CHALLENGES OF ORGANIZING COURSE LIVE EVENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

An event management curriculum typically includes a live event component that requires students to conceptualize, plan, implement, and evaluate a public event. Many of these programs are based on the premise of experiential learning theory (ELT), which posits that learners go through spiral -like stages and cycles in their learning, guided by reflections facilitated by the educator. Although the benefits and problems of these courses are explored in the literature, the specific challenges encountered by both instructors and students during the COVID-19 pandemic seem to be largely unresearched. This study explores how the organization of a course's live event component differed during the pandemic by adopting a case study and a constructivist approach to understanding this phenomenon. The study reveals that the challenges are categorized in terms of issues related to event operations, managing stakeholders, and learning new skills and knowledge.