Unit 8 Discussion

Mary’s Petition

Course Petition- RT 301: Store Management

Course Description: This course examines theories and practices that are related to building

and managing an effective store. It includes store management responsibilities, store layout,

design, visual merchandising, and customer service. Students will gain an understanding of the

different types of retail store formats, multi-channel retailing, and retail consumer behavior.

Course Outcomes

Analyze store management

Evaluate retail environments

Describe retail institutions and functions

Source of Learning

Ace Food Store 20002002

Random Tire Store 20022004

My Own Shop

Learning Statements

 Supervise the daily functions of a retail business for the purpose of serving customers

 Analyze sales reports to increase accuracy in ordering

 Order as necessary to replenish inventory and keep storage to a minimum

 Track merchandise from order to point-of-sale to determine profitability

 Design displays and store layout to promote product visibility 2004 -Present

 Plan around calendar, local events, weather, etc. to determine when stock and promote

specific items

 Prepare special promotions for targeted items

 Create and publicize customer service policies

 Train employees in customer service, using technology, safety, etc.

 Analyze cycles of customer traffic during a day, season, etc.

 Schedule trained employees with store needs in mind

 Compute payroll hours

 Analyze marketing message and medium clientele to determine appropriate

The student submitted the following pieces of supporting documentation to prove her

learning for RT 301:

 Letter from Ace Manager

 Letter from Random District Manager

 Letter from Chamber of Commerce

 Better Business certificates on creating a web page

Here is an excerpt from the student’s Learning Autobiography that deals with this Course Petition:

I started in retail when I was just a kid with a job at the local grocery store. It was a large chain and there were many levels of “bosses” and all of them were overseeing me. I wanted to be hanging out with my friends but in order to do that, I needed money and working was the only way to get money. At the grocery store, my primary job was stocking shelves and bagging groceries – occasionally I would be allowed to be a cashier, but that was only when the store was short. Some of the product vendors were nice to me and taught me some basic merchandising tricks, like shelf placement of certain products and placement within the store itself. I kept thinking that I would never choose to work in retail because there were too many people to report to and the hours were long with little thanks.

After I graduated high school, the only job I could get was at Ace Food Store and they hired me full-time. This was a small store run by a family so there were fewer bosses, but more relatives. I worked hard, however, and they liked me and took me under their wing. They taught me a lot about the food business in particular and business in general. My responsibilities increased and I was responsible for running the produce department. They prided themselves on fresh produce and carrying hard to find products that the bigger stores wouldn’t have, so I had to be aware of the new produce and stock them. I also learned how they trained and treated their employees and how important it was to maintain good help.

I would have stayed there longer, but my family was growing and I needed more money so I left to become the manager of Random Tire Company. Now I was a manager of one store of several and all of us reported to a district manager. I need to follow company policy and use their ads and promotional materials but in a way that best suited my customers and store. I also had to put up with the politics of a large, not very well organized company. I learned a lot but after two years I felt that I had maxed out on my learning opportunities and the business seemed to be failing, so when I got the chance to buy my own store, inventory and building, I jumped at the chance.

It was very frightening at first because I was the person in charge and I needed to make all the decisions. The store was specialized in high end food products, so I was back in that business again but times had changed and people were now more interested in ethnic and unusual foods than they were before. Customer satisfaction I learned was very important, as was finding ways to use the new and free advertising that emails and the Web provided.

Below is the primary documentation letter from the student’s district manager from Random Tire.

Dear Committee:

Mary Olsen was a manager of our store in Hovey, Pennsylvania for 2 years. During that time she reported to me. She was a good manager and followed company policy very carefully. I had 10 managers reporting to me and she was one of the best. I wish her the best as she continues her education.

Sincerely,

Dan Ward

Evaluation Criteria:

Recall from the El206 Portfolio Evaluation Rubric, there are five criteria upon which your portfolio will be evaluated: explanation of experiential learning, evidence of college-level writing, understanding of academic learning, course outcomes attainment, and documentation alignment. A detailed explanation of the criteria is below.

The first criterion, explanation of experiential learning, is a key component of Mary’s portfolio. Since all of the learning she included in her portfolio is experiential, Mary should have clearly communicated her learning to ensure that you, as the evaluator, have an accurate and detailed picture of the learning she has acquired. Just like an evaluator, you will be assessing whether Mary reflected on critical incidents that have resulted in college-level learning. You will want to see that Mary aligned her learning to the course outcomes of the RT 301 course. Mary should have clearly described the critical events that resulted in college-level learning in her Learning Autobiography and aligned the content of her Learning Autobiography to the content in her course petitions in order to prove her competency.

Evidence of college-level writing is the second criterion. Mary’s portfolio should be reviewed to determine whether or not her learning is equivalent to college-level learning. You, as the evaluator in this unit, will need to see that Mary can write at a college level before you can determine that her learning is at that level. Writing at the college level means that the writing is of high quality. College-level writing should be well organized, concise, and free of grammatical and mechanical errors. It should demonstrate critical and reflective thinking, along with an understanding of theory and practice as it relates to the subject matter at hand.

Understanding of academic learning is the third criterion against which you will review Mary’s portfolio. It is really important that Mary demonstrated the academic learning she has acquired. For the purpose of this portfolio development process, academic learning is college-level learning. It requires a learner to demonstrate problem solving skills, depth and breadth of knowledge, and a balance between theory and practice. The goal of this portfolio development process is to potentially earn college credit for experiential learning. In order to do that, Mary must prove to you that her learning is college-level and worthy of academic credit.

The fourth criterion against which Mary’s portfolio will be reviewed is course outcome attainment. In order to prove her college-level learning, Mary will need to match her learning to the course outcomes of the RT 301 course. You will need to check and double check to make sure that Mary’s portfolio components, especially her Course Petition, proves that she meets all of the course outcomes for the course. If Mary is missing one outcome, her course petition cannot be recommended for credit. Meeting all of the course outcomes of each course is one way that Mary will prove that her experiential learning is worthy of college credit.

Documentation alignment is the final criterion that you will use to review Mary’s portfolio and to determine whether college-level learning has occurred. In order to gain recognition for her learning, and ultimately college credit, Mary must support her claims of learning with documentation. Again, it is not good enough to tell you, as the evaluator, that she has the learning. Mary needs to prove it. You will need to rely on Mary’s portfolio to tell her story, and she needs to provide documentation supporting her story if she wishes to earn credit for her learning.