Tag: Teaching Tips

Teaching Tip: Why Quality Inspections Often Fail

We all know that students have trouble staying focused for a long lecture, even with the great job we all try to do. So try to find a short activity that will make a teaching point, break up the class for a few minutes, and get all the students enthused.  Here is something you may want to try in Chapter 6, Managing Quality. It takes about 10 minutes.

In this chapter, we have suggested that building quality into a process and its people is difficult. In the old days, inspection was the main form of quality control. But inspection may not catch all the errors, and it may be expensive. To indicate just how difficult inspections can be, ask your students to turn to the OM in Action box on page 234, called “Inspecting the Boeing 787”.

Ask them to each count the number of E’s (both cap and lower case), including those in the title. This should be a pretty easy inspection job, I think, and I offer a crisp $10 bill to the first student to give me the correct count. That usually gets their attention!

As they each finish, I ask them to shout out their count and I do a tally on the board. There is amazing variation and I only have to shell out the reward in maybe one out of five classes. The answer, by the way, is in the Instructor’s Solutions Manual, as discussion question #18.

If you can share a class exercise of your own, we would be very happy to publish it as a Guest Post.

Teaching Tip: The 15th Edition Ties AI Into Your OM Class

Prof. Jon Jackson

Our new 15th edition, just released, brings the topic of artificial intelligence into the course with AI in Action boxes and new material throughout the text. But we have gone a step further through our Instructor’s Resource Manual, a fantastic teaching tool. If you are new at teaching the course, you will find this 400 page guide an invaluable resource. Each chapter now contains an AI in the Classroom section, created by Prof. Jon Jackson at Providence College, providing 15-20 minute exercises. Here is a sampling from 3 early chapters:

Chapter 1
All firms, regardless of industry, can use productivity measures to track process performance. This exercise is designed to explore relevant productivity measures for different industries with the help of an AI-powered chatbot. Student groups can explore the following types of
facilities/firms (each group will pick one):
 Manufacturing facility  Market research firm
 Warehouse facility  Accounting firm
 Retail store  Financial services firm
 Restaurant  HR department
Students can use the following AI prompt structure: ROLE: I am a manager in a [insert facility/firm here]. GOAL: I want to measure productivity (an output divided by an input). REQUEST: generate 5 measures of productivity.
In groups, students can compare AI responses, evaluate the validity of the productivity measures (connecting to Chapter 1 definitions), and identify the best productivity measures to implement.

Chapter 3
A work breakdown structure (WBS) can provide a hierarchical description of a project into more and more detailed components. This activity is designed to practice this process for fictional projects around campus with the help of an AI-powered chatbot. Student groups can explore the following projects (each group will pick one):
 College graduation party  Student art exhibition
 Charity 5K event  Entrepreneur shark tank
 Intramural sports tournament
Students can use the following AI prompt structure: ROLE: I am the project manager for an upcoming [insert event here]. GOAL: I want to create a work breakdown structure to break the project into more manageable components. REQUEST: generate a work breakdown structure with 4 main tasks, each with 2 subtasks. For each subtask, also provide a short description and an estimated duration to complete the subtask.
In groups, students can compare AI responses, identify if any main tasks are missing (or unnecessarily included), and evaluate the accuracy of duration estimates.

Chapter 4
AI-powered chatbots can be helpful to enhance our understanding of confusing topics, but it isn’t guaranteed to provide accurate information. This in-class activity (15-20 minutes) is designed to get us in the habit of being critical of AI output, and if necessary, re-prompting the AI-powered chatbot to give a better answer. Student groups will try to answer the following questions with the help of the AI-powered chatbot:
 When does a 2-period weighted moving average equal the Naïve approach?
 When does the exponential smoothing method equal the Naïve approach?
 When is it best to use MAD vs. MAPE?
In groups, students can critically assess the accuracy of the AI responses (referencing material in Chapter 4) and identify more effective ways to prompt AI-powered chatbots.

For a desk copy of the 15th edition, please click on this link.

Guest Post: The Missing Digit Puzzle!

Prof. Andrew Stapleton at U. of Wisconsin-La Crosse shares with us another fun and motivational teaching tip.

This math puzzle looks a lot more intimidating than it really is. It is called the Missing Digit Puzzle. Pick a student to come to the front and write down a number on the white board or overhead projection. Hide or otherwise cover your eyes in some way so that you can’t see what your student is writing.

Ask your student to secretly write down ANY number (at least four digits long). e.g. 78341 Ask her to add up the digits… e.g. 7+8+3+4+1 = 23 … and then subtract the answer from the first number e.g. 78341 – 23 = 78318. Ask her to then cross out ONE digit from the answer. (It can be any digit except a zero) e.g. 7×318. She then reads out what digits are left e.g. 7-3-1-8

Even though you haven’t seen any numbers, you can say what the missing digit is! EIGHT.

THE SECRET: This great puzzle relies on the power of 9. After your student has added up the digits and subtracted them, the answer will ALWAYS divide by 9. If a number divides by nine, then when you add the digits up, they will also divide by 9. If you check our example 7+8+3+1+8 = 27 which does divide by nine. When she crosses a digit out, she then reads out the digits that are left. You add them up. In the example we had 7+3+1+8= 19. All you do now is see what you have to add on to your answer to get the next number that divides by nine! The next number to divide by 9 after 19 is 27. So, you need to add on EIGHT to get to 27. This is the number that was crossed out!

Here’s another example: Say the number written down is 873946284 (yikes!). Your friend adds the digits 8+7+3+9+4+6+2+8+4 = 51. Your friend does the subtraction: 873946284 – 51 = 873946233 (So far you have NO IDEA what numbers are whizzing around!) Your friend crosses a digit out 87394×233 and tells you what’s left. You add 8+7+3+9+4+2+3+3 = 39. The next number that divides by 9 after 39 is 45. As 45-39=6 this means that SIX is the missing digit.

You can do this one quickly and even have other students come up and give it a try – and you will always be able to tell what the missing digit is!

Guest Post: From Anxiety to Curiosity–The Power of Mathematical Puzzles in Your OM Class

Prof. Andrew Stapleton teaches OM at U. Wisconsin-LaCrosse

Many of us have experienced the anxiety some of our students feel whenever we teach OM techniques. I have found a very effective manner to alleviate it by beginning my lectures with Math Magic.

First, start off the semester with the Phone Number. Tell your students to: (1) Grab a calculator; (2) Key in the first three digits of their phone number (NOT the area code); (3) Multiply by 80; (4) Add 1; (5) Multiply by 250; (6) Add the last four digits of the phone number; (7) Add the last four digits of their phone number again; (8) Subtract 250; (9) Divide by 2. Recognize the number?
Here is why it works:
X = first three digits of your phone number
Y = last four digits of your phone number = [250(80x+1) + (2y-250)]/2 = [20000x + 250 +2y -250]/2 = [20000x + 2y]/2 = 1000x + y = your phone number  (this trick doesn’t work if the first digit of the last four is a zero).

Hers is another one: The Rope Around the World.  Imagine an un-stretchable rope wrapped completely around the Earth at the equator. Imagine the Earth is as smooth as a cue ball. Here is the question: If you lift that rope exactly one foot above the earth’s surface (ignoring gravity), going all the way around the planet, how much extra rope will you need? The answer is amazing. Students may think they need to Google the diameter of the Earth to figure this one out. Surprisingly, you don’t need to know the Earth’s diameter or radius. You only need to know the formula for the circumference of a circle, i.e., Circumference = 2πr, where the value of π is approximately 3.14 and r stands for the radius.

Answer: You realize you can plug in that extra foot into the circumference formula. When the rope was wrapped around the Earth at the surface, you just have 2πr. When you add in the extra foot, it extends the radius of the Earth by one foot, so you now have 2π(r+1). If you want to find out the difference between the lengths of the two ropes, you subtract the shorter rope on the Earth’s surface from the longer rope suspended one foot above the Earth. 2π(r+1) – 2πr or 2πr + 2π – 2πr = 2π. The two circumferences in the equation cancel out, which leaves just the 2π. Really? It’s true! The rope that is suspended a foot higher all the way around our planet only needs to be 2π or 6.28 feet longer than the rope lying flat on the Earth’s surface.

Challenges like these take help take students’ minds off anxiety they may have felt when we go over a new OM model, making them more receptive to learning a new technique.

MyLab Operations Management: Some Important Features–Part 2

Today, we would like to tell you about a few more features of MyLab Operations Management that you may not be aware of: (1) the Test Bank; (2) Learning Aids; (3) Learning Catalytics; and (4) the Instructor’s Resource Page.

Test Bank: With about 4,000 questions, ranging from multiple choice to short essays to mathematical problems, out Test Bank allows you to mix and match types of questions, including questions about the video series, OM in the News, etc. Questions can be scrambled so students see differing versions–or you can add your own favorites to the system.

Learning Aids: When students are trying to answer a homework problem and they run into a roadblock, they can turn to “Question Help” once you have activated that MyLab feature. Four help options will be available: (1) E-text will take them to the proper page in the book to review: (2) Videos of similar problems being solved by the authors may be selected; (3) the “Ask my Instructor” button emails you (or your TA)  a screen capture of the problem, with the data the student has entered, along with the student’s comment; and (4) “Help me solve this” provides a similar problem, with step-by-step help as the student walks through the problem.

Learning Catalytics: Do you remember the old system called “clickers” allowing students to buy a clicker for use in answering questions you pose in class? MyLab includes this feature free, where students can use their cell phones or laptops to respond. This is a popular tool that increases active learning. We provide 100’s of pre-written multiple choice questions, or you can create your own.  (You find this feature under “Course Home”‘ the scroll down to “enrich your Course”).

Instructor’s Resource Page: When you click on “Instructor Resources”,  select “What else do you need”, for our invaluable Instructor’s Resource Manual, all the Powerpoints, the Solutions Manual, Test Item files, and 3 Excel-based games for class use.

Teaching Tip: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard?

I just came across an interesting research article in the journal Psychological Science that may benefit you and your students. For over two decades, I have wondered just how much attention my operations management students were paying to me during class.

Laptops have been mandatory in Rollins’ MBA classes since 1993. Students were expected to use them for note taking, for Excel exercises, for Powerpoint presentations, and for on-line exams. Were students doing email, were they ordering on Amazon, were they playing poker, Freecell, or Words with Friends? Or, hopefully, were they were taking notes?

For sure, taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. But according to this article, researchers are now suggesting that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies had primarily focused on students’ capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. This research suggests that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In three studies, the authors found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. Their paper shows that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning.

Your own observations and thoughts? Feel free to comment!

Source: Mueller, P., & Oppenheimer, D. The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard. Psychological Science, 25 (6), 1159-1168 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614524581

Teaching Tip: Note Taking in Your OM Class

note-takerWe are always looking for ideas on how to make your students successful in their study of OM. The “rotating note taker” concept comes from Faculty Focus. This student serves as the class note-taker, posting his or her notes on the course management system before the next class session. The notes are graded pass/fail and count for 1% of the final course grade. If it’s a fail, the student learns why and is assigned another day to take and post class notes.

Having a designated student taking and posting notes does not relieve other students of the responsibility to take their own notes. The posted notes serve as an alternative to the student’s own notes. They may clarify or emphasize a different part of a concept, add more detail, or offer a different perspective.

You can introduce the assignment on day one. Recruit a student familiar with the learning management system (LMS) to provide the first set of class notes. Put instructions about posting notes on the LMS, offer recommendations about attaching files, and suggest making references to the text instead of trying to reproduce complicated graphs. If your class is large, have two students taking and posting notes for each class session.

Here’s a list of benefits that accrue from the strategy.

  • Students report that they find the posted notes helpful when reviewing for tests. It’s an opportunity to compare what they have written with what someone else has in their notes.
  • If a student knows that everyone in the class is going to look at his or her notes and that the teacher is going to evaluate them, it motivates careful note-taking.
  • Students who aren’t good note-takers have the chance to see what a good set of notes looks like.
  • If students miss a class, they have access to a set of notes.
  • The strategy demonstrates your commitment to student note-taking.

Guest Post: The First Day of Class

buirsOur Guest Post today comes from Dr. Betty Anne Buirs, a professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia.

The old expression that you never have a second chance to make a first impression is certainly true in the classroom. I have tried several first-day-of-class strategies, ranging from briefly introducing the course and dismissing students early to spending the entire time reviewing policies and procedures. But students are never more attentive than they are on the first day of class, when they’re eager to determine what kind of professor they’re dealing with.

I make a point to be the first one to arrive and then personally greet the students as soon as they choose their seats. Instead of standing at the front of the room and calling their names, I introduce myself and ask them to tell me who they are. This also gives me a chance to ask students their nicknames as I add them to my seating chart, conveying that I am not merely taking attendance but am planning to converse with them.  As I work my way through the class, I inevitably end up chatting with students, which helps put everyone at ease.

After I’ve greeted the students, I provide them with two handouts that reinforce the impressions they are forming about me and the course. The first is the course outline, which defines the course objectives, assignments, and schedule. The second describes my teaching philosophy, provides a rationale for every component of the course, and contains practical information, such as what to do if they miss a quiz.

Now I’m ready to begin the day’s lesson. I begin by writing 10 words on the board, my carefully chosen “Top 10 in 10” list, which we cover in 10 minutes. I use this opportunity to convey to my students that I genuinely love my job. I then tell them that instead of merely talking about the course, we’re going to actually dive into the material and that they’ll be actively refining their skills in every class.

 

 

Teaching Tip: A New Way to Look at Student Evaluations

doonesberryIt is that time of year again–student evaluations. The comic strip Doonesbury hit on it last week in a sad sort of humorous way.

Most student evaluation forms are summative, writes Faculty Focus (Nov. 23, 2015), concentrating on teacher characteristics: “Was the teacher organized?” or “Did the teacher explain things clearly?” By the end of a semester, we have a sense of how a course went and what activities and actions supported student learning. But through some painful experiences we’ve learned that sometimes what we thought happened was contradicted by what students experienced.

Here is an alternative “course experience” evaluation approach:  Begin by telling students that you’re asking questions only they can answer. Explain that this is feedback that can help you become a teacher who helps students learn more effectively. Below are some examples of sentence stems that can yield useful information.

Your insights into your learning in this course can help me see our course from your side of the desk. Please respond anonymously to any 3 of the statements below to help me plan for next semester: 

In this course …

  • it most helped my learning of the content when…because…
  • it would have helped my learning of the content if…because…
  • the assignment that contributed the most to my learning was… because… 
  • the kinds of homework problems that contributed most to my learning were…because…
  • the biggest obstacle for me in my learning the material was… because…
  • during the 1st class day, I remember thinking…because…
  • what I think I will remember five years from now is…because…

Guest Post: Two Active Learning Approaches When Teaching Large OM Classes

Chuck MunsonOur Guest Post today comes from Chuck Munson, Professor of Operations Management at the Washington State University. Chuck joins us as coauthor of our new text editions, due out Jan. 1st.

Despite a call for more active learning and engagement in the classroom by the education community, many instructors believe that to be an impossibility in large classes. Here are a two activities that have worked for me.large class

  • E-Counting Game Pass out an excerpt of the Heizer/Render text containing about 400 words. Offer $20 to the first person who calls out the exact number of times the letter “e” appears and $1 to anybody else matching the correct response after that. Students can only respond once. I always keep my lunch money—students miss about 10-25% of the e’s the first time through. (You can verify the number of e’s by using the Find function in Word.) A histogram of their responses (automatically generated via Excel) shows how horrible the group would be as professional inspectors and the fallacy of 100% human inspection. Automated inspection or acceptance sampling is much better in practice.
  • Group Opinion/Strategy Either provide a topic with many possible strategies (e.g., how to implement JIT production when suppliers are located overseas) or present some sort of problem/game whose outcome can quickly be evaluated via computer after knowing student choices (e.g., best number of servers in a queuing problem). Split the class up into groups of five students each. Give them 10 minutes to discuss. There are various ways to report results: (1) all groups can report, (2) a subset of groups can report, or (3) all groups can turn in write-ups of their decisions. In any case, this is one activity where nearly all students will have participated in class because they’ll talk to a small group of peers much more readily than they’ll talk in front of 100 people.           If you’ve had success with other activities in large classes, we’d love to hear about them!

Teaching Tip: The Problem with Student Evaluations

evaluationsTeaching evaluations are a part of our academic lives–and as such, they can bring joy and good feedback, as well as frustration and sadness. Recent research (see Faculty Focus, Sept. 16, 2015) verifies that when looking at small differences in student ratings (say a 4.05 vs. a 3.92), faculty and department chairs can draw unwarranted conclusions. That’s a problem when ratings are used–as they are– in decision-making processes regarding hiring, reappointment, tenure, promotion, merit increases, and teaching awards. Here are some ways to maintain your objectivity:

Aggregate your data. Look at your scores on individual items across different courses, taught during different semesters, and then look at overall ratings of your OM course across multiple sections over several years. If you see trends, you can think about drawing conclusions.

Look at how the instrument is defining good teaching. Rating instruments operationally define teaching. If they ask questions about giving lectures and about being organized, prepared, and fair, the instrument deems those items to be important characteristics of teaching. 

Work for a realistic perspective on the results. Many of us are too vested in the numbers. Nonetheless, we can’t let their importance blind us to what they’re providing. Feedback on instruments offers a view of our teaching. It’s not a 360-degree panorama, but rather closer to the view provided by a small window.

Don’t look at the results for answers; use them to generate questions. What questions does your data set raise? What tentative explanations need further verification? If some of the data conflict, that’s a place to ask questions.

Let others help you find your way to the answers. Tell students you’ve got some questions about the results; you need more information. They can provide valuable feedback if they’re asked focused, specific questions, and if they think you care about their answers. Colleagues can help accurately interpret the results. They can tell us if they think we’re overreacting to negative feedback, or if a conclusion seems justified by the results. They can offer alternative explanations and brainstorm potential solutions.

Teaching Tip: Classroom Exercises for OM that Teach and Excite

 

 

Stop by to say hi to Jay at the Sunday session
Stop by to say hi to Jay at the Sunday session

If you plan on attending the annual POMS Meeting starting May 9th in Atlanta, we would like to invite you to a session Jay is chairing  on Sunday, May 11th, from 1:00-2:30pm. The program is called Classroom Exercises that Teach and Excite. It features six profs, each of whom will talk about exercises they use to spice up their OM classes. We hope you can attend. (I am sorry to miss out, but just had an emergency appendectomy and have to stay home)! Here is the program:

Prof. Howard Weiss   Survey of Excel Active Models

Prof. Ken Klassen      Project Management                                                                         

Competitive Exercise: Project Management Game Spreadsheet Oriented with Manpower for Rock’n Bands

Prof. Jay Heizer    Quality Management

Competitive Exercise: Count the Es!

Prof. Ken Klassen              Inventory: Optimum Inventory Policy                                       

Competitive Exercise: Inventory Simulation Game “He Shoots; He Scores”

Prof. Brad Meyer         Inventory:  Periodic Review System;                                   

Competitive Exercise: Students determine order interval and target inventory to minimize costs.

http://faculty.cbpa.drake.edu/bmeyer/POOL/ordersimp/index.htm

Prof. Chuck Munson    Process Selection and Capacity Management.                                        

Competitive Exercise: The Dice Game, from The Goal

Hope you enjoy the whole POMS Meeting!

 

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!

 

Teaching Tip: Your Students Think They Can Multitask–But They Can’t!

laptopsI just read a fascinating article by Penn State Professor Maryellen Weimer in Faculty Focus (Dec.12, 2012) about an issue we all deal with in class–student multitasking. Of course my students have argued (strongly) for years that they can both pay attention to my lectures and use their laptops simultaneously. Trying to convince them otherwise is an uphill battle. Maybe the best way to deal with the problem is to cite some of these research studies:

  • In an experiment with students taking an accounting course, half of the cohort was allowed to text during a lecture and half had their phones turned off.  After the lecture, both groups took the same quiz and the students who did not text scored significantly higher on the quiz.
  • This research focused on the use of laptops in a 97 student  MIS class. With student consent, spyware tracked the windows and page names for each software application run during class time.  Spyware tracked the number of “distractive windows” students ran, including games, pictures, email, instant messaging and web surfing.  Students had these distractive windows open 42% of the class time. Students who tried to listen to the lecture while using these distractive windows had significantly lower scores on homework, projects, quizzes, final exams and final course averages than students who looked at mostly “productive windows”.
  • Students taking a psych course were asked to read a 3,828 word passage. One group used instant messaging before they started reading, another group used instant messaging while they were reading and a third group read without instant messaging. The group that used instant messaging while they read took 22%- 59% longer to read the passage than students in the other two groups.
  • Students in a  psych course completed weekly surveys on various aspects of the class.  They reported their attendance, and if they used laptops during class for personal things–not note taking.  They also rated  how closely they paid attention to the lectures, how clear they found the lectures and how confident they were they understood the lecture material. Result: “The level of laptop use was significantly and negatively related to student learning.  The more students used their laptops in class, the lower their class performance.”

Your comments?

Teaching Tip: Ethical Issues Facing Ikea and Darden

The Ethical Dilemmas in each chapter in our OM text are a popular teaching feature–perhaps driven by AACSB’s desire to integrate ethics into business courses. The Dilemmas range from Nike shoes made abroad by 10-year olds (Ch.1) to pigs locked in tiny stalls their whole lives (Ch.7) to selling ineffective ERP software (Ch.14). In these exercises, students are forced to address the unpleasant tradeoffs faced by operations managers every day. Here are two more current topics to consider.

The first involves Darden Restaurants’ (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn brands) approach to Obamacare. Under the new health care law, companies with 50 or more workers could be hit with fines if they do not provide basic coverage for full-time workers and their dependents. Darden, which operates more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, employs about 180,000 people. The Wall Street Journal (Sept.26,2012) reports that Darden is using the new health law to cut the hours of  full-time hourly workers to under 29.5 hours, thus redefining them as part-timers (while its CEO drew $11.5 million in compensation in 2011– equivalent to 585 workers’ salaries).

The second item for your class is the Swedish firm Ikea’s revelation that it manufactured furniture parts 25-30 years ago using forced prison laborers in the former East Germany. The Wall Street Journal (Nov.19,2012) writes: “Alexander Arnold, 51, claimed to have been forced to make office chair legs while detained in Naumburg during the early 1980s. He described how forced laborers who didn’t meet a stringent production quota were confined to a dark cellar. Those who refuse to work, he added, were bound by their feet and hands to a bed for days at a time.”  Ikea’s admission is expected to fuel demands by victims for compensation and a debate over which present-day Western companies may have also benefited from forced labor behind the Iron Curtain.

Discussion questions:

1. Ask your students to take positions justifying and opposed to Darden’s cost-saving measure.

2. What is Ikea’s responsibility at this point?