First, the characteristics of operational research discipline
Operational research is to make an overall arrangement of manpower, material resources and financial resources in the economic management system by using analytical, experimental and quantitative methods, so as to provide decision makers with the best scheme based on evidence and realize the most effective management. Its core is to study the theory and method of optimization. Operations research is rich in content and has many branches, forming three different development fields: operations research application, operations research and operations research mathematics. In 1998 "Undergraduate Specialty Catalogue and Specialty Introduction" issued by the Ministry of Education, the course of operational research is listed as the main course of economic management. The course of operational research has gradually become one of the basic courses for applied mathematics, management science, engineering management, system science, information management, computer, machinery manufacturing, transportation and other majors. Therefore, the course of operations research should not only meet the teaching needs of science and engineering majors, but also take into account the requirements of economic management majors.
Operational research has the following characteristics:
(1) quantitative analysis. Operational research uses various mathematical tools and logical judgment methods to quantitatively analyze the models extracted from practical problems and provide quantitative decision support for management and decision-making.
(2) Optimality. The so-called optimization contains two meanings: one is to seek overall optimization in space; Second, in terms of time, seek the best in the whole process.
(3) practicality. Operational research is a highly practical subject. Operational research is widely used in economy, management, engineering optimization design, engineering optimization control, computer and information system, urban planning and management, comprehensive utilization of resources, environmental management and other fields.
(4) Multi-branch. Because operational research is oriented to practical problems, it has formed many branches and is developing continuously. The branches of operational research include linear programming, integer programming, nonlinear programming, objective programming, graph and network model, storage theory, queuing theory, game theory, sequencing and overall planning methods, decision analysis, dynamic programming, prediction, search theory, random service theory and reliability theory.
(5) Using computer as a tool to solve problems. Because there are usually many variables in practical problems, when using the theory of operational research to solve practical problems manually, the calculation workload is very large and errors are often prone to occur, so computer tools should be used to solve them. In fact, the rapid development of computer technology has promoted the further development of operational research and its application in practice.
Second, the analysis of the status quo of teaching
At present, the courses of operations research in our school are for undergraduates in science (including mathematics and applied mathematics and statistics), management (including management science, engineering management, real estate management, marketing, logistics management, business management and financial management) and engineering (information management and information system, financial engineering). Students in science and engineering are science students, some in management are liberal arts students, and the rest are liberal arts students. Relatively speaking, science students have a good mathematical foundation, while liberal arts students have a relatively poor mathematical foundation. How to make students know, understand, master and master this course in the same time and space, realize the combination of theory and practice, thus solving practical problems and truly achieving the learning purpose of this course requires some attempts and reforms in the teaching process. At present, our school is prone to the following common problems and shortcomings in the teaching process of operational research courses:
1, students' enthusiasm for learning is not high, and learning weariness is common. With the growth of age, college students' learning motivation becomes more and more utilitarian, and they are only interested in courses that they think are useful, while they only pursue credit requirements for other courses. The active participation in learning is not enough, the classroom atmosphere is not active enough, it is difficult to actively interact with teachers, and the overall learning effect is average. They pay attention to rote memorization of textbook knowledge, and even adopt a rote memorization method for calculation methods and steps.
2. Need to strengthen scientific teaching methods. Operational research is a practical course. Many teachers use the traditional blackboard teaching method in teaching, which is not flexible enough and has little information. For example, explaining the simplex method in linear programming, drawing a simplex table in one class and solving a problem with three iterations may not be enough time. Teachers only draw tables in isolation on the blackboard, students passively accept classes, the interaction between teachers and students is poor, the feedback of teaching and learning information is not timely, and students' grades are difficult to improve.
3. Experimental teaching and case analysis are not paid enough attention. Because most teachers are from key universities majoring in mathematics, they pay too much attention to the explanation of definitions, the deduction of theorems and the training of hand calculation when giving lessons to undergraduates of operational research, but they don't teach much about the theories and methods of applying operational research to analyze and solve problems, which leads to students mastering the basic theories and model solving methods of operational research well, but they are at a loss when using what they have learned to analyze and solve practical problems. There are few cases of operational research used to solve practical problems, and it is even more difficult to solve practical problems without using operational research optimization software (such as lingo, lindo, mathematic, matlab, etc.). ).
4. The course assessment method is relatively simple. Usually, students' homework and final exam results are used as methods to evaluate the effect of learning operations research courses, which leads students to only apply the algorithms in books and calculate by hand mechanically, ignoring the purpose of cultivating students' ability to solve practical problems in operations research courses and deviating from the essence of operations research.
Third, the teaching reform proposals
1, divided into professional teaching, reflecting professional characteristics.
Different majors need different knowledge of operational research. According to the training objectives and characteristics of the major, we should make clear the teaching purpose, set up teaching contents in different categories, design teaching methods scientifically and pay more attention to it. For example, applied mathematics majors should emphasize operational research mathematics and operational research, and pay attention to algorithm proof and principle derivation in the teaching process. They should also have the ability to write computer programs to solve problems, so as to master the basic optimization theory and methods of operational research and the models and methods of the main branches of the course. Operational research for economic management majors should emphasize its application and scientificity. The teaching purpose should focus on students' understanding of basic concepts, mastery of basic principles and application of basic methods, so that students can use the ideas, principles and methods of operational research to analyze and solve problems. At the same time, practical teaching should be strengthened, and various flexible practical methods should be adopted to solve some practical problems in practical application fields, laying a solid foundation for students to further study and study this direction.
2. Reform teaching means and methods.
(1) adopts heuristic teaching.
Students' learning attitude directly affects the quality of teaching, so we should give full play to students' main role in the teaching process, such as heuristic teaching, give full play to students' intelligence and stimulate their learning enthusiasm. For example, when explaining the branch-and-bound method of integer programming, when there are only two examples of solving constraints, two students with different levels can be selected to practice in class, so as to inspire students to solve them graphically, thus encouraging students to draw inferences from others, speak freely and fully express their views and ideas.
(2) Reform teaching methods, apply the latest scientific and technological achievements, and highlight its applicability.
The blackboard writing time in the traditional teaching mode is also the time for students to rest, think and prepare, but sometimes it seems monotonous and inefficient, with little classroom information and poor observability. We should also make full use of modern teaching methods for the teaching activities of operations research, a comprehensive subject with rich content, large amount of information and complex reasoning and calculation. By combining with modern educational technology, the latest modern educational technologies such as multimedia and Internet are used to optimize the teaching of operational research courses, and the interactive education for students is strengthened by making full use of online teaching resources, so that students can keep abreast of the development trends of operational research, master new ideas and methods, and enhance the predictability and application of operational research courses. Using these latest scientific and technological achievements to assist teaching can greatly improve teaching efficiency, increase students' opportunities to contact with practical problems, improve their ability to solve practical problems, and make teaching better serve practical applications.
(3) Improve teaching methods.
Change the traditional single classroom teaching into a combination of classroom teaching, special lectures, computer experiments and participation in social practice. Holding special lectures can better broaden students' horizons, make them understand the development direction and frontier trends of operational research, and lay the foundation for cultivating international talents with global vision; Carrying out computer experiments can cultivate students' innovative ability, which is mainly realized through three links: creating an operational research model that can be recognized by computers, writing an operational research algorithm program, and solving the model by using computing software; Participating in social practice can enhance students' practical ability, make students use the knowledge of operational research to solve practical problems, and be tested in social production practice activities, so that students can personally feel the practical needs and social value of learning this course, increase their knowledge and talents, and gain a sense of accomplishment in practice.
(4) Establish a variety of contact methods and learning platforms.
Establish an interactive network platform based on the school campus network, and establish an interactive network communication platform for teachers and students. Teachers put electronic lesson plans and other teaching resources in the network system for students to consult, review or download. Make full use of modern science and technology, give students and teachers contact information, strengthen contact through modern science and technology such as qq and email, answer students' learning questions in time and stimulate students' interest.
3. Strengthen case analysis and modeling training.
Simply explaining the basic theories and examples in textbooks will give students an illusion that operational research is perfect in theory, but it can't solve practical problems. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen case teaching in the teaching process. Case teaching has the following distinctive characteristics: First, it is purposeful. Second, authenticity. Third, the optimization of the results. Strengthening case teaching can deepen students' understanding and application of the concept of operational research; Strengthening case teaching is conducive to cultivating students' innovative ability; Through case teaching, students' ability to analyze problems, cooperate with each other and communicate with each other can be improved.
The annual national mathematical modeling competition for college students is one of the largest extracurricular scientific and technological activities in colleges and universities in China. The main method of mathematical modeling comes from the content of operational research. At present, the model contest has been highly valued by almost all colleges and universities. Although our school has made good achievements since it participated in the national mathematical modeling competition for college students, there is still a certain gap compared with other universities. Therefore, teachers can bring mathematical modeling into the classroom according to the actual situation of our school, appropriately introduce the topics of modeling competitions over the years, encourage students to actively participate in competitions at all levels, and promote the teaching of operational research through competitions.
4. Change the assessment method.
Examination is a powerful means to test the teaching effect and promote teaching, but the traditional examination method only examines theoretical knowledge and problem-solving skills, while the examination focus of operational research should be students' awareness of optimization and their ability to solve practical problems. Therefore, compared with other courses, the assessment methods of operational research should be open and diversified. The assessment method of this course should not only reflect students' ability to master basic knowledge, but also highlight students' practical ability and innovative consciousness. Therefore, performance appraisal should include basic knowledge assessment, practical ability assessment and innovation ability assessment. Basic knowledge assessment is used to strengthen students' understanding and application of basic theories and algorithms, mainly through students completing after-class exercises in each class; Practical ability assessment mainly examines students' ability to conduct preliminary mathematical modeling and apply operational research theory to solve simple practical problems, requiring students to do several application problems, only modeling without solving them; The assessment of innovation ability is mainly to guide students to use the learned optimization methods by arranging several mathematical modeling cases in optimization, not only to establish mathematical models, but also to use relevant optimization software to solve accurate results.
5. Introduce the origin and current theoretical frontier of this branch.
The operations of different branches have their own characteristics and classical methods, such as simplex method of linear programming, Kuhn-Tucker condition of nonlinear programming, and scribing method of game theory. These classic methods have their own founders and backgrounds. The introduction of celebrities and the history of each branch is helpful for students to master the development history of operational research and have an overall understanding of each branch of operational research from a macro perspective. At the same time, the introduction of celebrities also helps to broaden students' horizons, improve their interest in learning, enliven the classroom atmosphere and improve the teaching effect.
Four. Concluding remarks
The main purpose of operational research is to provide scientific basis for managers to make decisions, and it is one of the important methods to realize effective management, correct decision-making and modern management. With the deepening of China's higher education reform, it is required to use operational research in teaching to improve students' practical ability to solve specific problems. We believe that through a series of reforms in the teaching of operations research, different teaching purposes and contents are set for students of different majors, and different teaching methods and means are adopted to closely combine the leading role of teachers, the main role of students and the auxiliary role of modern educational technology, so that students can master basic theories and methods, have strong practical application ability and achieve satisfactory teaching results.
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