A case-based undergraduate operations research course

Abstract

This paper describes a purely case-based undergraduate operations research course that has been successfully run in the industrial engineering program at the University of Toronto for 11 years. We describe the structure of the course, including the process adopted for solving the weekly cases, student assessment methods, and the choice of cases. Student feedback suggests that the course enhances the learning experience through the principle of learning by doing, provides a platform for integration of operations research methods learned in earlier classes, can be conducive to improving communication skills, and addresses the gap between theory and practice through a simulated workplace environment.