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Bio

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Poster

Paper

Ramzi Kesrouany
University of South Florida

Subject Listing - Engineering: Industrial
Advisor: Dr. Nan Kong

Saturday, Poster Session 6, Presentation Kiosk 20 B, Health & Fitness Center

GRAPHIC TOOLBOX FOR ENHANCEMENTS IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH EDUCATION

The main concept behind Operations Research (OR) is the use of mathematical models, statistics and algorithms to aid in decision-making in real world problems. However, operations research techniques, particularly solution techniques, are abstract and sometimes hard to teach in a traditional classroom teaching environment.

The main purpose of this project is to enhance classroom teaching of OR solution techniques using graphic illustration methods. Previously, many researchers have developed innovative classroom teaching tools for the teaching of OR modeling techniques. However, the innovation of teaching OR solution techniques has not been the focus. This is because the teaching of solution techniques requires deeper understanding of mathematical concepts behind the solution. In addition, these solution processes tend to be abstract and procedural. Therefore, it is challenging to get students' attention in a classroom teaching environment. To overcome these difficulties, we designed a toolbox that contains graphic illustration of many OR solution methods. We developed Visual Basic macros to implement these methods and embedded these macros in Excel.

With this toolbox, students can use existing examples as well as design new examples. For each solution technique, they can review a detailed breakdown of the solution procedure. At the same time, students are permitted to modify problem parameters and thus alter the solution process. While reviewing a solution procedure, students can also access a step-by-step tutorial that explains the mathematical details. In our development process, we attempted to design a student-friendly interface and to leave students enough flexibility to implement additional OR solution techniques either from scratch or combine existing Visual Basic macros.

In addition, we evaluated the usage of this toolbox by assessing student learning in a graduate-level optimization course. We designed and conducted experiments to evaluate student learning with and without the use of the toolbox. We also evaluated learning performance of students with various learning style, e.g., visual style vs. reading/writing style. In the future, we will do similar evaluations in undergraduate-level OR courses.

University of South Florida
College of Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Nan Kong, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL