Our Guest Post comes from Wende Huehn-Brown, who is Professor of Supply Chain Management at St. Petersburg College in Florida.
Previous posts on this blog site have focused on use of Heizer/Render/Munson’s five MyOMLab simulations in physical classroom situations. I am constantly trying to adapt what I do in my face-to-face classes for my entirely online students. This semester I piloted using these simulations for an alternative submission– 50% of the students chose to complete them.
My first concern: Will my students have the same ‘get it’ perspective Dr. Amy Peterson shared in her post on this blog? Some of my online students get overwhelmed with Pearson MyLabs, while other students enjoy the flexible learning environment as they juggle school around the rest of their busy lives. But if new technology is confusing or unreliable it can be a road block to their success. So I waited to adopt the simulations until I could see how they perform.
In our online classes we have built a set of pencasts and tutorials for each week’s lesson to substitute for physical classroom learning opportunities. (See my prior Guest Post.) We continue to grow various learning resources and hold our student success rates steady. Initially, there was apprehension to adopt these simulations over fears of increasing the workload on our students.
Student feedback said the simulations were the most exciting part of the class! They perceived them practical as they could relate to the scenarios and felt the knowledge and skill was applicable in the real-world and to help them grow their careers. Several participants suggested this alternative should become a required assignment as it pushed them to a higher level of critical thinking. I will provide specific feedback on each of the five simulations in the coming months!