Area Guidelines: INFORMS Transactions on Education

Editorial Objectives for Cases

The department is interested in publishing high-quality articles about the use of cases in the teaching of OR/MS, OM and other areas of interest to INFORMS members. Normally we require that all cases be classroom-tested and that a portion of the article be devoted to a discussion of one's own classroom experience with the case. The article should identify whether the case is based on field research (e.g. based on interviews with company representatives or one's experiences as a consultant), secondary research (e.g. a case based on Interfaces or newspaper articles), or some other source. For cases based on field research, authors are encouraged to describe their personal experiences in order to provide additional context beyond what is included in the case. Case articles will be peer reviewed by at least two people who are familiar with the use of cases in teaching.

An ideal case article will address several of the following questions: In what course(s) do you use the case? For what groups of students is this case appropriate? Is the case particularly useful with one group of students but not with others? If you used the case with different groups, how does student reaction differ among the groups? Is the case used for class discussion, as an assignment, as an exam, or for some other purpose? What portions of the case do your students find challenging and what portions do they find easy? How does this case integrate with the rest of your course? How does this course integrate with the rest of your program? What are the key concepts illustrated by this case? What other cases could be used to illustrate these points? What do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages of using this case versus alternate cases or teaching methods?

It is mandatory that case submissions include a case article, the case itself and a teaching note. Teaching related materials (e.g. spreadsheet files) may be included as appendices. The teaching note and supporting materials will be password protected.

Editorial Objectives for Invited Contributions

This area publishes contributions from OR/MS leaders by invitation from the Editor. Many contributions will be of tutorial nature, providing an overview of an area along with some advice and resources for teachers with limited experience in the area. Some contributions can take the form of an essay, commentary, critique, or discussion on trends in OR/MS education. Articles will undergo developmental review by the Editor or one AE. All members of the OR/MS community are encouraged to contact the Editor to suggest individuals who are potential contributors.

Editorial Objectives for Classroom Games

ITE Guidelines on Submitting Classroom Games

The department is interested in publishing high-quality articles about the use of classroom games in the teaching of OR/MS and analytics. Normally we require that all games be classroom-tested and that a portion of the article be devoted to a discussion of one's own classroom experience with the game. We refer to the powerpoint in the link above for specific guidelines on what is expected in the classroom experience section. A Classroom game article will be peer reviewed by the AE Classroom Games and at least two people who are familiar with the use of classroom games in teaching.

An ideal classroom game article will address several of the following questions: In what course(s) do you use the game? For what groups of students is this game appropriate? Is the game particularly useful with one group of students but not with others? If you used the game with different groups, how does student reaction differ among the groups? Is the game used as an in-class competition, as an assignment, as an exam, or for some other purpose? What portions of the game do your students find challenging and what portions do they find easy? How does this game integrate with the rest of your course? How does this course integrate with the rest of your program? What are the key concepts illustrated by this game? What other games could be used to illustrate these points (i.e., a literature review of related games)? What do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages of using this game versus alternate games or teaching methods?

It is mandatory that game submissions include a game article and a teaching note. Teaching related materials (e.g. spreadsheet files) may be included as appendices. The teaching note and supporting materials will be password protected.

Editorial Objectives for Puzzles

The department is interested in publishing high-quality short articles about the use of puzzles in the teaching of OR/MS and analytics.

Of interest to the department are those puzzles that may be formulated and solved using an OR/MS technique or whose formulation has similar mathematical structure to a known application of an OR/MS technique.

An article submitted for consideration is expected to possess some of the following characteristics.

It is useful as a pedagogical tool. For example, an article may contain material useful for a whimsical classroom digression that is nevertheless related to the topic of interest or it may provide the instructor with a source of exercises for a particular modelling technique.

It is useful as a means of testing OR/MS software. This would include those puzzles that may be expressed in general form, such as chessboard puzzles on boards of arbitrary size.

It is of interest to OR/MS practitioners and instructors purely on a recreational level.

Articles for this section are expected to be significantly shorter than other types of ITE papers (regular papers, case articles, classroom game articles) and abstracts will not be required. More substantial contributions treating games in greater depth may be considered for the 'Classroom Games' section. A typical puzzle article will contain some, but not necessarily all, of the following elements.

A statement of the puzzle/game including references to source material.
A discussion of the solution approach intended by the originator of the puzzle/game.
Presentation and discussion of the mathematical formulation.
An implementation of the proposed solution method using a spreadsheet and/or specialized OR/MS software.
A discussion of implications of the puzzle/game, if any, for OR/MS practitioners and instructors, for example, issues of computational complexity, similarity of the puzzle formulation with known applications of an OR/MS technique, issues of software choice (e.g. spreadsheet vs. specialized software) etc.
References to further reading on the puzzle or game and the technique used in its solution.
Articles will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and one referee (most often a member of ITE’s editorial board).
A puzzle article must contain a short classroom experience section that describes the teaching experience of the author with the material (which program, how many and which level of students, etc.). If possible, evidence should be provided for the effectiveness of the material (while we do not require formal assessment, we will not publish untested classroom material. We encourage authors to provide all available and relevant student assessment data.)

Editorial Objectives for Resource Reviews

Consistent with the mission of ITE, the main objective of this department is to provide information, in the form of resource reviews, which is relevant and useful to OR/MS educators. The department is interested in publishing reviews of a variety of instructional resources including:

Reviews for published textbooks for all levels of undergraduate and graduate instruction.
Reviews for published or otherwise available software designed or used for instructional purposes.
Reviews of published or otherwise available instructional material such as games, demonstrations, study aids, exercises, etc.

The ideal review will help readers form a clear idea of the contents, objectives, and general flavor of the instructional resource and judge whether or not this resource is likely to be useful for their own educational purposes. The review should contain a description of the environment for which the resource is intended, as well as how it might be adapted for other environments. Beyond the straightforward and important descriptive presentation, the reviewer should include an evaluation of the resource from an analytical and critical perspective. The most valuable reviews will present comparisons with other similar and available resources. The review should be written in a manner that will promote understanding and further discussion, using fair and accurate representations.

Publishers, authors, and developers may submit resources to the review editor who will then solicit reviews for those resources judged to be most relevant for the ITE readership. Readers who wish to review for ITEshould contact the review editor and specify their areas of competency. Although unsolicited reviews are unlikely to be published, readers who wish to review specific resources are encouraged to submit suggestions and proposals to the review editor. Once a review has been accepted for publication in ITE, the resource author(s)/developer(s) will be given the opportunity to publish a comment or a response to the review.