Operations Research Management Science - ISSUES In Education

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - December 2003</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>ISSUES In Education</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>Column Welcomes Wide<BR> Range of Topics</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>By Joel Sokol</B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    Traditionally, the incoming editor of the "Issues in Education" column uses his or her first column as a combination mission statement/call for papers/motivational speech. Rather than break with such a distinguished tradition, I will use this month's column for the same purposes. Educational issues in OR/MS have a wide range of character  tactical and strategic, inside the classroom and out, dealing with educational issues in OR/MS and using OR/MS to analyze educational issues  and I hope that the following descriptions will motivate submissions of all types to this column.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Tactical Issues in OR/MS Education</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> I use the word "tactical" to refer to the things we do on the "shop floor," in this case, the classroom. My predecessor began his editorship by describing how he performs a magic trick that teaches the definition of operations management. I haven't yet discovered a way to use my own talents that way  playing trumpet in class doesn't seem to be a good educational tool  so I need to rely on your ideas instead. Do you want to share your own method for teaching an OR/MS concept in a way that your students will easily understand and/or never forget? Have you developed a set of guidelines for teaching certain types of material, or for teaching to certain types of students? Or would you simply like to provoke thought and discussion on a classroom issue you've been struggling with? All of these would be good topics for this column.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Strategic Issues in OR/MS Education</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> In contrast to the shop-floor tactical issues, strategic issues in education generally have broader and higher-level scope. Should an OR/MS curriculum include mandatory written and oral communications training? If yes, how should we go about injecting it into the curriculum? Should engineering students learn to use spreadsheets for quantitative OR/MS tasks like simulation and optimization? Is it useful (or useless) for undergraduate students to do simplex pivots (or similar tasks) by hand? Are there skills that OR/MS graduates (at any/all levels) should have but generally don't? How do alternative learning models (distance learning, online courses, etc.) affect OR/MS education, and how might they do so in the near (or not-so-near) future? Any strategic issue in OR/MS education is fair game for this column. Many of these questions involve opinion and speculation, so I also would like to encourage "point/counterpoint" columns that present more than one side of an issue.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Education, Broadly Defined</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> Often, we fall into the trap of considering "issues in education" to be things that relate only to the classroom. There are many educational issues, both tactical and strategic, that have little to do with what goes on inside a classroom. For example, how can we teach our Ph.D. students to be advisors of the future? We generally prepare our Ph.D. graduates for the research aspect of academic careers as well as the classroom teaching aspect of academic careers (the latter preparation often coming in the form of "trial by fire"), but very few are taught how to be an advisor to their future students. There are many other broader educational issues that deserve our ideas in this column. How can we attract more of our undergraduates to consider graduate studies in OR/MS, especially at schools where no undergraduate department exists? How can we educate the public  or our potential clients or bosses  about what we do and what our impact can be? These are just a few examples of the many broader educational topics that would be good fits for this column.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>"The Science of Better": Using OR/MS as a Tool</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> With the OR/MS community's branding of itself as "the science of better" coinciding with the beginning of my term as editor of the "Issues in Education" column, I'd like to encourage submissions that use OR/MS to analyze or suggest solutions to issues we face in education. Again, these can run the gamut from strategic (do you have an OR/MS model showing how to reduce grade inflation?) to tactical (have you implemented a priority queueing system to minimize the queue length outside your office door the day before you give a big exam?), and include broader educational issues as well. As long as we're experts in making things better, why not apply it to ourselves?<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Conclusion</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> There are many ways to interpret the phrase "issues in education," and this column is wide enough for all of them. Tactical or strategic, broad or focused, written from the point of view of an academic or a practitioner or a student (or any combination thereof)  anything involving education and OR/MS is a good topic for this column. <P>Columns should be approximately 800 words and may include a figure or illustration. Please send your submissions to <A HREF="mailto:joel.sokol@isye.gatech.edu">joel.sokol@isye.gatech.edu</A>.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><I>In addition to serving as the editor of the "Issues in Education" column for </I>OR/MS Today,<I> <B>Joel Sokol</B> is an assistant professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.</i></font><BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=1> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</A><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2003 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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