Students’ perceptions of experiential learning in a political events course: A case study from Iowa

Abstract

Political events can be defined as a meeting or gathering of two or more people in order to elicit a political goal, agenda, or influence. In this research, a case study is used to showcase student learning from participating in a political events course and the execution of a nonpartisan mock caucus political event. This study extends our understanding of experiential learning in event management education and extends our understanding of political event planning, an underdeveloped and under researched aspect of event planning.

Applying Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory to an Event Management Course: Practical Guidelines for Educators

“…Seminars are an important part of the learning process, and students liked the fact that "we did get time to discuss a lot during the seminar sessions" [Q]. This supports the view that time for group work is essential and needs to be programmed into the course (Olson et al, 2021). It also strengthens the importance of discussions and constant critical reflection throughout the module (see Fig.…”

“…Consequently, they were aware of and appreciated the links to employability. Students also used project management tools, such as Gantt charts and work breakdown structure tools, which can be useful for their future career (Olson et al, 2021). All this supported students' transferable and digital skills development.…”

“…Kolb's EL cycle has been selected as being one of the most recent and widely used models, especially in recreation and tourism (e.g., Bower, 2013;Lourenço et al, 2022). While there have been some practical suggestions on how to plan EL in previous research (Byrd, 2009;Olson et al, 2021;Sangpikul, 2022), these are scattered across several studies and recommendations are partial. To date, no overarching study has been conducted to explore how EL should be planned and delivered in the context of events management.…”

“…Most of the studies on EL for event students focused on students' perceptions of it and its benefits (Olson et al, 2021;Venske, 2018) Walters (2021): students learned about theories as well as practical elements, which was useful for their future careers. Sangpikul (2022) analyzed the value of planning multiple-event EL projects, stressing that activities should be realistic and challenging.…”

“…In terms of resources and tools, it has been suggested to use a variety of "event management project management tools, such as Gantt charts, Event Canvas Design" (Olson et al, 2021, p. 291). Moreover, sufficient group work needs to be programmed into the course to give students enough time to develop the live event (Olson et al, 2021). Instructors also need to be careful in selecting the clients and the activities, so the objectives were within the students' abilities (Garlick, 2014).…”