Personal Learning Environment

“The PLE is a facility for an individual to access, aggregate, manipulate, and share digital artefacts of their ongoing learning experiences. The PLE follows a learner-centric approach, allowing the use of lightweight services and tools that belong to and are controlled by individual learners” (Kroop, Mikroyannidis, and Wlopers, 2015, p. 3).

Kroop, S., Mikroyannidis, A. and Wolpers, M., Editors (2015[R1] ). Responsive Open Learning Environments: Outcomes of Research from the ROLE Project, Springer.  

New Job, Same Company (Kind of)

I recently moved from Palo Alto Medical Foundation to Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group supporting the CEO, CAO and the Board Chair. I will try to explain the break down of the organization to the best of my ability..

So there is Sutter Health..which has hospitals and clinics throughout the Bay Area and Sacramento Areas. Wihtin Sutter, there is Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) which is also broken down into divisions.. (Palo Alto, Camino, Mills Peninsula, Santa Cruz, Fremont). PAMF is a not for profit so in order to “make a profit” they established Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group (PAFMG) is an entity on its own that is FOR a profit and employs the physicians for PAMF.

Anyways, I have only been in my new role for 3 weeks but I am already learning a lot about how this business is running. I sat in on my first Board Meeting yesterday and learned about the finances, benefits, compensation etc. Two of my bosses have their MBA’s and I have had the chance to discuss their experiences and how it has helped them to grow into the positions they are in now.

I have a lot more to learn but I am feeling confident in my choice to pursue my MBA.

 

CEM System Integration

W5 Discussion:

Although I am sure you are all aware of what social media is, Baltzan (2015) defines Social media as websites that rely on user participation and user-contributed content such as Facebook and Youtube (p.218). However, social media now goes beyond just websites, but applications on smart phones and tablets as well. The age of the internet, social media to be specific, has made it easier than ever for companies to “hear” the voice of the customer.

Social Tagging “describes the collaborative activity of marketing shared online content with keywords or tags as a way to organize it for future navigation, filtering or searching (Balztan, 2015, p. 219). Through the use of tags, companies and customers alike can tag items that are being used in a photo. For example, if I am wearing a pair of Nike shoes in an Instagram photo, I can either Tag Nike in the photo or Hashtag “#Nike”. If my profile is public, it then allows others to search and view #Nike or photos that Nike has been tagged in. Further more, if I loved a new pair of #Nike shoes and wrote in my caption “Just bought these #Nike shoes from #Nordstrom and i LOVE them!” it then gives others the ability to see the shoes, know the brand AND where I got them. I could also tag Nike in a comment making a complaint about an item or even an experience. You will notice that most organizations have made it a priority to make a social media presence in order to interact with their consumers and be able to reply to comment/questions/concerns.

Other websites/Applications like Yelp allow customers to give companies ratings based on their experience. Once a review is posted, the public can then go on and view it. Companies can also use this immediate feedback as way to make better business decisions. You will notice with some companies, when a review is posted, they will reply to the customer either thanking them for their business or asking how they can make their next visit better.

As social media continues to grow, organizations will have to adapt to this change and make their presence known in the social media world. Using social media to interact with customers, address reviews and questions will help with CEM.

Business Case Analysis for CEM

Organizational information can help a firm to estimate and strategize how future operations might perform. Collecting and analyzing data has become more important than ever for businesses to make informed decisions. “Successfully collecting, compiling, sorting and finally analyzing information from multiple levels, in varied formats and exhibiting different granularities can provide tremendous insight into how an organization is performing” (Baltzan, 2015, p.84). There are two types of information: transactional and analytical. Baltzan (2015) defines transactional information as all the information contained within a single business process or unit of work, and its primary purpose is to support daily operational tasks. Analytical information is useful when making important decisions such as whether or not a business should hire a new employee.  Business intelligence “allows organizations to analyze and understand how one unit may influence customer behaviors” (TechTarget, 2012).

One way that organizations can collect data is through Customer experience management systems (CEM). CEM requires companies to understand their customers inside and out. “Customer experiences include interactions through traditional channels, such as website purchases, phone calls, live chats, as well as social media, text, and other emerging communication mediums” (TechTarget, 2012). Through CEM systems, organizations are able to track customer behavior and data.

Wikipedia can track CEM by creating profiles for each user. Although Wikipedia is free, they can have users sign up by using Name, email, age, and gender. Once a profile is created, Wikipedia can use a CEM system (Salesforce or Oracle amongst others) to track each profile. Different data points that Wikipedia can use are: searches, bookmarks, and re-clicks (meaning, follows a link in the page they were on), contributors (or not). Another way to track users is through the App. Users who use the app can allow the app to use current location, which in turn allows Wikipedia to identify profiles by location. The app will also allow for customer feedback and ratings. Wikipedia can use a tool like speech analytics, only not with speech but with key words, in the reviews. By storing all of this data, Wikipedia would then be able to understand their user experience.

 

Baltzan, P. (2015). Business Driven Technology (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw HIll.

Are Customer Experience Analytics Just the Flavor of the Month?  (n.d.). Retrieved from http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/report/Business-intelligence-in-retail-Special-report

CrossFit

My CrossFit journey has only just begun. I started in October 2016 with an OnRamp (introductory) class where they taught you proper form and movements. While it was overwhelming at first, I have grown to really love the sport.

I come from an athletic background playing almost every sport imaginable when I was younger (soccer, volleyball, basketball, ice skating, track, softball). I ended up sticking with volleyball which I played competitively for 9 years. From volleyball, I gained a true love and passion for competition.

Although Volleyball is a team sport and CrossFit can be more classified as individual, I find that there are many similarities when it comes to how you handle both smarts mentally. It was very frustrating for me to walk into classes and not know or excel at certain movements. I found that I had to push myself not just physically but mentally as well. It takes a ton of focus to get the movements correct – especially when you begin to add weight to the barbells.

Some of my favorite movements are:

Power Clean

Thruster

 

Burpees, box jumps, and pushups.

Movements that challenge me:

Over head squat and snatches

Pull-ups and wall balls.

APA Writing Guidelines

Attached you will find an APA Guideline Document that was given to us in BUS 4000 from Professor Theresa Cummings. This document has helped me tremendously when writing papers.

APA_Sample_Paper_Guide_v2012

 

Taiwan 2013

In 2013, shortly after graduating from Chico State, I decided I wanted to take some time off and travel. I knew a handful of people who had gone to foreign countries and taught English while having the opportunity to travel. I connected with a teacher in Taiwan and she got me in touch with the head of Gloria English School. I interviewed and within 2 weeks I was on my way to Taoyuan, Taiwan (just 30 minutes away from Taipei).

I took a 12 hour flight ti Shanghai, China where I had an 18 hour layover. Got back on a flight and flew 4 more hours to Taipei, Taiwan. I was greeted by a gentleman who drove me to the dorms where all of the teachers got to live for free.

After having the day to settle in and explore the town, I sat in on classes for a week. Gloria English School had a very specific way of teaching their students so it was important to sit in on classes and learn those techniques and methods. Teachers worked part-time anywhere from 3:00PM-8:00PM at multiple campuses.

Living in Taiwan was an eye-opening experience. You begin to realize that there is so much more to the world than the little bubbles we consume ourselves in. You kind of assume that in todays day and age that most places in the world (except for the obvious) are understanding of the different ethnicities and cultures throughout the world. However, the town of Taoyuan, which was not westernized, it was clear that they had no idea that America consisted of races and cultures other than “white”. One of my biggest struggles while living there was being an American-Asian. They just did not understand the concept that I came from America.

Although a rewarding and life changing experience, I don’t see myself traveling to Taiwan again anytime soon.

 

A photo of all of the teachers 🙂

Case Study #1: Business Intelligence

Not quite sure that I hit the nail on the head with this case study. I wrote about business intelligence and how it needs to be incorporated into organizations in order to make effective decisions.

Data warehouse: “A data warehouse allows you to consolidate data from several sources such as other software systems, then performs queries and analyses” (Neal, 2011).

 What is ETL? ETL stands for extract transform and load. ETL tools help in three functions to move data, “extract data from sources such as ERP or CRM application, transform data into a common format that fits with other data in the warehouse and load the data into the data warehouse for analysis” (Neal, 2011).

OLAP:  According to Neal (2011), OLAPs are “Another key process and technology found in almost all data warehouse environments and business intelligence systems. But while the data warehouse and ETL tools support “back end” processes, OLAP tools support the presentation layer or “front end” processes such as querying, analysis and reporting. OLAP tools provide the impressive tables, charts and visualizations that make business intelligence exciting!”

 

Reflection Weeks 1 & 2

This class has proven to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. Much more writing and research than we’ve been assigned to do in past courses, but it was to be expected at some point.

WEEK 1 DISCUSSION: Reflecting on our Week 1 discussion about Apple Inc. I have a better understanding of how Apple continues to stay on top in a competitive technology driven industry. Not only did I learn through reading the text book, I was able to expand my knowledge through reading my classmates posts.

WEEK 2 DISCUSSION 1: In re-reading posts from week 2 discussions, I have found that most people, if not all, are Apple users in some way or another. I think that this shows just how much Apple has dominated the age of technology. Although Apple has competitors such as Microsoft, HP, Samsung, etc. it still seems to take the competitive advantage. Apple has managed to keep customers loyal through innovation, simplicity and customer service.

Week 2 DISCUSSION 2: The balanced scoreboard is a management and measurement system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It looks at an organization from four different perspectives. These perspectives are:

1. The learning and growth perspective

2. The internal business process perspective

3. The customer perspective

4. The financial perspective 

Baltzan, P. (2015). Business Driven Technology (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.

THE 4 C’s – COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION, COORDINATION & COOPERATION

First Blog Post- Get to know me

As many of you know, my name is Stephanie Pease and I am originally from Redwood City, CA but currently live in Los Gatos, CA. I work at Sutter Health supporting the president of the Palo Alto and Mills Peninsula Division. In my free time you can find me working out or doing CrossFit. I enjoy being outside, especially near water (lakes or ocean). I am in the MBA program in hopes of a better future.