Modules

Module title: International Festival and Events Environments
SCQF level: 10:
SCQF credit value: 20.00
ECTS credit value: 10
Module code: TSM10103
Module leader: Gary Kerr
School The Business School
Subject area group: Tourism and Languages
Prerequisites

Politics, Policy and Planning for Festivals and Events (TSM09102) or equivalent module at SCQF Level 9

2018/9, Trimester 2, Face-to-Face, Edinburgh Napier University
Occurrence: 001
Primary mode of delivery: Face-to-Face
Location of delivery: CRAIGLOCKHAR
Partner: Edinburgh Napier University
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Gary Kerr
Module Organiser:


Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Approach:
This module aims to provide an in-depth and wide-ranging coverage of the strategic and conceptual topics and themes relevant to the management and study of festivals and events. It builds on core modules within the International Festival & Event Management programme, such as Planning and Public Policy for Festivals and Events (TSM09102). Lectures are used to introduce key concepts, explore case studies and examples, and provide a distilled assessment of the topics covered. Seminars are student focused, and student-led where appropriate, promoting further analysis and application of the module’s themes. Collaborative work is promoted to facilitate analysis of both real and theoretical examples and scenarios. Appropriate uses of technology support the students’ access to and awareness of key academic and industry analysis of relevant subjects and exemplars.
The module’s learning outcomes reflect the relationships between festivals and events and their environments, establishing the importance of both strategic and operational responses to environmental and contextual forces. Lectures serve to explore these broad themes from a range of perspectives, drawing from a growing body of literature that seeks to develop a critical understanding of festivals and events. Seminars provide opportunities to apply such analysis to case study examples, encouraging and allowing students to explore the sector from fresh perspectives. Student presentations, in-class research, debates, and the application of theories and models provide the basis of seminar activities. These are also valuable in preparation for module assessments.
Formative Assessment:
Formative assessment opportunities are built into each topic’s seminar plan, with students being encouraged to engage with and reflect upon module topics through a series of tasks. These provide opportunities for the module tutor to offer reflections on the class’s understanding and interpretation of such themes. In class activities are directly linked to the two summative assessments, such as through the collaborative application of academic models that are then available to be used in the coursework element. Seminars in later weeks of the module involve greater synthesis of material from different module topics, encouraging collaborative work in advance of similar demands expected in the end of module exam.

Formative feedback from the module tutor is therefore offered in class time, in response to student contributions both individually and collectively. The individual feedback from the first piece of credit-bearing assessment, the coursework, is also intended to provide written formative feedback for each student ahead of the final exam.
Summative Assessment:
Assessment 1 (60%; L.O. 1, 2, 3, 4): a 3,000- to 3,500-word report, requiring a strategic analysis of a festival or event, or organisation with a primary focus on the hosting, delivery or strategic support of festivals and events. To be accompanied by recommendations for management responses, as supported by appropriate comparative analysis. Students are required to consider strategic models, conceptual understandings of operating environments and industry information, to report on the strategic position of a chosen organisation. Recommendations are then required, in response to the environment and the organisation’s stated objectives.

Assessment 2 (40%; L.O. 1, 2, 3): a two-hour exam, drawing on all topics and themes covered in the module. Students are encouraged to draw on material from across the module, establishing syntheses between topics and an explicitly critical appreciation of festival and event studies. This is enhanced through the encouragement of allowing students to take notes of their collation into the exam: having notes and quotations to hand encourages students to focus on deeper analysis, rather than seeking to remember core information.
Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)
Face To Face Lecture 12
Face To Face Seminar 12
Online Guided independent study 12
Independent Learning Guided independent study 164
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words
Report 60 1-4 9 HOURS= 0, WORDS= 3000
Centrally Time Tabled Examination 40 1-3 14/15 HOURS= 2, WORDS= 0
Component 1 subtotal: 60
Component 2 subtotal: 40
Module subtotal: 100

Description of module content:

Festivals and events are products of their environments: cultural, social, economic, political and historical. Extensive use of international case study material, theoretical models and the development of a broad understanding of these environmental factors will inform greater understanding of the contexts in which festivals and events are conceived and managed in key regions of the world. The role of policy creation, strategic and managerial responses to it and the relative success of their implementation will develop students' ability to analyse and critically reflect on an increasingly globally important sector.
Learning Outcomes for module:

LO1: Critically engage with contemporary theoretical, conceptual and comparative analyses of festivals and events.
LO2: Identify and critically examine key environmental contexts affecting the operating environments and management of festivals and events, both domestic and international.
LO3: Analyse and critically reflect upon strategic approaches to festival and event management.
LO4: Devise strategic responses and recommendations for the development of festival and event organisations, based on analysis of conceptual, theoretical and industry sources of information.
Indicative References and Reading List - URL:
International Festival and Events Environments
 

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