Manufacturing Squares: An Integrative Statistical Process Control Exercise

In the exercise, students in a junior‐level operations management class are asked to manufacture a simple product. Given product specifications, they must design a production process, create roles and design jobs for each team member, and develop a statistical process control plan that efficiently and effectively controls quality during production. During an in‐class exercise, students test their plan in a pilot study. After class, they are asked to determine whether their process is stable and capable, critique their plans, and recommend plan modifications before they commence mass production. This exercise provides students with a unique opportunity to combine several fundamental topics from an operations management course into one assignment. Furthermore, assessment of learning outcomes before and after the exercise suggests that it improves learning outcomes in several areas.     

Patio Swings Intermodal Shipping Competition: An Inquiry‐Based Partial Information Exercise

Rather than providing all the required information as classroom exercises typically do, this international purchase and intermodal transportation competitive in‐class exercise intentionally holds back selected supply chain details. This inquiry‐based learning (IBL) approach simulates a real‐world Distribution Requirements Planning scenario by requiring students to identify what information they need and seek out those details from the instructor while competing with fellow student groups. In this 20‐30 minute exercise students are challenged to identify the all the necessary supply chain activities required to effectively ship patio swings from a supplier in China to a national retail chain in time for a spring sale. Generating the benefits of improved critical thinking in a fraction of the time required for traditional IBL, the approach is best described as a Partial Information Exercise. A student survey (n = 310) found that students strongly supported the inquiry approach, it generated significantly increased interest in global supply chain management roles and responsibilities, and over 91% of participants recommended the exercise continue to be part of the introductory operations and supply chain management course.     

Operations Course Icebreaker: Campus Club Cupcakes Exercise

Campus Club Cupcakes is an in‐class ‘introduction to operations management’ experiential learning exercise which can be used within minutes of starting the course. After reading the one‐page mini case, students are encouraged to meet each other and collaborate to determine if making and selling cupcakes to fellow business students would be a viable fundraising activity for a student club interested in completing a community development project in a developing country. The exercise is a variation and extension of the popular Kristen's Cookie Co. Harvard case which addresses capacity and bottlenecks. Campus Club additionally incorporates supply chain management and risk management concepts while also revealing how operations management integrates with the functional areas of marketing, accounting, and finance.     

Increasing Student Accounting Self‐Efficacy,Interest, and Knowledge Using the DuPont Model

This research describes a DuPont Model activity used in an introduction to business course. An in‐class activity stimulated students’ confidence in their ability to apply the fundamental accounting principles building upon students’ knowledge of a lemonade stand. Accounting is often viewed by students in introductory courses as “a foreign language,” with common reactions by students of fear and anxiety about financial statements and financial ratios (Borja; Brazelton; Deer, Gohn, and Kanaya; Eber and Parker; and Goh and Scerri). The DuPont Model was developed to visually connect an income statement and the balance sheet to five common financial ratios. Using a preactivity and a postactivity questionnaire and 76 matched pairs of student responses, changes or differences in two student self‐efficacy measures were found. Over one‐half of these student pairs showed increases or improvements in these two self‐efficacy measures from preactivity to postactivity, implying that the DuPont Model positively influenced these self‐efficacy measures. Correlation analysis also showed meaningful, positive correlations among students’ self‐efficacy differences and their attitudes toward accounting. Furthermore, students’ perceived characteristics of the DuPont activity are significantly and positively correlated with students’ attitudes toward accounting. Finally, the results of the study are encouraging to the authors to continue using the DuPont Model activity.     

Searching for New Answers: The Application of Task‐Technology Fit to E‐Textbook Usage

Students have been slow to adopt e‐textbooks even though they are often less expensive than traditional textbooks. Prior e‐textbook research has focused on adoption behavior, with little research to date on how students perceive e‐textbooks fitting their needs. This work builds upon Task‐Technology Fit (TTF) and Consumer Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) theory to present a student‐perspective model of e‐textbook usage. By contextualizing TTF and UTAUT2 to e‐textbooks, the research fills a gap in the literature and provides guidance to researchers and practitioners. The goal of the research is to understand how students perceive their task of learning to fit with e‐textbook technology, and how that fit influences e‐textbook usage and expected performance in their classes. To achieve this goal, the research develops a model to test the relationship between perceived TTF of e‐textbooks and UTAUT2‐defined user characteristics that encourage adoption behaviors, thus facilitating student learning. The findings show that four factors impact a student's perceived TTF: substitution, habit, hedonic motivation, and facilitating conditions. Furthermore, perceived TTF positively correlates with students’ e‐textbook usage and expected performance in classes when using e‐textbooks. While price value exhibits a measurable effect on e‐textbook utilization, it is a minor factor.     

The Impact of Prior Counseling on Predictors of College Counseling Center Use

Path analyses revealed that one's tendency to conceal distressing information, social support, psychological distress, and attitudes toward seeking help predicted intended use of counseling services for college students who had and had not previously been in counseling. Prospective analyses revealed that attitudes toward seeking help predicted actual use of the campus counseling center. These findings have implications for campus outreach programs and in‐session work with clients.     

TEACHING ABOUT AGING IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A ONE‐YEAR FOLLOW‐UP

This study followed up on a 7‐day, 5th‐grade intergenerational project on aging. The “Age Doesn't Matter” (ADM) project was interdisciplinary; incorporating dance, health education, history, art, and poetry to teach about growing older. Older adults came to the school to interact with the students and the students also went on field trips to a nursing home and a retirement hotel. Thirteen of the original 19 ADM students were still in the same school 1 year after the project's completion. These students were matched by grade, gender, and race with a comparison group (n = 13) one year after the project's completion. Three experts in the field of gerontology were asked to blindly review the students' responses to open‐ended questions about aging and to rate each student concerning his or her attitudes toward aging. The ADM students were judged to have significantly (p < .05) more positive attitudes toward aging than the comparison group students.     

A Multipart Project Planning and Tracking Exercise

Project Management is an important skill for business students to develop. Although project‐oriented activity is very common, the success rate for projects is poor. Many projects fail due to poor planning. This article describes a multipart class exercise used to teach elements of a project management methodology to undergraduate and graduate business students. Over the course of the eight‐part exercise, student teams iteratively develop a project plan and Gantt chart, an initial and detailed project charter, a variance analysis model, and a status report. Students are taught an iterative top‐down planning process using a technique we term the ODW (Objectives–Deliverables–Workplan) model. Students are introduced to Microsoft Project and use the tool to develop a project plan that becomes part of a more detailed Project Charter. In the final stages of the exercise, students collect results, update their plan, and produce a project status report.     

Equivalence of students' scores on timed and untimed anatomy practical examinations

Untimed examinations are popular with students because there is a perception that first impressions may be incorrect, and that difficult questions require more time for reflection. In this report, we tested the hypothesis that timed anatomy practical examinations are inherently more difficult than untimed examinations. Students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Thomas Jefferson University were assessed on their understanding of anatomic relationships using multiple‐choice questions. For the class of 2012 (n = 46), students were allowed to circulate freely among 40 testing stations during the 40‐minute testing session. For the class of 2013 (n = 46), students were required to move sequentially through the 40 testing stations (one minute per item). Students in both years were given three practical examinations covering the back/upper limb, lower limb, and trunk. An identical set of questions was used for both groups of students (untimed and timed examinations). Our results indicate that there is no significant difference between student performance on untimed and timed examinations (final percent scores of 87.3 and 88.9, respectively). This result also held true for students in the top and bottom 20th percentiles of the class. Moreover, time limits did not lead to errors on even the most difficult, higher‐order questions (i.e., items with P‐values < 0.70). Thus, limiting time at testing stations during an anatomy practical examination does not adversely affect student performance. Anat Sci Educ 6: 281–285. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Food Microbiology—Design and Testing of a Virtual Laboratory Exercise

Abstract: A web‐based virtual laboratory exercise in identifying an unknown microorganism was designed for use with a cohort of 3rd‐year university food‐technology students. They were presented with a food‐contamination case, and then walked through a number of diagnostic steps to identify the microorganism. At each step, the students were asked to select 1 of 4 tests. All tests had an associated cost. Feedback was given on selection and once the right test was selected, students were shown the results and could progress. At the end of the exercise, students had determined a number of characteristics of the microorganism. They were then required to identify the organism using a variety of reference material and present a report on the significance of the microorganism identified. A student survey showed they enjoyed the exercise and felt it fulfilled the aims and objectives of the lesson. There was a positive response to its flexible nature and the inclusion of test costs. This virtual laboratory was less expensive and 10 times faster than a traditional laboratory exercise yet achieved the same learning outcomes for students who were already familiar with laboratory techniques. The virtual lab was developed with a generic template that could be used for future lessons.     

Access and assessment? Incentives for independent study

This paper explores incentives for students to engage with continuous learning outside the classroom, i.e. independent study. Two questionnaires were completed with undergraduate students, asking them quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their engagement (or lack thereof) with weekly readings which are non‐assessed and non‐monitored. The questionnaires identified that the majority of students do not complete the readings despite a consensus that they are crucial for understanding the course material. The two primary reasons expressed for not undertaking independent study are lack of assessment or time‐bound deadlines and poor access to reading material. Students were also asked to imagine potential incentives to encourage the completion of weekly readings, and then ranked these ideas in the second questionnaire. The two proposals with a majority of student support are the introduction of assessment measures to incentivise weekly readings (albeit with some student opposition to such an interventionalist approach) and the introduction of mechanisms that provide greater access to learning materials. These findings introduce the role of ‘access’ as a key mechanism to stimulate independent study, thus challenging the literature’s emphasis on assessment as the primary means to facilitate learning.     

Learning from human cadaveric prosections: Examining anxiety in speech therapy students

Human anatomy education often utilizes the essential practices of cadaver dissection and examination of prosected specimens. However, these exposures to human cadavers and confronting death can be stressful and anxiety‐inducing for students. This study aims to understand the attitudes, reactions, fears, and states of anxiety that speech therapy students experience in the dissection room. To that end, a before‐and‐after cross‐sectional analysis was conducted with speech therapy students undertaking a dissection course for the first time. An anonymous questionnaire was administered before and after the exercise to understand students' feelings and emotions. State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaires (STAI‐S and STAI‐T) were used to evaluate anxiety levels. The results of the study revealed that baseline anxiety levels measured using the STAI‐T remained stable and unchanged during the dissection room experience (P > 0.05). Levels of emotional anxiety measured using the STAI‐S decreased, from 15.3 to 11.1 points (P < 0.05). In the initial phase of the study, before any contact with the dissection room environment, 17% of students experienced anxiety, and this rate remained unchanged by end of the session (P > 0.05). A total of 63.4% of students described having thoughts about life and death. After the session, 100% of students recommended the dissection exercise, giving it a mean score of 9.1/10 points. Anatomy is an important subject for students in the health sciences, and dissection and prosection exercises frequently involve a series of uncomfortable and stressful experiences. Experiences in the dissection room may challenge some students' emotional equilibria. However, students consider the exercise to be very useful in their education and recommend it. Anat Sci Educ 10: 487–494. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

The relationship between student understanding,satisfaction and performance in an Australian engineering programme

It has often been suggested that actual or anticipated final grades may influence the ratings given by students in student experience surveys but few studies have been able to test this using actual grades. A study was carried out involving six courses over all four year levels of an undergraduate engineering programme, where students were asked to identify themselves in an experience survey by providing their student ID on the survey form. The aim of the study was to investigate a number of questions related to the readiness of students to identify themselves, and to examine any correlation between final examination grades, ratings of student satisfaction and the students’ perception of their level of understanding of material in their courses. Students were discovered to have a poor idea of how well they understand the concepts presented in their courses. This lack of an accurate idea of their own understanding is particularly important because ‘student understanding’ correlated to the ratings they gave to the course. Ratings were largely unaffected by final marks but students who gave their ID outperformed those who did not in end‐of‐year examinations. Higher year level students were more inclined to identify themselves and ratings tended to increase with year level.     

The Bicycle Assembly Line Game

“The Bicycle Assembly Line Game” is a team‐based, in‐class activity that helps students develop a basic understanding of continuously operating processes. Each team of 7–10 students selects one of seven prefigured bicycle assembly lines to operate. The lines are run in real‐time, and the team that operates the line that yields the highest revenue wins. Students learn through discovery “What drives output rate?”; “How is capacity managed relative to market demand?”; and “Why does inventory accumulate?” Because task times are constant, the game provides a nice lead‐in to the topic of line balancing. This game has been successfully used in both undergraduate‐ and MBA‐level operations management courses.     

Teaching Supply Chain Management Complexities: A SCOR Model Based Classroom Simulation

The SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) Model Supply Chain Classroom Simulation is an in‐class experiential learning activity that helps students develop a holistic understanding of the processes and challenges of supply chain management. The simulation has broader learning objectives than other supply chain related activities such as the Beer Game. Competing supply chains work to produce and sell two products, each experiencing differential demand. Seasonal demand, time delays, quality defects, and disruptions offer complexities that are part of actual supply chain management. The behavioral dynamics of collaboration between various functional nodes is illustrated through students’ interactions as they try to achieve their role's objectives. Through their decisions and actions, students develop a practical understanding of the processes and complexities of supply chain management. The classroom simulation actively engages students, and has been used successfully in multiple courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels at multiple universities and by a major corporation during a manager training session. Assessments indicate that the simulation is an effective experiential learning activity. While it offers learning outcome flexibility, common debrief themes are SCOR model processes, supply chain relationships, information flow, seasonal demand, quality defects, reverse logistics, and supply chain disruptions.     

The impact of online tutorials on course completion rates and student achievement

Providing learning support for students has been the most challenging issue for Universitas Terbuka (UT) in Indonesia since most students live in rural areas within which qualified tutors are hard to find. Attending face‐to‐face meetings within regular scheduled times is not feasible for most working students. Similarly, disseminating academic administration and information on time has also been very difficult to do since students are scattered throughout the country. These unresolved problems are believed to have resulted in low course completion. The recent development of ICT as well as its infrastructure in Indonesia has opened up a possibility for UT to provide its students with a fast, reliable and affordable two‐way communication channel. In accordance with this, UT piloted the use of ICT (specifically the Internet) to provide online tutorials to its students. It was expected that students taking advantage of the online tutorials would contribute to higher completion rates and achievement than those who did not. The project was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development and Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. This paper reports the findings of that pilot project, which show that student participation in online tutorials does indeed improve course completion rates and achievement.     

Doodling Effects on Junior High School Students’ Learning

The main purpose of this study was to assess the effects of doodling on the learning performance of high school female students in Tehran. The design of this research was a pre‐test–post‐test with a control group. A group of 169 junior high school 12–13 year‐old students was chosen for this study. After being taught a section of the Natural Science course, the students were asked to answer questions related to the lessons. After that, their grades were used as the pre‐test scores. The post‐test was carried out after the devised treatment. During ten sessions of the same course and teacher, the students were each given a blank sheet of paper and were asked for doodling if they felt like doing it. After each session, a couple of relevant written questions were asked to evaluate how well students had learned the lessons. The experiment and control group both consisted of 27 randomly selected students; participants in the experiment group were doodlers and those in the control group did not doodle. To evaluate the doodling effect a t‐test analysis was performed. Comparison of the grades showed that the experiment group outperformed the control group significantly.     

B2C Mass Customization in the Classroom

The purpose of this article is to describe an internet‐based mass customization assignment in Operations Management/Supply Chain Management classes where students utilize the Web site of a company that offers a customized product. Students evaluate the user interface, judge the value proposition of the product they demonstrate, and discuss issues of product design, process design and scheduling, inventory management, Supply Chain Management, marketing, and competitors. The students learn about mass customization from both the producer's perspective and the consumer's perspective. Through their own research and the class presentations students are able to develop a better understanding of the implementation requirements and challenges of mass customization. The assignment is highly interactive and has been successfully used in Operations Management and Supply Chain Management courses at under‐graduate and graduate levels and at multiple universities. In addition, practitioners interested in implementing a mass customization process can use the assignment as a brainstorming or benchmarking exercise.     

Electronic Textbooks: Antecedents of Students’ Adoption and Learning Outcomes

Faculty and students are increasingly faced with the opportunity to use electronic versions of textbooks (e‐texts). Despite the advantages of e‐texts and recent advances in technology, evidence suggests that students are still reluctant to adopt and use e‐texts. This situation leads us to investigate two research questions: What factors contribute to students’ acceptance of e‐texts? Are there differences between hardcopy texts and e‐texts when it comes to course grade? We draw on a variety of perspectives (i.e., psychology, management information systems, economics, environmental studies) to build a framework that allows us to determine the motivations of students for adopting e‐texts, and the learning outcomes of e‐text adoption. Data was collected via a survey administered in the business school of a metropolitan university with approximately 20,000 students, located in the western United States. Results suggest that perceived ease‐of‐use and the price of e‐texts relative to hardcopy texts are two key motivators in e‐text adoption, while perceived usefulness, Internet self‐efficacy and environmental concerns are not significant motivators. However, there was no significant difference in the grades of e‐text adopters compared to hardcopy adopters. We conclude this paper by discussing the implications of our findings for educators.