Part I: "Ed. Tech" Review #1
The web site I have chosen to review can be found at www.nrf.com. It is the official site of the National Retail Federation which is the oldest and largest retail trade organization in the world. It represents over 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments including international members who operate stores in over 50 nations. The NRF is also a strong supporter of educational institutions in the U.S.
Jefferson Community College has been a member of the NRF for the past 20 years. Our membership fee is paid by Climax Manufacturing each year.
The NRF is an excellent source for teaching material I use in class to illustrate the retail environment to my students enrolled in the Retail Business Management Program. Our membership includes a free subscription to Stores monthly magazine, lower rates on all NRF publications and books, and significant discounts to attend all NRF's dynamic conferences and exhibitions held throughout the year. It also provides our students with free subscriptions to quarterly newsletters such as, Global Retail Report, Retail Sales Outlook, and Retail Technology.
The NRF's web site offers the same type of information via links such as Hot Issues, Government Affairs, Retail Headlines, Industry Connections, Member Services, Directories, Events & Conferences, Publications, Web site, and Feedback (FAQ).
All students enrolled in the Retail Business Management A.A.S. degree program at JCC will be exposed to the NRF site during their two years of study. It contains a wealth of information vital to their understanding the complex industry of Retailing. I personally check the web site every day for hot news items to be used as examples in my Retail Principles class. My ability to enhance lectures with current topics and trends in the retail industry is supported by the information I gain from the NRF. Membership is a must to any retail educational program to keep abreast of the latest trends and issues retailers are facing globally.
Part II: Curriculum Resource Review #1
The following is a summary of the web site at www.profcerto.com established by Prentice Hall Publishers in Spring 1996. It is an excellent on-line enrichment to the textbook I have chosen for the undergraduate course I teach at JCC (BUS 131 - Principles of Management).
The textbook titled, Modern Management by Certo, is a 1997 revised edition with reference exercises, "Exploring the Net" linked to the web site. The most exciting part of this new text is the fact it is complimented with an Internet appendix linked to real companies and how they are managed. It is truly an innovation in management education.
Navigation in the web site is set-up with the following eight links: Internet Exercises, Interactive Study Guide, Study Break, The Author, Quick Talk, Updates, Help ? Desk, and "Lands' End Internships."
For example: "Internet Exercises" displays individual exercises which correspond with Chapters in the textbook. To illustrate, Chapter 1 - "Management and Management Careers," features a web site tour of the "Effectiveness and Efficiency at Chrysler Corp." It is linked to the Chrysler Technology Tour web site. This particular site provides additional information to the case study found in Chapter 1 of the textbook. Students can also chose to take a "Study Break" and enjoy many links to their favorite topics from cars to computers, maps, music, news, sports, travel and weather. Each one of these is linked to additional web sites such as Advertising Age, WSJ Interactive Edition, MTV, etc. They provide an excellent resource guide for the students. "Quick Talk" is an interactive site for students to ask questions and/or make suggestions or comments to Professor Certo about the web site or the textbook.
I piloted using this Internet appendix last spring semester for all students who were interested in learning more about the Internet and its use in general business practices. I developed a series of application assignments which could be used in conjunction with the Internet exercises found at www.profcerto.com. Student feedback was positive. Those who participated in using the Internet appendix described it as very interesting and found it very easy to navigate.
I plan to incorporate the same application exercises again for the Spring 1998 semester. I feel it is an excellent tool for the students to use in exploring the world of business management.
Part III: "Technology in the News" Review #1
The following is a summary of the article titled, "Improved Search Function Seen as Key to Internet Shopping," found in Stores Magazine, August 1997, pages 60-67.
The context of the article discusses the issue of the need for retailers to develop an effective and easy-to-use search function to make on-line shopping an appealing experience for consumers.
The current problem lies in the fact that consumers must rely on some form of keyword search to complete their on-line shopping and often find "Sorry, no match" responses. It explains that retailers need more sophisticated, scalable methods of sifting through a broad array of items. The web site must help a customer find an item in a specific price range, style or color more efficiently than is often possible in a store or catalog.
The answer may lie in Parametric search engines, which are more in-depth than the typical keyword search. Parametric searching allows people to find items of interest based on an individual item's parameters, or particular characteristics. CADIS, a Colorado based company specializing in developing parametric search solutions, most recently developed a step search interface in which data is structured into categories and sub-categories and associated with parameters that describe those categories. Users fill out a request form of data, then hit the search button in order to narrow the results to a handful of matches.
Companies such as Walt Disney at www.disney.com, are currently changing their search function to re-engineer its navigation strategy to include the next generation of parametric searching, called a step search. The Step Search interface filters information as it guides consumers to available products. It gets shoppers relevant information quickly and cuts down on the time-consuming point-and-click navigational function currently used by many on-line retailers.
This article is an example of one I would chose for the students of my Retail Principles class to review concerning retail technology in the news. Each semester the students are asked to complete a research paper relating the latest innovations in technology being used to attract a greater customer base or increase operational efficiency. I would also consider using this article as an example to be included in the students Learning Portfolio for my Retail Buying class.
A final note: Stores Magazine is published monthly by the NRF (National Retail Federation), it can also be found on the Internet at http://www.stores.org.
Part I: "Ed Tech Journal Review" #2 - Week of September 18, 1997
The following is a review of the National Retail Federation's monthly trade publication, STORES, "The Magazine for Retail Management." This highly informative journal features articles on the latest information systems and retail technological developments to help retailers track inventory more efficiently. It covers areas from Telecommunications to Loss Prevention, On-line Retailing and offers great insight into the latest Merchandising Strategies being used by major retailers globally. Once a year in June and July, Stores presents its annual ranking of the "Top 100 Retailers," sponsored by American Express. Included are lists of the biggest apparel, department store, discount, drugstore, home center and supermarket chains. A majority of the monthly feature articles cover topics concerned with Management, Technology, Point-of-sale Systems, Operations, Energy Management, Distribution, Loss Prevention and Safety issues.
Stores magazine is the official magazine of the National Retail Federation @ www.nrf.com; the world's largest trade association with membership that includes the leading specialty stores, supermarkets, department stores, discount and mass merchandisers, drugstores and home centers, as well as 32 national and 50 state associations. The web site of the NRF features a separate link to the current months publication of Stores magazine which can be found at www.stores.org. The site offers a separate search engine for easy access to a variety of topics that have been covered in the pages of the monthly magazine.
Stores magazine provides great insight into the ever-changing and fast paced world of Retailing. To keep abreast of "what's happening" in the retail industry, I read and analyze Stores magazine and other trade publications relating to the retail field. The information I find each month in the publication adds interests to my lectures in the classroom. My students enrolled in "Retail Principles" find the magazine very helpful in completing their weekly application assignments. I would recommend reading Stores to anyone who is employed in the small business or entrepreneurial business sectors of our economy.
Part II: "Curriculum Resource Review" #2 Week of September 18, 1997
The web site I chose to survey this week can be found at www.thejournal.com known as "The Internet in Education" sponsored by Technological Horizons in Education. It is the online version of T.H.E. Journal, a monthly publication concerned with technology use in the classroom. This particular web site contains valuable information for educators at any grade level. The Business division at JCC subscribes to T.H.E. Journal to help each instructor keep abreast of the latest classroom technology.
Upon accessing this particular web site I found an interesting link, T.H.E.'s Road Map to the World Wide Web for Educators, at www.thejournal.com/roadmap/roadindex. There are several links to choose form at this site, including: Cool Sites for Educators to Resources for Education, Cultures, Mathematics, Organizations, Reference, Search Engines, etc. I opened Cool Sites for Educators and found over 50 links to a variety of research and informational search links. Other links I chose to surf were Resources for Educators and Tools for Teachers. Under this link I found and interesting site at www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/ or "Teachers Helping Teachers," with lesson plans, activities, strategies, etc. This web site is updated once a week and is filled with information to provide inexperienced teachers with basic teaching tips to offer new ideas in teaching methodologies and to provide a forum for experienced teachers to share their expertise and tips with colleagues around the world. This particular site is a free, non-profit service and provides valuable information concerning educational resources on the Internet.
I simply could not get enough of this web site. It was fun to view and filled with many interesting topics I can use to enhance my own teaching ability. I plan to use this "Road Map to the World Wide Web" often in developing lesson plans and seeking new ways to add interest in the classroom environment.
Part III: "Technology in the News" Review #2 - Week of September 18, 1997
The article I chose to review is titled "What Computer Skills do Employers Expect from Recent College Graduates?" by Philip Davis, an Instructional Technology Librarian at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This particular article was found in the September 1997 issue of T.H.E. Journal (Technological Horizons in Education). The context of the article is concerned with the computer literacy skills of college graduates and what is expected by today's human resource executives and industry as a whole.
Cornell University's Library conducts a study each year of over 1,000 participants in over 60 hands-on computer workshops per semester. Workshop topics cover bibliographic research techniques, Internet searching principles, word processing, spreadsheets, and information management. Classes are supplemented by several online tutorials which can be found on the Internet at http://www.mannlib.cornell.edu/workshops/.
The purpose of the research is to identify the computer skills employers felt were necessary when recruiting college graduates. The questionnaire used was designed to gather information on five categories of computer literacy skills: 1) Creating documents and Multimedia, 2) Working with Computer Programs, 3) Managing Databases, 4) Manipulating Numeric Data, and 5) Computer Networks.
The results indicated that generally employers have a high expectation of computer literacy in recent college graduates. A total of 125 (83.3%) indicated that computer competency skills are either "important" or "very important" in the hiring decision. Word processing ranked the highest with 144 (96%) of employers expecting at least basic word processing skills.
The remainder of the article discussed the relevance of computer literacy skills to the job place and the expectations to be met by today's graduates upon entering the work force.
I found this research "very important" to my profession of teaching at the Community College level. In most instances, our students enter the job market with only two years of higher education and it is our job as instructors to construct a curriculum who's purpose is to teach computer literacy skills both incrementally, and as part of a comprehensive instruction program.
Submitted by Cherie Ditch