Teaching OR/MS with Cases: A Review and New Suggestions

Abstract

Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pagesWith 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit Abstract. Teaching cases have become a cornerstone of operations research and management science (OR/MS) education since the early 1990s, when the focus of the pedagogy largely shifted to an applied, model-building emphasis. I provide a review of the literature related to the use of teaching cases in general as well as their use specifically within OR/MS courses. I discuss the pedagogical benefits and the challenges in using teaching cases to teach OR/MS methods and their application. I conclude by offering some practical suggestions to assist instructors looking to implement cases in their classrooms for the first time or to improve their effectiveness in using teaching cases.

The Effectiveness of Case Studies in Entrepreneurship Education

“…Today the case study method is a factor in increasing the competence of teachers and a productive method for developing the professional qualities of economics students (Zhakshylykova, 2017). The analysis of the use of case studies in entrepreneurship education is much more actively studied abroad (Drake, 2019;Mukherjee, 2018;Prado et al, 2019;Yao & Collins, 2018), which is probably International Journal of Instruction, October 2021 • Vol.14, No.4 associated with a longer tradition of teaching entrepreneurship due to the market economy system compared to the Russian Federation.…”

Flipping Online Analytics Classes: Achieving Parity with Their Face‐To‐Face Counterparts

“…He also argues that because students must engage in online learning, it simultaneously is an online class. Drake (2019) indicates that the flipped classroom can provide additional opportunities for using cases to teach analytics courses. He points out that the flipped classroom can be gradually introduced into an existing course, one step at a time, to allow the faculty member to experiment with their approach, while simultaneously spreading the preparation time for new learning materials.…”

The INFORMS Case Competition and the Case for Cases

“…(The presentations in these sessions are always interesting and lively, and they may inspire you to develop teaching cases and perhaps enter them in future INFORMS Case Competitions.) For those unfamiliar with the case method but want to develop a better understanding, we suggest you read Cochran [2,4], Drake [5] and Penn et al [6]. Questions?…”