Student Reactions to the Field Consulting Capstone Course in Operations Management at the University of Dayton

1. IE 479 YağmurAk Zeynep Küçükerol Student Reactions to the Field Consulting Capstone Course in Operations Management at the University of Dayton

2. General View • A research project carried out by Michael F. Gorman • About feedback on a capstone course by students • At University of Dayton • Started at 2003

3. Who is Michael Gorman? • A Professor at University of Dayton • Born at 7th July 1965 • Research Interest: • Transportation • Logistics • Supply chain • Pricing and Revenue Optimization • Business Pedagogy

4. Information about Project • Operations Management Capstone Course: Undergraduate Student Field Consulting Applies Theory to Practice

5. Capstone Course Description • Six credit-hour: • One credit: Problem Identification and Project Proposal • Five credit: Project Execution

6. Capstone Course Description • Student team composition • 3 students in each team (ideal case) • Skill + Experience + Abilities = Project Success • Deliverables • Project Proposal • Midproject Report • Final Report • Recommendations

7. Criteria for Forming Teams • Choice of 2nd and 3rd majors • Analytical tools skills • Overall GPA • Grades in Operations Management courses • Previous job experience (internships) • Student Preferences • Class & Work Schedules

8. Learning Goals • Technical Skills • Technical & Analytical concepts and tools • Data collection • General Business Skills • Problem identification • Project management skills • Soft Interpersonal Skills • Professional communication • Team work skills

9. Evaluation & Grading

10. Technical Skills and Tools • No formal technical training • Apply OR skills and OM topics • Data collection & analysis • Changing data format

11. General Business and Soft Skills

12. Challenges for Problem Definition • Differences of opinions • Misunderstandings • Misinformation • Ferret out the `truth’

13. Project Outcomes • Final paper based on many drafts • Working as a team • Common understanding • Mutually agreed-upon recommendation • Client & Advisor satisfaction

14. Additional Project Example • Bilkent Senior IE Design Project • (IE 477- IE 478) • 6 credits • Real Business Clients • 1 year period • Analytical and Social Skills • Problem Definition & Execution • Advisor feedback Similar to the Capstone Course Project at University of Dayton

15. Research Project of Michael Gorman • Collects qualitative and quantitative data from students’ evaluation of capstone project. • Carries out surveys among the same students at 3 points of their career. • Right after completion of the course • Upon graduation • 0-7 years after graduation

16. Quantitative Analysis Information • Based on Likert scale • Between 0-4 points • 0- strongly disagree • 1- disagree • 2- neutral • 3- agree • 4- strongly agree Example of a likert scale

17. Right After Completion of the Course • Challenging • Rigorous • Highly Educational • Most valuable elements are: • data analysis • real-world environment • Extremely Valuable

18. Identified Risks • Client Risk • All clients are not fully attentive and interested • Project Risk • Lack of data availability, more proposals • Communication Risk • Feedback

19. Likert Scale Results of Students -Just Completed the Course

20. Upon Graduation • Real-world experience • Felt like a part-time job • Beneficial report • Challenges of operations consulting • Team work

21. Likert Scale Results of Students –Upon Graduation

22. Graduates (0-7 Years) Participation to survey of graduate students for 7 years

23. Graduates (0-7 Years) • Most Challenging Element? • Most Helpful Element? • Most Useful Element?

24. Question Answers Scale Results- Graduates (0-7 Years)

25. Most and Least Helpful Elements

26. Qualitative Graduate Survey Results • Most memorable aspect? • Most important lessons? • OPS Capstone Experience? • Value most about the course? • Should be more emphasized? Text data-mining exercise is conducted to evaluate the results

27. Data-Mining Results for Open-Ended Questions

28. Evaluation Method • It is an exact method • A zero to four point scale • Mean, Standard Deviation and p value are calculated • Comparison made based on mean differences • In Graduate Survey Analysis • A Chi-squared goodness-of-fit test • Percentage of students responded in each year is calculated • P value is calculated

29. Evaluation Method • In graduate survey analysis • Likert scale (between 0-4) is used • 0- less valuable • 4-most valuable

30. Opportunities for Improvement • Better project selection, scoping, definition and charter • Better communication and coordination among student teams, clients and advisors • More structured meetings, instruction and training • More time to complete the project

31. Conclusion • Students are highly motivated • Students think project is more helpful than challenging.(Likert Scale) • Course provides a real-world experience, develops both analytical and social skills. • Both qualitative & quantitative data • Push-based education Pull-based • Can test their skills

32. Conclusion • 3 factors: • Need to deliver for a client, not for a professor • Need to strive for results, not for a grade • Opportunity to analyze real problems, not imagined ones It is found at the end of the research that: It is necessary to extend the intensity of the projects through expanded credit hours to compensate for these challenges

33. In Turkey • Similar research studies are being done in universities in Turkey. • 3 Examples: • Atılım University, Computer Engineering Department • Başkent University, Biomedical Engineering Department • 9 Eylül University, Electrical and Electronical Engineering Department

34. 9 Eylül University

35. Atılım University

36. Başkent University

37. Big Picture

38. References • http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1072/submission14.pdf • http://www.emo.org.tr/ekler/d3cd38f9afa6cfe_ek.pdf • http://www.emo.org.tr/ekler/2d69b2cd95850e5_ek.pdf

39. Thank you for listening!