INFORMS Education Forum
Newsletter #17, July, 2001
 
INFORMS Education Forum: http://www.informs.org/inform-ed/
 
IN THIS ISSUE
 
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1) INFORMS 2ND ANNUAL CASE COMPETITION
2) PIMS/MITACS INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDY WORKSHOP
3) CATE2001
4) XLSIM
5) WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR YOUR TEACHING, LATELY? (INFORMS' THIRD TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS COLLOQUIUM)
6) GAMES ON THE WEB
7) LET'S PLAY WITH LEGO'S
8) POMS PEDAGOGY WEBSITE
9) THE POMS TEACHING INITIATIVE
10) ENLIVENING TEACHING: USING DISCIPLINE-BASED CASES AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH TO IMPROVE LEARNING AND TEACHING
11) JUST A THOUGHT
 
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DETAILS

 

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1) INFORMS 2ND ANNUAL CASE COMPETITION

INFORMS is pleased to announce its Second Annual Peer-Reviewed Case Competition. This competition is jointly sponsored by INFORMS Education Committee, INFORMS Case and Teaching Materials Initiative, and INFORM-ED. It is designed to encourage the creation, dissemination, and use of new, unpublished cases in operations research and the management sciences. All submissions and supporting documentation are due by August 15, 2001. All cases will be blind reviewed in August and September of 2001 by a panel of judges (selected by INFORMS Education Committee) familiar with the case method.

Up to four finalists will be selected and notified by the judging committee by the end of September 2001. Finalists will give thirty-minute presentations of their entries at a special open session of the 2001 INFORMS Conference in Miami Beach, Florida. The panel of judges will select the winning entry from these finalists based on these presentations. The winner will be announced at the INFORM-ED Business meeting at the 2001 INFORMS Conference. Finalists must present their cases at the Fall 2001 INFORMS Meeting to be eligible to win.

Guidelines for submitted cases are:

  1. No more than 10 pages (8.5" x 11.0") single-spaced (maximum of approx. 3000 words); shorter cases are acceptable.
  2. Exhibits are in addition to page limit.
  3. Teaching Notes of length as necessary to meet content expected.
  4. A 12-point proportional font (such as Times New Roman) with 1 inch margins.
  5. All submitted cases must be previously unpublished. Cases should be essentially new in their entirety. If the case contains material drafted originally by individuals or groups other than the author(s) submitting the case, then the intellectual history and ownership of these portions should be made absolutely clear. Contestants are responsible for assuring that this guideline is strictly met.
 
A complete submission package will consist of the following:
 
  1. Six hard copies and one electronic copy of a short (250 - 500 words) abstract, the case and teaching notes. The title should appear on the first page, but the name of the author and other indicators of authorship should be eliminated in the text of five copies to permit blind review. The abstract should appear by itself on the second page and identify the industry, business issues, technical issues, pedagogical objectives, and suggested uses of the case. The case, any exhibits, and then the teaching notes should follow.
  2. A completed Case Competition Submission Form (available on the web).
 
Evaluation criteria to be used in the judging process include:
 
(1) Relevant application of one (or more) of INFORMS' constituent disciplines
(a) a real problem situation that is embedded in the issues facing the organization
(b) potential for use of OR/MS to analyze the situation
(c) reasonable alternate approaches to solving the problem posed by the case exist (i.e., there is more than one 'good' approach to the analysis of the case)
(d) well-defined pedagogical outcomes
(2) Substance of application
(a) nontrivial solution(s) to the problem situation
(b) obvious and considerable consequences in the problem situation
(c) formulation, analysis, and solution at a level appropriate for intended student audience
(d) significant insight results from participation in analysis of the case
(3) Quality and organization of exposition
(a) lucid and interesting narrative style
(b) clear information for decision making
(c) writing style ready for publication
(d) quality of exhibits
(4) Value and content of teaching notes
(a) synopsis of case
(b) clear case objectives
(c) suggested courses in which the case can be used
(d) discussion questions and suggested answers
(e) linkage to underlying concepts and theory
(f) suggested teaching pattern or flow
(5) Quality of session presentation (for finalists)
(a) discussion of case scenario
(b) indication of potential solutions
(c) explanation of teaching notes
 
Prizes include: (1) $500 and plaque to the best case (2) $100 and plaque for up to three runners-up
 
For more information, please visit http://www2.hpu.edu/jkros/informed/informs_case_comp_2001.html or contact Christopher J. Zappe at (570) 577-3495 or zappe@bucknell.edu.
 
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2) PIMS/MITACS INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDY WORKSHOP
 
This workshop is hosted by the Centre for Operations Excellence at UBC. A limited number of students are invited to compete in this 3-day intensive case competition This forum will give the students a chance to solve some real-world problems, make some industrial contacts, and identify opportunities for graduate study. More information is available on the website - http://www.coe.ubc.ca/sugoi/index.asp?div=pims_workshop.
 
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3) CATE2001
 
The Computers and Advanced Technology in Education (CATE 2001) Conference will be held June 27-29, 2001 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Topics include distance learning; advanced technology in education; educational software and hardware; human resource issues; policy; and institutional issues. For more info, visit http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2001/banff/cate.htm, or contact one of the Conference Chairs: T. Calvert, Technical University of British Columbia, Canada T. Keenan, University of Calgary, Canada
 
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4)XLSIM
 
Analycorp has recently announced the released of XLSim, a spreadsheet simulation tool. For more information on this tool, visit their website, http://www.analycorp.com/software.htm.
 
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5) WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR YOUR TEACHING, LATELY? (INFORMS' THIRD TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS COLLOQUIUM)
By Kenneth H. Doerr
 
INFORMS' Education committee is organizing the Third Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC III), to be held on November 2-3, prior to the 2001 INFORMS conference in Miami Beach. The purpose of TEC III is to expose INFORMS members to a wide variety of creative approaches for teaching operations research and management science. Participation is encouraged from all INFORMS members interested in improving their teaching. TEC III will provide participants with an opportunity to hear teaching tips from academics with national reputations for teaching excellence.
 
Topics will include leading case discussion, teaching with simulation exercises & games, performance evaluation and using computer-based tools in the classroom. New cases, games and simulation exercises will be presented, to assist with teaching such topics as supply chain management, revenue management, and international operations. While continuing in the tradition of the previous colloquia, the format of TEC III will be somewhat different. In the past, the Teaching Effectiveness Colloquia have been held "stand alone" prior to the spring conference.
 
This year, the colloquium is being co-ordinated with the traditional Doctoral and Industry Colloquia to offer shared interest tracks as well as more specialized sessions. The new colloquium structure is shown in the figure. TEC III participants will meet with participants from the other colloquia in a general welcoming ceremony and dinner on Friday night. Saturday morning, the TEC III participants will focus on advanced teaching topics, such as adding a simulation to an existing class, or identifying and adding a new case. Saturday afternoon sessions will be joint with participants from the Doctoral Colloquium, and will include sessions on teaching fundamentals such as participative learning, and performance evaluation. The new structure is intended to promote networking and the exchange of ideas, while at the same time allowing for a focus on more advanced teaching topics. All TEC III participants must also register for the 2001 INFORMS Meeting in Miami Beach. TEC III registration fees are $150.00 for INFORMS meeting registrants. Ph.D. students are welcome to participate, at a reduced fee ($60.00).
 
To be eligible to participate, a Ph.D. student must also: be enrolled in a Ph.D. program in one of INFORMS' constituent disciplines (operations research, operations management, industrial engineering, statistics, management science, etc.); have an interest in teaching; and have completed all of their Ph.D. course work. This should be documented with a letter by their advisor certifying the student's status.
 
This letter can be e-mailed to meetings@informs.org or faxed to 401-274-3189. The registration fee includes participation in all TEC III sessions, all handouts and TEC III-associated materials, dinner on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and breaks throughout. TEC III registrants are responsible for their travel and hotel accommodations. Space is limited, so registration will be accepted in the order received until capacity is reached.
 
For further information please visit our website at http://www.bus.miami.edu/~tsloan/INFORMS/ or contact Ken Doerr at either kdoerr@exchange.sba.miami.edu or (305) 284-1333.
 
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6) GAMES ON THE WEB
 
Visit http://web.lemoyne.edu/~wright/learn.htm for a list of experiential learning activities, including simulation games, for use in POM, developed by Ron Wright and Salwa Ammar. -
 
Visit http://jacobs.indiana.edu/e-games.htm for a few Internet based games developed by F. Robert Jacobs, Indiana University (812-855-2676, jacobs@indiana.edu.)
 
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7) LET'S PLAY WITH LEGO'S
 
The University of Memphis is hosting an engineering workshop for junior high students this summer. One of the topics - basic robotics - is being taught by Mike Racer, and makes use of the LEGO Dacta Robolab Kit. This kit simplifies the creation of a robot, as well as making programming easy. The creation of a program is basically a "drag-and-click" methodology. At the same time, though, the environment is very flexible and allows for some fantastic applications in OR/MS. For more information, visit http://www.lego.com/dacta/robolab/, or contact Mike Racer (mracer@memphis.edu, 901-678-3285).
 
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8) POMS PEDAGOGY WEBSITE
 
Visit http://www.poms.org/pedagogy.html for a plethora of information on pedagogy. The website includes the following: - POMS Teaching Initiative - Leading Case sites on the web - POM Courses on the web - Internationalizing You and Your Teaching:The CIBERs - POM Tools available on the web
 
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9) THE POMS TEACHING INITIATIVE
 
Of particular interest at the POMS website might be the new teaching initiative. (http://www.poms.org/teaching.html) The mission of the POMS Teaching Initiative is to investigate how POMS can provide the vision for improved teaching in OM. The website will include best practices, distribute teaching information of a global nature, and provide a forum for others to identify conference/workshop opportunities available for improved teaching effectiveness. I would urge you to check this page frequently.
 
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10) ENLIVENING TEACHING: USING DISCIPLINE-BASED CASES AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH TO IMPROVE LEARNING AND TEACHING
 
The Pace University Center for Case Studies in Education will host a conference for college faculty, August 11-15, 2001 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. For details on the conference, go to http://www.pace.edu/education/casestudies.html
 
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11 JUST A THOUGHT, from Mike Racer
 
As mentioned earlier in this newsletter, our school is hosting a workshop for junior high students on engineering concepts. As educators, we need to realize that it's never to early to start nourishing these young minds. Our K-12 schools - and yours, too, I'm sure - welcome this kind of help. Their curriculum demands don't give them the flexibility to explore in even the slightest detail topics like robotics, bridge building, or transportation systems (these are the 3 topics we're doing this summer) Opportunities like this and Destination Imagination (www.dini.org) are invaluable in developing the creativity and independent thinking that we in the OR/MS profession thrive on. Get involved somehow. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the INFORMS Education Forum is $10 (free for students).
 
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