Jill Hardin, Jim Lowe, David Rader and Donna Llewellyn
In the April 2007 issue of ORMS Today, column on “Issues in Education,” Tava Olsen referred to the wake-up call to our society when AACSB removed management science as a core requirement within business programs. As business schools eliminated OR from their programs, our society realized that it no longer had a captive audience. Mathematical elegance, algorithm nuances and "killer apps" would not be of interest to business students unless those students could be sold on the impact of OR/MS on organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
To attract students, teachers of OR/MS began to seek ways to improve their effectiveness in the classroom, and leading educators within INFORMS realized this. Among others, OR entrepreneurs such as Peter Bell, John Birge, Jeff Camm, James Cochran, Erhan Erkut and Tom Grossman joined Stephen Powell as he organized and developed a retreat dedicated to teaching: the Teaching of Management Science (TMS) Workshop. Although its name implied a focus on teaching OR/MS in business programs, its focus on theories of learning and cognition, its emphasis on teaching best practices, and its application of current pedagogical research made it a valuable experience for teachers of OR in engineering and liberal arts programs as well. TMS was a success, and an energetic following of TMS graduates emerged. The TMS experiment proved that INFORMS could adapt and meet the needs of the business community as well as the rigors of technical content. However, tight budgets eventually forced participants to choose between TMS and the INFORMS Annual Meeting.
The Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC) is another successful, although shorter, endeavor to provide OR/MS educators with additional support as they search for current and more effective classroom approaches. The 2007 TEC, chaired by Linda Leon and Kala Seal, embodied the spirit of TMS with its seamless integration of theories of pedagogy and psychology of learning with practical advice from "OR Classroom Legends." Participants offered praise and feedback, which will benefit future TEC events. Among the comments on evaluations were the following:
• "It certainly made me look at my teaching from a different perspective and the material learned will definitely help my teaching."
• "The agenda was excellent and gave the audience an idea about the multi-dimensional cross-functional context of teaching."
• "Actually, immediately before the workshop, I had received an e-mail from a student questioning the structure of my course. The presentation related to the qualities of experts in the field helped me articulate my response to the student."
• "I found this colloquium to be an extremely useful activity. I strongly recommended this to all my colleagues."
During the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2008 in Washington, DC, education in INFORMS takes another bold step: TMS and TEC will merge to become an extended Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium. The TEC is now a two-day event, and seeks to embody the best that both TMS and TEC have to offer, while at the same time offering a more accessible option for all INFORMS members. In addition, TEC and INFORM-ED are coordinating to ensure that INFORM-ED-sponsored sessions offered on Sunday will follow up on the theories and classroom practices that are the heart of the new TEC.
The 2008 TEC will bring in top professionals who will share advances in pedagogical and neuroscience research. Education experts will describe active and cooperative learning concepts, applications and illustrations of best practices. Critical thinking workshops, as well as brainstorming and practicum sessions, round out the event, and provide sufficient time for individual reflection and networking between seasoned and novice educators. These elements provide a perfect lead-in for the INFORMS Annual Meeting. Following the Sunday opening plenary address on October 12, initial INFORM-ED sessions will be dedicated to presentations led by our most renowned educators.
In addition, other INFORM-ED sessions will highlight new issues and techniques in the teaching of OR. A "Teaching Project Management Day” includes not only two panel discussions, but also another two sessions devoted almost entirely to teaching project management. The INFORM-ED cluster also features sessions on innovative uses of technology in the classroom as well as improvements to "traditional" OR courses. Finally, a session on undergraduate research highlights undergraduate OR education.
Apply now to participate in the new, expanded TEC. Starting with the Washington, D.C. meeting, there is no need to choose between enhancing your teaching skills and participating in technical sessions with colleagues. INFORMS members can share their teaching experiences and their research and consultative successes within a single conference. Specifically, the TEC convenes Friday morning through Saturday evening. As usual, the TEC will join the Future Academician and Future Practitioner Colloquia for dinners and a plenary by INFORMS President, Cynthia Barnhart. Participation is by nomination only, and the number of participants is limited. Click here for additional details.
In closing, please join us in thanking those OR/MS entrepreneurs who took action in highlighting the synergy between effective teaching and overwhelming success in research and consulting.
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