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[Learning Action] - COVID-19 Related Exam questions - Prescriptive Analytics class

  • 1.  [Learning Action] - COVID-19 Related Exam questions - Prescriptive Analytics class

    Posted 08-04-2020 05:22:00 PM

    Greetings!

    For the graduate level Prescriptive Analytics class here at Oklahoma State University (a MBA core class, a highly recommended elective for the MS in Accounting, MS in MIS and other graduate degrees), as well as in my undergraduate version of the class (a required class for the BS in MIS – Data Science option), I have always sought to incorporate questions for my 5 take home exams that relate to either current events of the day (e.g., hurricane evacuation routing,  optimally assigning basketball team to NCAA regions in Spring, creating referee assignments for NCAA football playoff games in Fall semesters) or trying to create problem scenarios similar to what some of my full-time working students are faced with in their company (e.g., distribution of medical supplies to missionaries oversees – Blessing.org).  Note that these problem scenarios are always very simplified, sometimes use fictitious data, but nonetheless are meant to spur further awareness and generate excitement in my students on how data and our analytic tools could be used to rationally and effectively address real issues and opportunities in the world around us.  

    This Spring, when the pandemic exploded, I was able to incorporate a couple of problem scenarios that related to circumstances that decision makers could be faced with that aligned with class learning objectives.  Again, these scenarios were fictional, simplistic and small in magnitude, but because of the pandemic theme, I felt they had a significant positive impact on student learning success.  

    Scenario #1 -  CTK Distribution -  This exam question was associated with the broad 'basic supply chain modeling' learning objective.   The basic premise was to optimally distribute COVID-19 testing kits from production facilities to hospitals located in different regions based on a variety of constraining factors.    

    Scenario #2 – Mobile Testing Centers – This exam question is a classic 'set covering problem' in terms of finding the best way to locate testing centers to serve as COVID testing site hosts for rural Oklahoma counties.

    Again, both questions provided all the necessary data to the students as class learning objectives are heavily model based, and were vastly over simplified or modified to easily fit into the (virtual) classroom. Nonetheless, the fact that students were able to see possible ways of employing the "Serenity Prayer of Analytics" (What do we want to solve?, what do we want to achieve?, and what holds us back?) in circumstances in which we were all immersed led to an enhanced learned experience for my students in spite of the disruptive impact of COVID-19.

    These two scenarios are attached in case the reader is interested.

    Best regards and stay safe!




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    Rick L. Wilson
    Professor and Head-Department of Management Science and Information Systems
    W. Paul Miller Professor of Business Administration
    Dan and Tiffany Howard MBA Faculty Fellow
    Oklahoma State University
    Stillwater, OK 74078
    405 744 5084
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    Attachment(s)

    docx
    Mobile testing centers.docx   241 KB 1 version
    docx
    CTK Distribution.docx   17 KB 1 version