Tag: Dr. Lynn Fish

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).

Guest Post: Using MyOMLab at Canisius College Increases Learning

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

About a year ago, I ran a study for graduate student performance, using MyOMLab using the Heizer/Render text. The study reviewed the student’s performance using MyOMLab versus in-class. In the study, students completed their online homework, and then completed similar questions in-class on quizzes and tests. I recently ran the same study using undergraduate students. Again, the results indicated that students really learn using MyOMLab! In fact, the correlations were even higher for the undergraduates than the graduates.

Undergraduates and graduates exhibited moderate learning when the MyOMLab to in-class questions are ‘scaffolded’. (Scaffolded questions give the logical questioning and development of the problem by the questions asked. That is, one question result is used in the next question analysis, and so on. Partially-open questions may include some scaffolding and some open-ended portion. Open questions are large, complex problems students develop without being given the logical questioning, essentially a ‘blank sheet of paper’). As the in-class questions become ‘more open,’ students do not perform as well in-class testing. (Open, computer-graded questions are not available in MyOMLab at this time.)

These studies were done before additional features – vignettes, stories and videos, were added last summer to MyOMLab. The new features may encourage deeper thinking not currently shown in the studies that I’ve conducted. Regardless, both studies indicate that using MyOMLab encourages students to try the problems and learn.

The study, which I recently presented at the DSI meeting in Tampa, shows MyOMLab works. In recent course offerings, I added additional questions to the dataset that mirror my philosophy and methods. In the future, I’ll be reviewing the student’s correlation between online and in-class for the newer MyOMLab features. For example, short readings and videos, which may offer a different level of learning, and testing in the online environment, are features – that to my knowledge – are not in other textbook’s software.

Guest Post: MyOMLab Provides Demonstrated Learning

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

As the educational world continues to add more online elements, I remained skeptical of the educational value and security issues associated with these systems. However, when it became obvious that students were merely copying homework from one another and I faced a course overload, it became clear that something radical needed to be done. While one can argue for or against the need for homework, I’ve always been a proponent of using it. So, I blindly entered the world of online homework in fall 2011. As a ‘techno-jinx’, I held my breath waiting for trouble to break out. It didn’t!  Students seemed to adapt to it with very little difficulty.

Over the past 6 semesters, I have surveyed students on course specifics including MyOMLab homework. The majority indicate that MyOMLab is easy to use or they are able to overcome the minor issues. The most common minor issues students cited are rounding and decimal issues. From my standpoint, using MyOMLab allows each student to have different problems (algorithmic setting), requires less time for grading, and gives students immediate feedback. The ability to review each student’s assignment is available, but I find it unrewarding and time intensive to review. However, when a student is struggling, I can assist him with a particular problem from virtually anywhere in the world.

As a skeptic, I wondered whether the MyOMLab system offered educational value. After asking for student permission, I analyzed the relationship between MyOMLab and in-class performance. At an overview level, mild to moderate correlation exists. When analyzing further, there is definitely learning occurring through the MyOMLab system – at the scaffold level.

In conclusion, through student surveys, I’ve surmised that they find the MyOMLab acceptable, and through my own analysis, I’ve concluded that learning is in fact occurring. End result: win-win!