Teaching Cases in INFORMS Transactions on Education Jill Wilson, Northwestern university Area Editor, cases

ITE Case Study Format Three case components: Case Study Case Article Teaching Note

Case Components: Case Study Audience: Students Classroom-tested Teaches one or more OR/MS concepts Scope broader than a homework exercise Flexibility in audience – Course – Student level – Student background – Instructor experience Grounded in a realistic context Should generally not include assignment questions, for flexibility

Case Components: Case Article Audience: Instructors looking for teaching cases Overview of the case Pedagogical objectives How case has been used in a learning experience, and with what students Level and experience of student for which case is appropriate or adaptable Student experience with the case – What was easy, what was challenging – Reaction to the case (e.g. did they find it engaging?) Overview of how case might be adapted for various student groups *Important: Save case questions for the teaching note!

Case Components: Teaching Note Audience: Instructors who are using the case Password protected, released only to verifiable instructors Guidance for instructors using the case, based on classroom experience Case analysis, supporting models and files Assignment questions and suggested answers – Variety of difficulty levels – Allows instructors greater flexibility in classroom use Suggestions on adapting to various student audiences Anything YOU would want to know if using someone else’s case!

Review Process Similar to other ITE submissions—two referees Review focuses on case article and teaching notes Case study has been classroom tested, so only minor editorial changes Case article is reviewed for – Clarity of case description – Pedagogical objectives – Evidence of classroom testing – Flexibility of student audience and classroom context – Absence of answers and other information that pollutes the case for future users Teaching note reviewed for – Completeness and correctness of analysis – Guidance on adapting to various student audiences and classroom contexts

Tips for writing articles for ITE Your target audience is OR/MS/analytics instructors They want to know how relevant the topic that you are writing about is for them: – What kind of students do you teach? (business/engineering/math/…, UG/MBA/MS/…) – In what course(s)? – What have your students learned already? – How often have you used what you are writing about? – How well did it work? What lessons did you learn?

Tips for writing articles for ITE You need a literature review – The relevant papers to cite will probably be from education journals Read a few ITE papers before you start writing one yourself