Category

Active & collaborative learning
Assessing student learning
Engaging students

Instructor

Jaleesa Reed, Assistant Professor of Human Centered Design

College

College of Human Ecology

Course

FSAD 3330: Retail Buying and Merchandising

Discipline

Fashion Studies & Human Centered Design

Course-level

Intermediate Undergraduate

Course size

~30 students

Implemented

Spring 2025

Learning Outcomes

Team Collaboration

Strategic Communication

Research Skills

Social Awareness

Context

How the assignment challenges students to learn

Collaboration within and across teams is standard practice in the fashion industry, so for students aspiring toward careers in this industry, a baseline expectation is their ability to work effectively with colleagues in a team environment. By simulating this environment in the classroom, students are able to have a learning experience that is both more connected to and prepares them for their future careers. The brand portfolio group project assignment challenges students to collaborate and compromise. While some students have more experience in fashion, others have exposure to other industries. By working together, students generate different ideas and learn how to incorporate a variety of perspectives. 

How the assignment changed over time

This assignment initially incorporated a series of mandatory checkpoints in which students were required to give mini group presentations, review their work in the course up to that point, and self-check the status of the work. However, students found this process repetitive, as they felt they and their peers were often repeating similar information during the presentations. As a result, students felt pressured to try to think of ways to make their project stand out from their peers’ work, instead of feeling encouraged to focus on the process of what they were learning. As a result of this feedback, Reed instead made the checkpoints optional, to help students focus on feedback. In the future, Reed will also incorporate a peer review of drafts to allow clusters of groups (groups that work on similar retailers, but different topics) to learn from each other’s work and see a bigger picture.

Implementation

1. Early in the semester, Reed opens a discussion of class norms for teamwork through a brief in-class presentation, in which she proposes a series of norms. In small groups, students then discuss the following proposed norms and what they may look like in practice:
   • Students will:
     • Actively participate by being respectful and nonjudgmental when having discussions in class.
     • Pay attention when someone is speaking or asking questions.
     • Practice active listening and communication.
     • Bring positivity and enthusiasm to the classroom.
     • Stay home when they are sick.
2. Reed introduces the group projects and students form groups, or teams. During class, teams identify their values and agree to uphold and draft a social contract, which they submit to the instructor.
3. Reed introduces the optional checkpoints for the course, and encourages students to submit their work for feedback on their progress.
   • Checkpoint 1 Outline:
     • Retailer History and Brand Identity
     • Holiday or Milestone Moment
     • Brand Positioning in Holiday Market
     • Consumer Lifestyle Analysis
   • Checkpoint 2 Outline:
     • Market Research
     • Engagement Strategy
     • Marketing Strategy and Timeline
     • 6-month Seasonal Buying Plan
   • Checkpoint 3 Outline:
     • Product Assortment Plan
     • Merchandising Strategy and Timeline
     • Financial Plan
4. As final deliverables, students submit a pitch video and an executive summary report, both of which are persuasive forms of communication to a retailer’s leadership, like VPs, CEOs.
5. Students fill out a group member evaluation survey set up in Qualtrics. Peers evaluate and give examples of each other’s contributions based on criteria such as participation, communication, ideation, and quality of work.
6. Instructor grades the final projects.

Challenges

Seeing a bigger picture

Every group selected different retailers for their group project topics focusing on different initiatives and strategies for various target markets. While this gave students the opportunity for creativity and exploration, this also posed an instructional challenge of finding a way to bring these diverse projects all together and so students could see a bigger picture to contextualize their projects. A possible solution is to cluster groups by a common topic (e.g., retailers in this case) and provide opportunities for groups to check in. For example, if there are two/three groups that are focusing on the same retailer, such as Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s, each group will have a unique focal point (e.g., engagement strategy or sustainability). Bringing group clusters together would give each group an opportunity to see a bigger picture of how their focal point (sustainability or engagement strategy) fits into what a retailer does more globally as a company.

Group member accountability

Group work is challenging for both the instructor and students. While students have to figure out how their groups can function well as a team, the instructor needs information and feedback to ensure that groups are on course to reach the learning objectives. It’s important to think through and implement strategies that would (a) allow students to frequently check in about how things are going, and (b) provide the instructor with helpful information about groups’ progress.

Grading challenges

As final deliverables, students submit a pitch video and an executive summary report, both of which are persuasive forms of communication to a retailer’s leadership, like VPs, CEOs. However, the final deliverable included pieces from all the previous checkpoints, resulting in a document whose length made grading challenging. As a result, the instructor feels it's critical to establish guidelines and a word count, as well as to use visualization techniques, where appropriate, to keep the reports more succinct and address the volume of grading they produce. Finally, including a group member evaluation at the end of the project can also help provide more insight to how work was distributed and inform the instructor's grading.

Time commitment for students and the instructor

It’s important to be realistic about this project’s high time demand on both students and the instructor. Students may end up spending too much  time trying to figure out where to begin and how to efficiently move through the steps of the project. Dedicating class time for team meetings helps students to move forward and cut the time they would otherwise need to use outside of class. On the other hand, the instructor has to frontload their time investment by planning the project timeline and milestones as well as designing supporting resources, such as instructions, worksheets, and rubrics. Scaffolding of the project is key. The time involved in planning the logistics of the project milestones and how the course content should prepare students for each step should not be underestimated.

Reflection and Future Directions

In the future, Reed sees this course become more community-engaged and working with local brands. The project started out as one that focused more on the application of strategies, using retail math and Excel. During the second iteration of the course, the projects were switched focus to the strategic and decision-making process. Next time, the instructor wants to see students demonstrate both competencies – strategy and application.