Education Committee

Mission

The Education Committee fosters the development of academic programs in OR/MS, encourages student pursuit of OR/MS education and supports the continuing professional education of both practitioners and academics.

2012 Membership

Joel Sokol, Chair 01/01/2011 - 12/31/2012
Andy Johnson, Future Academician Colloquium 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012
Clinton Brownley, Continuing Professional Education 10/2011 - 12/31/2013
Dawn Strickland, Student Affairs 01/01/2011 - 12/31/2012
Maga Khachatryan, Future Practitioner Colloquim 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012
Matt Drake, Combined Colloquia 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2013
Patrick Driscoll, COMAP 01/01/2002 - 12/31/2011
Patrick Noonan, Teaching Effectiveness Colloquim 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2012
Michael Racer, Case Competition 08/08-12/11
John Fowler, Omega Rho
--, Student Union
-- INFORM-Ed Liaison
Staff Liaison: Dir. PR & Marketing (Barry List)
Board Liaison: VP Education (Joel Sokol)

Priorities for Innovation

1. Improve teaching skills of Ph.D. students and junior faculty members through activities at meetings

A) Offer workshops or tutorials on functional areas of business: If OR/MS is to survive and flourish in Business schools, OR/MS instructors teaching in Business faculties must understand the fundamentals of the main areas in a typical Business faculty: finance, marketing, accounting, MIS, and organizational analysis. Most OR/MS Ph.D.s have no training in these areas, and these tutorials/workshops are meant to address this shortcoming. Tutorial/workshop would provide an overview of the basics in a selected functional area, discuss the intersection of OR/MS with the area outlining possibilities for OR/MS applications in the area. May involve some cost (especially if we go with a Sunday all-day workshop).

B) Actively train future/junior faculty to improve delivery skills: In most OR/MS Ph.D. programs, there is no formal training in presentation skills. It is suicidal for OR/MS to place research-rich but teaching-poor Ph.D.s into Business-school classrooms, and to a great extent this practice has contributed to OR/MS's downfall in B-schools. Unfortunately, most Ph.D. programs are unwilling or unable to deal with this problem. We can help with this problem by coaching future faculty members in a series of special sessions at the meetings. Each interested Ph.D. student could deliver a 15 minute videotaped presentation. After the presentation, an experienced teacher (or a presentation specialist/consultant) could view the tape with the student, criticize and give tips for improvement. Written feedback from a simulated class consisting of peers can complement the process. Likely to involve some cost.

2. Initiatives requiring coordination with other bodies of INFORMS

A) Sponsor a case-writing competition (coordinate with the task force on developing case studies): The current trends in business education favor cases. Unfortunately there aren't many suitable OR/MS cases for business students (i.e. cases that illuminate cross-functional linkages). Writing cases is a time-consuming activity which is only rewarded in a few universities. (Each case comes with a solution key and a teaching manual.) We can encourage case-writing via a worldwide competition. A monetary award may be necessary to activate the best case-writers. In turn, the case would be the property of INFORMS, and could be sold at acost, or distributed freely to members who request it. Cooperation with a progressive publisher may be necessary/useful. Keys: high quality cases, a brand name (INFORMS+publisher), inexpensive, easily distributed (perhaps electronically).

B) Actively participate in the INFORMS Doctoral Colloquium (coordinate with the Doctoral Colloquium Subommittee): Some of the past doctoral colloquia have not placed due emphasis on teaching. We cannot afford to give the cream of our crop the impression that teaching does not matter. We should be actively involved in the preparation and the delivery of the Doctoral Colloquium.

3. Feasibility studies for more ambitious projects aimed for realization in 1998

A) Teaching awards: Currently INFORMS offers several awards, but none for teaching. There could be a series of teaching-related awards such as: a textbook award, innovative teaching award, teaching tool development award, course (or major, or program) development award, award for improving OR/MS profile through teaching, etc. The awards could carry a(or no) monetary prize; the important issue here is recognition. Discussion is needed to establish some guidelines and procedure.

B) A summer school on teaching OR/MS: To provide a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of teaching and early academic careers, there could be a two-week summer school aimed at junior faculty members. This summer school would have sessions on teaching with spreadsheets, cases, using team-learning, experiential learning, electronic communication and the Internet, presentation skills, curriculum development, course design, exam design, establishing a dialogue with a class, dealing with problem students, etc. Students completing the summer school would receive a certificate from INFORMS, which can (and should) carry some weight in hiring decisions. A positive signal from ACORD is essential for success. A brief proposal will be prepared for the San Diego ACORD meeting.

C) A new journal on teaching of OR/MS: Although teaching is one of our biggest problems, our journals focus on research and (to some extent) practice. A quarterly teaching journal could be well-received by our members. In addition, such a journal would encourage writing of more cases and real-world practice papers for educational use. To minimize cost, it may be wise to establish the journal as a refereed on-line journal. Discussion among people interested in getting involved is necessary.

For further information on this committee, please see Section 11 of the Policy & Procedures Manual.