Module 1 Assignment: Retail Challenges

Open Pedagogy Assignments are assignments in which students use their agency and creativity to create knowledge artifacts that can support their own learning, their classmates’ learning, and the learning of students around the world. (See this peer-reviewed article for more details.) The assignment on this page is aligned to the learning outcomes of Principles of Retail Management and we’ve identified the module where the reading appears. All of the assignments can be created with a cell phone camera or any video recording device, Google or Word documents, and your learning management system.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • List some challenges of working in the retail field

In the first module of the course, we introduce retail management as an industry and field of study. For this assignment, you are going to work with a small group to discuss challenges that you may face in retail management. After your discussion, you will select one of the challenges and record a video.

Here are some questions to guide your group discussion:

  • What is a major challenge in retail management from your experience in the field?
  • If you have not worked in retail, what do you imagine is a challenge based on your experience as a customer?
  • Also consider your reading from this module.

Now, using your cell phone or any other recording device, create a short video of no longer than 2 minutes advising a fellow student who shares your interest in the industry. You don’t have to edit or create a professional-grade film. You’ve most likely have done this type of recording already on social media, so feel free to use the same informal conversational tone. In your video:

  • Identify a challenge facing retail managers,
  • Explain why it’s a significant issue how it impacts the retail environment, and
  • Describe any personal experiences or observations that led you to identify this challenge.

Think of your audience as fellow students who are interested to learn about your unique perspective about retail management. Better yet, try to explain as if you were talking to somebody who is not taking this course. After you record your video, upload or share it as directed by your instructor.

A Note To Teachers:  This is a great opportunity to share your expertise and experience with students. For this assignment, the first term students will be creating the videos, and then the next term’s students can respond to the videos. After you have a few terms of student examples, use the best three from the batch and start the process over again. Using the videos as starting points for OL discussion boards may work as well.