Category: myomlab

Tips for using myomlab

MyLab Operations Management Features in the New 15th edition

MyLab Operations Management combines content from our new edition with personalized engagement to help students see real results. With a variety of valuable pre-built learning experiences, instructors can customize their courses with ease.  Here are some Key Features:

OM Sims: These immersive, real-world simulations allow students to apply OM concepts across 5 topic areas: Forecasting (Ch 4), Inventory Management (Ch 12), Quality Management (Ch 6), Supply Chain Management (Ch 11), and Project Management (Ch 3).

Case Studies: More than 100 book-specific brief (1–2 page) text and video case studies require students to apply critical thinking to course concepts. They can be auto- graded or manually graded.

Dynamic Study Modules: These help students stay on track and achieve a higher level of subject-matter mastery. Each module poses a series of questions about a course topic that adapts to each student’s performance and offers personalized, targeted feedback.

Pre-built Courses and Assignments: These ease instructor workloads, save time, and increase efficiency. Each course has a foundation of interactive course-specific content  to tailor and adapt as instructors see fit.

Gap Finder/Filler: These help students identify areas where they may have pre-requisite knowledge or skills gaps and then fill them with additional, personalized practice.

Excel Sims: These give students some scaffolded practice in a safe, simulated Excel environment.

Assignable Media: These 50+ brief videos have embedded assessment to hold students accountable for watching the video.

Classroom Response Tool: This helps to increase student engagement and enhance learning in the classroom. This interactive student response tool allows instructors to deploy book-specific questions and surveys and assess student comprehension.

Pearson+ eTextbook: Pearson+ powers our eTextbook, which can be
accessed directly in your MyLab course. Instructors and students can
dive right into the course eTextbook — take notes, make highlights, and review flashcards — and even listen to the book on the go with the Pearson+
mobile app.

New Interactive Reading Assignments: These are designed to increase engagement by providing a space where students can read, watch, and practice in one seamless intuitive experience. Assignments include eTextbook sections along with multimedia and low- stakes assessment that is graded to incentivize students to read and come to class prepared.

New AI-powered study tool: Our AI-guided practice draws on book content to turn questions during reading and homework mistakes into teachable moments.

New Excel Grader Projects: These live-in-Excel projects are built to match projects in the textbook, are auto-graded, provide immediate feedback to students.

MyOMLab: Simulation Updates for Fall 2024

We want to let you know that our five simulations, which students really enjoy, have gotten these valuable enhancements. If you are not using them, checkout the features. The five are: supply chain management, quality management, forecasting, inventory management, and project management.

MyOMLab: New Features for Fall, 2024

Here are some new features for MyLab OM that go live this month or in Fall:

    • New Assignment Overview – All standard homework assignments have a new overview page. Students can see their score, the items in the assignment, and the learning outcomes. They can easily navigate through questions and embedded media.
    • AI Instructor Tools v2 (Beta) – An enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is available to help find items to add to assignments.  This tool is being released to MyLab OM in fall.
    • Assignment Manager View – The Assignment Manager Redesign (AMR) shows by default when users open the assignment manager. Allows much better filtering and easy assignment management.  Users have the choice to change to the classic view.
    • Secure Testing – LockDown Browser works with Chromebooks (ChromeOS extension delivered by Respondus).
    • LockDown Browser (for secure online testing) – You can download and use the latest LockDown browser software versions for: Windows version 2.1.2.08, dated July 16, 2024. Coming late this month: MasOS version 2.1.2.07.
    • LMS Support – Gradesync optimization and gradebook data enrichment provides more data for 3PL customers, enabling them to view more data in their learning management system gradebook.
    • Data Privacy – Cookie preferences and anonymized Personal Identifiable Information (PII) are enabled.
    • In-product Help – In-product messaging is updated to include instructor onboarding guidance and improved online help.
  • AI-powered Study Tools in the eText (live now, see bullets below for what the AI does—you can play with this in your 14e eText if you want) and the MyLab Homework questions (coming to OM this fall)
    • Summarize
    • Practice
    • Explain
  • New “Classroom to Career” tools
    • Forage Job Sims (debuted earlier this year).  There are currently 5 in MyLab OM:
      • CBRE Project Management
      • Datacom Automation
      • HSBC Digital Business Services
      • PwC Consulting Digital Assurance and Transparency
      • PwC Management Consulting
    • Pearson Job Match

MyOMLab: Learning How to Use All the Features

Our MyLabOperationsManagement (or MyOMLab for short) has such a wealth of features that sometimes Jay, Chuck, and I need to remind ourselves of the dozens of pieces of content once in a while. So this one and 1/4 hour  video presentation by Chuck can help guide you as you prepare for the new semester.

Chuck will discuss how to set up your MyOMLab course for the first time and all of these features:

Multimedia content, including the Instructor’s Resource Manual and all of its suggestions for using our 2,000 PowerPoints, videos, classroom exercises and games, and teaching tips.

The Instructor’s Solution Manual that the three of us created, including answers to all discussion questions, homework problems, case studies, and ethical dilemmas.

Active Models, which are Excel based simulations in most chapters.

MyOMLab contents including:

90 Solved Problem Videos that mimic homework problems to help walk through solutions step-by-step.

 46 company videos we created to specifically match chapter content featuring these premier organizations: Hard Rock, Celebrity Cruises, Alaska Airlines, Frito-Lay, Arnold Palmer Hospital, Nautique Boats, Orlando Magic, Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster and Olive Garden) and their related case studies that appear in the text.

850 automatically-graded by MyOMLab homework problems–almost all algorithmic so you may assign homework with each student dealing with a unique data set. Plus the ability to create your own custom questions and problems.

OM in the News readings with multiple choice questions that may be assigned. These are updated every semester so the content is current.

12 recent graduate videos, where these young people talk about their OM jobs–and provide career tips/advise. These too have multiple choice questions that are assignable.

12 “how to create your own spreadsheet” videos to help students develop their own OM Excel spreadsheets.

5 operations management simulations to give students hands-on experience in project management, forecasting, quality, supply chains, and inventory.

And that is just a quick overview. If you find it a bit overwhelming, don’t hesitate to contact us for some personal help.

Barry at ProfRender@gmail.com

Jay at j.h963@yahoo.com

Chuck at Munson@wsu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MyOMLab: Enriching MyOMLab Problem Selection

Readers may have noticed, that in the 14th edition of our OM text, we have continued to add to the rich selection of solved problems and end-of-chapter problems (which now comprise about 1,000 static problems). When the multitude of algorithmic versions are added, the number of problems may exceed 10,000! (We have actually not tried to count them).

In addition to the end-of-chapter problems, MyLabOperationsManagement also includes a number of problem variations noted as ‘brief’, ‘alternate’, and ‘extension’.

‘Brief’ problems are designed to allow faculty to assign problems with a smaller data set (see Problems 4.3, 4.6). These may be especially useful for time-constrained testing situations or with assignments containing a number of other problems. In these situations, students focus a larger percentage of their time on applying the technique a few times rather than generating “busy work” by repeating the same technique over and over. While the problem should take less time to solve, the ‘brief’ problem may have a data set that is smaller than should be used for a reasonable sample in the real world. Faculty may want to note this for students.

‘Alternate’ problems are variations of the text problem(s) (see Problems 15.24, 15,25 and 15.26) to enhance the variety of problems available to assign to students.

Finally, ‘extension’ problems  enrich the comprehensiveness of the problem, as in Chapter 15, for example, where the critical ratio option has been added as an ‘extension’ of the scheduling problem (see Problems 15. 25, 15.27)

In all cases these problems can be accessed by the instructor by ‘clicking’ the “Show other custom questions” in the Assignment Manager, under Instructor Tools.

MyLab for OM: Updates for the Fall Semester

The fall semester is almost upon us, and Jay, Chuck, and I wanted to share some of the important new MyLab for OM features:

 

  • 12 new author-created Videos accompany the Creating Your Own Excel Spreadsheets examples in the student edition. These videos illustrate how students can build their own spreadsheets to solve operation management problems.
  • 90+ Problems have been converted from static to algorithmic. Almost all available bookmatch and additional problems in the MyLab are now algorithmic.
  • New Case Study Library assignments are available for select chapters, and include a variety of assessments and teaching notes. These case study library assignments supplement the book-match case assignments already in the MyLab, providing additional opportunities for student to apply their critical-thinking skills to current, real-world business scenarios.
  • 5 OM Simulations and 2 new Mini-Sims give students hands-on experience with real-world business challenges. They also help them develop decision-making skills and apply course concepts.
  • OM in the News assignments have all been updated to reflect current events and trends connected to operations management.
  • More than 180 Concept Questions have been revised and updated in this edition to assess students’ understanding of the material.
  • In addition, for the first time, about 200 multiple-choice questions in the Test Bank are now available as algorithmic questions, with different numerical values and answers for each student.

  • Many of the recent updates to MyLab have been back-end changes that focus on improving stability, accessibility functions, and enabling a better LMS-integration experience. One notable enhancement is in the assignment manager. The user experience has been updated to look more modern, and is easier to navigate and manage assignments throughout the semester with improved functions like updating due dates, unassigning activities, and filtering to specific chapters. Here is a screen shot of what the UI looks like:

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MyOMLab: New Features with the 14th Edition

 We recently announced that our 14th edition has just been published and noted some of the new text features. In addition, the accompanying MyOMLab package has some great new content we can share with you today. For instance:

*Our Test Bank, with thousands of questions and problems, has a new feature. We took over 200 of the “numeric”  multiple-choice problems and converted them  from “static” (where each student receives the same data), to “algorithmic” (where each student has different data–in most cases 100 different versions of the problem with different answers for each). This is a major step toward test integrity, and creates a broad new selection of problems to assign.

*We added scores of new problems from the text that are now algorithmic.

*There are now 30 case studies in MyOMLab (at least one per chapter) that have four multiple choice questions each. This allows cases to be assigned online with automatic grading.

*There are new current “OM in the News” articles in each chapter (from the Wall Street Journal and other sources), each with four multiple choice questions that can be assigned.

*We filmed four new videos featuring Nautique Boat Company: these also include four  multiple choice questions in MyOMLab.

*We created 12 new videos called “Creating Your Own Spreadsheets” to help students advance their Excel analytic skills. Each video (1) reviews an example problem from a chapter and briefly describes the tools needed to solve it; (2) provides several spreadsheet design principles; (3) maps out a plan for the spreadsheet; and (4) finally builds the spreadsheet to analyze the problem.

*We added and revised revised hundreds of the widely used “Concept Questions” that test student qualitative understanding of the course content.

*As in previous editions, every video case in the book has four assignable multiple-choice questions. Also, students can view 12 videos from recent graduates describing how they use operations management on the job. Each of these has assignable multiple-choice questions in MyOMLab.

*New and updated are our five OM simulations and two new mini-sims that give students hands-on experience with real-world business challenges. They also help them develop decision-making skills and apply course concepts.

We really hope you find all these new MyOMLab options useful in your Fall 2022 course.

To order a desk copy of the new edition, just click here.

 

Teaching Tip: Assigning Case Studies through MyOMLab

With close to 100 short  (1/2 -1 1/2 page) case studies in our text and on MyOMLab, Jay, Chuck, and I are big believers in the benefit of cases for both undergrad and MBA students. They bring a real world sense to the classroom and encourage students to analyze OM issues on a deeper level than that in homework problems. But, of course, grading case study solutions in a large class is an onerous task that may detract from the advantages of assigning them. So, for fall semester, we propose a solution. We have selected 1-2 case studies in each chapter and created four multiple choice MyLab questions for each case. The questions are not trivial and require a thoughtful analysis before responding. The idea is to provide you with more pedagogical options. And if you like the idea, please email us (or comment below) and we will add this feature to all of the text’s cases. Here is a list of the MyLab coded cases available by chapter:

Ch 1 Zychol Chemical

Ch 2 Rapid-Lube

Ch 3 Southwestern University: (A)

Ch 4 Southwestern University: (B)

Ch 5 DeMar’s Product Strategy

Ch 6 Southwestern University: (C) and Westover Wire

Supp. 6 Bayfield Mud Co.

Ch 7 Rochester Manufacturing’s Process Decision

Supp. 7 Southwestern University: (D)

Ch 8 Southern Recreational Vehicle

Ch 9 State Automobile License Renewals

Ch 10 Jackson Manufacturing

Ch 11 Premier Bicycle’s COVID Problem

Supp. 11 JIT after a Catastrophe

Ch 12 Zhou Bicycle Co.

Ch 13 Andrew-Carter

Ch 14 Hill’s Automotive

Ch 15 Old Oregon Wood Store

Ch 16 Mutual Insurance

Ch 17 Worldwide Chemical

Module A Tom Thompson’s Liver Transplant

Module B Coastal States Chemicals

Module C Custom Vans

Module D New England Foundry

Module E SMT Negotiation with IBM

Module F Alabama Airlines’ Call Center

Teaching Tip: New Cases in MyOMLab for Spring

Because its not easy to teach and grade OM case studies in an online format, we have added a new feature for the spring term. There are now 27 case studies loaded in MyOMLab–each with 4 multiple choice questions–that you can assign and have graded automatically. Just go to “Create Assignment,” then under Question Source, click “Show Case Study Questions.”

Here is the list of cases from which you can choose:

Ch.1 Zychol Chemical*

Ch. 2 Rapid-Lube

Ch.3 Southwestern University: A*

Ch.4 Southwestern University: B

Ch.5 DeMar’s Product Strategy

Ch.6 Southwestern University: C and Westover Electrical*

Supp. 6 Bayfield Mud Co.

Ch.7 Rochester Manufacturing’s Process Decision

Supp. 7 Southwestern University’s Food Services*

Ch.8 Southern Recreational Vehicle Co.

Ch.9 State Automobile License Renewals

Ch. 10 Jackson Manufacturing Co.

Ch. 11 Premier Bicycle’s Covid Problem–a brand new case set in 2020

Supp. 11 JIT After a Catastrophe

Ch.12 Zhou Bicycle Co.

Ch. 13 Andrew Carter Inc.

Ch. 14 Hill’s Automotive Inc.

Ch. 15 Old Oregon Wood Store

Ch. 16 Mutual Insurance of Ohio*

Ch. 17 Worldwide Chemical Co.*

Module A Tom Thompson’s Liver Transplant

Module B Coastal States Chemical*

Module C Custom Vans Inc.

Module D New England Foundry

Module E SMT’s Negotiations With IBM

Module F Alabama Airlines

Cases with an * have appeared in our Multimedia Library (click case study). All others appear in the text, and can, of course, be assigned with discussion questions.

Guest Post: Taking OM Online at Canisius College

Our Guest Post today comes from Dr. Lynn A. Fish, who is Professor of Management at Canisius College

The second week of March 2020 was a transitional week for my undergraduate Operations Management class at Canisius College, a private, Jesuit Catholic University in Buffalo, NY. I met face-to-face with my class on Thursday for the last time. The class used the Heizer/Render/Munson Operations Management textbook and Pearson’s MyOMlab for homework. I informed the class that if we needed to transition online, I would keep the ‘class as close to what they were accustomed to as possible and distributed the remaining handouts for the semester. Within days, the President of Canisius College announced that we would be going online immediately.

I kept my word as the class format remained as close to what the students had prior to the transition as possible. The class lectures were made into short videos and posted to our Desire2Learn platform. I reminded students that they needed to: (1) read the textbook, (2) use the class notes that I provided them along with the corresponding videos, (3) complete the corresponding MyOMlab homework that was assigned, and (4) study for the regular quizzes and exams.

The textbook and MyOMlab sites provided a stable framework for the students. I’ve always found that this is a sound undergraduate text which provides my students with current information.

My end-of-the-semester survey revealed that students had very few issues with using the MyOMLab site and rated the overall experience as “very good”. As an instructor, the randomization of the problems on MyOMlab enabled students to complete the same problems, but with different numbers. This feature allayed some of my fears regarding cheating on online quizzes and exams as I incorporated MyOMlab problems into these instead of stagnant problems on Desire2Learn. When final student grades were calculated, I was relieved to see that my students passed the course (65% average).

MyOMLab: More Help for Going On-Line with Your OM Course

For many instructors, student assessment is one of the most labor-intensive components of teaching an on-line class. Our MyOMLab assessment tool allows for automatic grade responses to algorithmic homework and test questions, to multiple choice questions, and to video and OM in the News questions.  In addition to simplifying assessment, the use of this tool  amplifies student engagement and helps students learn more efficiently. (MyOMLab also automatically calculates metrics for every question, including number who attempted it, number correct, number with partial credit, number incorrect, and average time spent).

Well over 60% of our text adopters have implemented MyOMLab into their OM courses. It’s easy to do (learning takes less than an hour) and Pearson’s reps are available for one-on-one training. Live training sessions with Pearson Faculty Advisors are scheduled for Mondays at 11:00 a.m. ET and Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. ET  Register by clicking here.

Because of the coronavirus class cancellations, Pearson is providing MyOMLab free to you and your students for the next few months. Here is a link to locate your local Pearson representative:  http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/replocator/.

Pearson is also providing help with screencasting by clicking here, and with tips for moving your class on-line quickly with this link

Blackboard is also offering a series of tutorials, which you can access  by clicking here.

And, of course, the full array of supplementary material that comes with our text (from Powerpoints to company videos to Solved Problem videos, etc.) is loaded into MyOMLab.  Jay, Chuck, and I are also available to help. Don’t hesitate to contact us at: ProfRender@gmail.com; Munson@wsu.edu; and JHeizer@tlu.edu.

Teaching Tip: Coronavirus and Your OM Class

It might be premature, but Chuck, Jay, and I have a suspicion that numerous live classes across the country may be pushed online after students return from spring break infected with the coronavirus. They’ve already done that for at least two weeks at the University of Washington and Stanford. Here are our thoughts about how our MyLabOperations Management can help.

 MyLab is actually perfect in situations like this. Not only can homework, quizzes, and tests be assigned and graded, but instructors may want to turn to other tools to help replace some normal classroom content. This could include the simulations but also assigning quite a few more of the company videos with cases and even referring students to our Solved Problem videos to help explain some of the mathematical content.

Self-contained Powerpoint slides are also available to all students and could be easily accessed. Instructor notes for those slides are contained in our Instructor’s Resource Manual (which is available to instructors on-line through the resource center), as are a number of suggestions for assignments outside of the classroom. Instructors might also wish to use features that they may not have in the past, such as our Active Learning Modules. For discussions and potential real-time interactions with students, instructors can access the MyLab Discussion Board feature or explore the possibilities of “virtual clickers” and other features available within “Learning Catalytics” (see the bottom of the home page in each MyLab course).

We believe that most students would be adaptable enough to move to an online course in the middle of a semester. And we are here to help instructors make the transition. If the switch to online eventually occurs at your school, MyLab has many features that can help.

Here are our emails if you need some help along the way: ProfRender@gmail.com; Munson@wsu.edu; and JHeizer@tlu.edu.

Guest Post: Student Perspectives on the Supply Chain Management Simulation

Wende Huehn-Brown is Professor of Supply Chain Management at St. Petersburg College in Florida. She continues her review of our five OM simulations.

Here is my review of the 5th and the last of the Heizer/Render/Munson MyOMLab simulations, Supply Chain Management (SCM).  These 3 words are often misunderstood and a passionate topic for me! This simulation puts the student in the role of the supply chain analyst thinking about order and inventory needs, offering a hands-on and visual learning opportunity. SCM is an area that few of my students have experienced, other than as a customer.  Thinking about the details that enable fulfillment of their own orders is rather eye opening.

As in real businesses, SCM decisions shape competitive abilities in a challenging manner. My students have really enjoyed practicing this simulation.  One student reflected that she valued the learning– and even felt stress as days ticked by and shipments were delayed! Some students found this simulation challenging and needed to carefully read Chapter 11 in the textbook. Most said the simulation was a great way to understand how SCM works.

This simulation is relatively fast, requiring students to pay attention to their budget, as well as customer morale.  Selecting and monitoring suppliers, responding to messages and delays, evaluating fees, etc. while meeting contract requirements on-time requires foresight.  Also, evaluating multiple suppliers with different contracts to mitigate risks means paying attention to stay with the budget. (What a timely topic given the volatility of Chinese supply chains during the caronavirus). Students quickly learn that going cheap is not always the way to go!  Also, having a plan for the consistent arrival of inventory to manage demand was less predictable than they anticipated. Key concepts for real businesses too!

Through the simulation, students can better learn SCM and see opportunities to improve performance.  Students often found themselves reacting to unexpected situations when they did not have a clear plan to balance ordering enough inventory without going over budget while fulfilling customer orders.

 

Guest Post: Student Perspectives on the MyOMLab Inventory Management Simulation

Wende Huehn-Brown is Professor of Supply Chain Management at St. Petersburg College in Florida. She continues her review of our five OM simulations.

In prior guest posts, I evaluated 3 of the 5 simulations that are available free in MyOMLab with the Heizer/Render/Munson text. Today, I look at the Inventory Management simulation. I like that it deals with the retail industry, from the store manager perspective, because students feel more comfortable thinking about the physical needs of products in a retail scenario. The simulation quickly takes them from that initial comfort level as they get calls, emails, etc. about issues to manage decisions. Finding that balance between too much and too little inventory to achieve profitability goals is key in this simulation, just as in many real businesses.

This simulation requires students to apply holding and ordering costs, as well as watch for sales trends and think about forecasting orders. Many students often buy too much or too little until they start to think about EOQ and ROP to find a rhythm. They also see how their decisions impact profits as they work toward a $1 million goal. While difficult, students often say it is the best of the 5 MyOMLab simulations. Some even use the word fun!

Why? Because they feel the practical aspect of a simulation experiencing the needs and issues in these kinds of positions, with a chance to practice and not impact actual money. Inventory is always a delicate balance to keep customers happy and align to profit goals. Students often do this simulation more than once to challenge themselves to get the best results–building pride and confidence in making these managerial decisions.

Many students have work experiences in retail or hospitality and easily relate to this simulation. For example, this product does not perish as food items, so the cost of having too much inventory is a bigger challenge for them. Others find the simulation helps to refresh their skills or builds on past experiences to further learn some key skills employers need. Be sure to include these simulations in your lessons!

Guest Post: Student Perspectives on the MyOMLab Quality Management Simulation

Wende Huehn-Brown is Professor of Supply Chain Management at St. Petersburg College in Florida. She continues her review of our five OM simulations.

As shared in prior guest posts, the Heizer/Render/Munson MyOMLab simulations offer a realistic scenario to help students further evaluate their OM lessons. The Quality Management simulation uses the hospitality industry, in which students role play a restaurant manager. This simulation helps students see the details that go into improving quality for an organization to be more successful. Almost 60% of my students found this relatable to their work experiences.

This simulation challenges students to use the quality management principles from the textbook. Students need to think logically about the evidence they are given to make decisions about various investments to improve customer service and reduce failure rates. Visualizing the options to prioritize further actions needed gives students some insight on what a manager must deal with, especially when pressured to turn around a restaurant. The various problems students are given really does draws them into the scenario!

Students reflected on options that supported immediate operating needs, as well as options that may be nice to consider, but did not necessarily address complaints or fix major issues. One student came up with several ideas, not even built in the simulation, that were great examples of critically thinking about the lessons to extend additional realistic options.

Students need to sift through the feedback they are given to identify relevant customer and staff issues to support their financial and customer service goals. The majority of the students felt the simulation was fun as it gave them a sense of accomplishment and pride to positively influence profits and customer reviews over the simulated one-year time period. Some students further commented how the simulation was driving them to even improve quality at their work!