements, embracing experiential
learning and taking ownership of their
outputs. This was an important career
experience, which would allow them to
advance their future professional career.
KATIE JONES | 03
BEFORE THE
PANDEMIC

4. Adaptation of Teaching Methods
Due to the pressures of COVID-19, the module
has seen significant changes, most notably in
the delivery and shift of the final output to a
digital/virtual festival. It was decided in the
initial lockdown, that, instead of cancelling
the festival and providing the students with
another output, such as a written
assessment, the events team would provide
the students with a digital practical
experience.
Students were required, in both years, to
organise a digital event, which had elements
of pre-recorded and live interaction in a set
event programme over a festival weekend.
Whilst this did not require the students to
engage with some elements of events
management on the same scale (such as
health & safety), they did have to engage
with other aspects, such as finance,
marketing and logistics. Primarily students
had to manage relationships with a range of
stakeholders, including the representatives
of the festival.
In some cases, this alleviated students'
workload although it did require them to
think more creatively, adapting and
upskilling in areas, such as digital media.
Being online alleviated certain stresses for
the students, such as venue and portfolio
selection. However, the aspect of change
management and team work in a virtual
setting needed support.
KATIE JONES | 04
AFTER THE
PANDEMIC

5. 2 hour weekly seminar as a class cohort
3 hour workshop session.
Creating an Online Community
Originally, in the module, the academic acted
as a supervisor and mentor, relying on
honesty and transparency to develop a
mutual working relationship with students.
For the students this style required face-to-
face interaction and a professional
relationship with their lecturer. As such, the
module team for both 2020 and 2021 made it
a priority to emulate this relationship in an
entirely online setting.
In order to foster a close working
relationship the team decided that an online
community needed to be fostered. This was
created through the use of MS Teams as well
as online & live sessions. This evolved from
2020 to 2021 whereby the module team,
after student feedback, advanced the
engagement of these platforms, with much
more structured and engaging touchpoints.
In this module change, the delivery instead of
five hour workshops was split into two.
For the first 5 weeks leading up to student
pitches weekly delivery consisted of:
The seminar took a more traditional teaching
style in the form of lectures with tutorial
discussions. These were live rather than pre-
recorded to encourage students to develop
at the same pace, which was crucial in group
& class work element this module requires.
KATIE JONES | 05
FOSTERING
AN ONLINE
COMMUNITY

6. The recordings were then made available for
students to go back to as they needed. As the
students, within a 12 week delivery, are
required to conceptualise, plan, deliver &
evaluate an event, which forms a festival
format, they must move forward at the set
pace and in a productive manner with their
chosen/set team groups. The seminars took
place on a Monday morning on Zoom with the
3-hour workshop sessions taking place on a
mixture of Zoom and MS Teams. The period
between Monday and Thursday allowed
students to complete research and work
together to advance on the Thursday.
This was deliberately split in timings with the
module team recognising a focus of 5 hours
would be difficult to achieve in an online
setting. The reasoning of two platforms in
delivery was to provide differentiation in the
teaching style for the students. Zoom was
viewed as the knowledge acquisition/class
‘roundtable’ with MS Teams a shift to a
shared creative/problem solving space where
the relationship with the module team
became collaborative. Students used MS
Teams throughout the week to hold meetings,
share files and have a collaborative space in a
more formalised setting than they would
have previously.
The 2021 delivery was through:
• A 2 hour weekly seminar as a class cohort
• A 3 hour workshop session.
This was for the first 5 weeks, inclusive of a
pitch presentation, which then shifted to a:
• 3 hour live and online session.
KATIE JONES | 06
FOSTERING
AN ONLINE
COMMUNITY

7. Interactive whole class touchpoints
Group supervision
Dedicated ‘event planning time’,
This marked the change of pace and
expectation in the students' preparation
towards their digital events. Whilst, the
students in their respective groups were
progressing with plans and communicating
with stakeholders, it was still important that
they had a live contact point emulating on
campus workshop scenarios. In a physical
environment the students value the
workshop, using this as an opportunity to
benchmark against other groups, in terms of
their own event progress, and collaborate
more effectively to deliver a cohesive event
programme for their festival. At this stage,
therefore, students required a great deal of
both mentorship and emotional support as
they developed autonomous events. Being
able to work together, move around, ask
questions was vital to their continuing
progress. The change to a live online session
worked in a threefold capacity:
These sessions were held on Zoom and MS
Teams. The differentiation between the
platforms allowed students to recognise the
more directed class space of Zoom and the
collaboration aspects of MS Teams.
On MS Teams students were organised into
private group channels with the module
team having overall access to Q&A, class
discussion and module team updates.
KATIE JONES | 07
FOSTERING
AN ONLINE
COMMUNITY

8. This allowed the module team to facilitate
student progress throughout the week, add
relevant materials and communicate with
students more efficiently. Students could be
reminded of important dates and
documentation as well as providing the
support they needed – such as below.
This structure meant the module team were
more up to date on progress than they would
have been on campus; whereas in previous
years the only real contact point would have
been through the one weekly workshop,
limited emails and one way CampusMoodle
updates. Many of the students have actually
noted being able to use the functionalities of
the virtual collaborative platforms, viewing
this as a vital skill in the workplace.
Challenges
The entirety of the online delivery was not
without its challenges. Students found
collaboration difficult in an online
environment and also found it much harder to
switch off too.
KATIE JONES | 08
FOSTERING
AN ONLINE
COMMUNITY
“I want to say for brainstorming you
need to get into the same mood and
it is much harder to online. To bring
good ideas I think it will be much
better to be together in the same
room, same space.”

9. “Because it was quite unstructured,
I don’t know about the other
groups but for my group it was a 24
hour, 7 days a week thing.”
This demonstrates that although online
delivery had value, some aspects of physical
interaction would be of benefit too.
Additionally, students require boundaries
when interacting in a professional group
setting and the module team will be mindful
to ensure incorporating them much earlier in
the module.
By week 11 student events were held entirely
online. Despite the lack of a physical aspect to
the event, the students still required guidance
during the event. MS Teams provided the
module team a teaching space which the
students felt was live and interactive. For
assessment purposes the team could ask
questions and offer real time guidance as
events unfolded. Students were able to share
important documents, such as event
programmes, running orders and risk
assessments.
KATIE JONES | 09
FOSTERING
AN ONLINE
COMMUNITY

10. Reflections
The changes that were made to this module
were based on the impact of COVID-19 which
forced a need to create a digital event
adaption process.
However, in developing the changes vast
improvements to both the student and
teaching experience. Students have enjoyed
the sense of ownership of their events,
feeling less constrained by the physical
entity of buildings, creating more fluid time-
management. Additionally, students have
had more access to the module team
throughout the process.
In the teaching practice it has always been a
challenge to ‘manage’ multiple groups and
ensure to keep on top of issues and
participation, whereas in the online
environment this has been much easier to
execute. Students could ask for regular
feedback on their documents/progress
throughout.
Upon reflection, there are a number of
lessons learnt allowing the teaching team to
emerge stronger:
1. The relationship between the
staff/student community – continues to be
an ongoing issue in both a physical and
online setting. As the module team shift from
educators to mentors then assessors
managing this relationship can be difficult,
particularly in an online environment.
KATIE JONES | 10
LESSONS
LEARNED

11. 2. Providing a constructive online place for
communication and feedback – students
require a two way space to contextualise and
make sense of the feedback they receive.
Where they receive qualitative feedback this
must be also managed appropriately
especially in a live project context to allow
them to grow. In a physical setting this is
much easier to manage, i.e. to handle student
disappointment face-to-face rather than
through a screen.
3. Managing the invasion of time – the
module requires a great deal of input from
the students and this includes an emotional
capacity as well as the work itself. As the
module provides a tangible output for a live
client this can add stress for the students,
particularly as the students work and
progress at different stages. In an online
capacity this was heightened with the ability
to communicate at all times through
professional platforms. This was the case for
the module team too.
4. Importance of fostering creativity,
communication and collaboration in the
conceptualisation process (the three Cs) – it
is understood that the online environment is
not particularly conducive to the three Cs
process. For many of the students this is
their first professional event and time
working with a live client fosters a great deal
of uncertainty and nervousness. Being able
to be present in a physical space helps with
the alleviation of this.
KATIE JONES | 11
LESSONS
LEARNED

12. 5. Developing the digital void (skills
development) – it is apparent the events
industry is at a time of change and the digital
provision, which has been used in COVID-19
mitigation, will reinvent itself. As such, it is
expected the module will now run with a
hybrid functionality to allow students to
develop future-proof skills which are
necessary in any chosen industry.
6. Developing a professional community
(trust, transparency as well as accountability
& confidence) – students and staff not being
able to see each other face-to-face was a
definite challenge, as body language/tone
were big factors that were omitted,
particularly with the nature of an event
assessment. It requires more trust and
autonomy to develop a sense of confidence
overall.
All of this requires community building which
comes from developing more informal
relationships which is not as easy in an
online environment where professionalism is
expected. A blended approach of the two is
required to ensure success and facilitate
more positives to be taken forward from
online/physical settings.
Student Feedback
On completion of the module (post event and
module assessment) students noted the
following feelings:
“Constructive…Accomplished…
Professional…Proud…
Appreciative…Enlightened…
Relieved…Happy…Surprised”
KATIE JONES | 12
LESSONS
LEARNED

13. KATIE JONES | 13
AUTHOR BIO
Katie Jones is a Lecturer in Events Management and Marketing within the School
of Creative & Cultural Business at Robert Gordon University. Katie teaches
modules such as live festival management, corporate & association events
management, consumer psychology as well as supervising live client event
projects and managing the development of practical industry experience
portfolios for the events students.
Previous to RGU, Katie worked in the third sector for a number of national
charities, supporting and heading up varying event programmes inclusive of
outdoor sports and mass participation events.
In terms of research, Katie’s interests lay specifically in the value output of
events from a social enhancement perspective notably within the third sector as
well as the digital adaptions to live event projects from a HE perspective.
Contact: k.jones8@rgu.ac.uk
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Coordinated by:
RGU Teaching Excellence Fellows
Dr Konstantina Martzoukou & Dr Pauline Bremner
Contact:
k.martzoukou@rgu.ac.uk
p.bremner@rgu.ac.uk
School of Creative and Cultural Business
The Robert Gordon University
Garthdee Road
Aberdeen
AB10 7QE
In collaboration with OneHE Mindsets