MOOCOR

 


Spring 2015 Course

MOOCOR is a free online course in Operations Research. As a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) it is an online course aimed at large-scale participation and open (free) access via the internet. It is similar to a university course in operations research or linear programming but does not offer academic credit. It is intended for students who are required to take an operations research course in their curriculum or professionals who need a refresher course in Operations Research. Although the course does not award any credit or certificate, it can help tremendously in preparation for actual classes to be taken or understanding the concepts and methodologies used in operations research.

University Affiliation (Legal Stuff)

  • MOOCOR is offered as a community service by the instructor of the course. It is not sanctioned by, or affiliated with the instructor's employer institution.

Instructor

Related Fields and Disciplines

  • Industrial Engineering
  • Operations Research
  • Business and Management Science
  • Transportation Studies
  • Other programs that require Operations Research and or Linear Programming courses as requirement

Topics Covered

  • Ten topics are covered. They are:
    1. Finding Feasible Regions
    2. Extreme Points, LP and Its Standard Form
    3. Writing LPs from Feasible Regions
    4. Simplex Method
    5. Simplex Method - Big M Method
    6. Simplex Method - Two Phase Method
    7. Matrix Representation of LP, Its Solution and Tableau Structure
    8. Revised Simplex Method
    9. Sensitivity Analysis
    10. Duality. We will also cover
  • Transportation Problem is also covered as extra topic.

Assessment

  • Personal assessment through online quizzes
  • Peer evaluation of homework assignments
  • Ten topic tests: one for each topic, one week after the completion of the topic and successfully passing the homework assignment
  • Grade equivalency: Passing 7 or 8 or 9 topics is equivalent to grade C or B or A in and undergraduate university class.

Dates: 

  • March 7 to May 15, 2015

Pre-requisite Knowledge Required: 

  • A knowledge level of first calculus course is required. However lectures, course Web page and handouts provide many links to free online resources that participants can use to learn the required math skills.

Estimated Effort: 

  • Depending on participants' background will range from medium to heavy

Certificate/Credit: 

  • No

Peer Assessments: 

  • Yes

Team Projects: 

  • No

Exam: 

  • Yes, for each topic

Video Lectures: 

  • Yes, through YouTube

Textbook / Materials: 

  • One of the textbooks by (Winston) or (Hillier and Liebermann) is recommended to be used with the course for deeper understanding of concepts and extended coverage. They do not have to be the latest edition. Essentially any Introduction to Operations Research textbook is fine. If you do not have access or can not afford to buy the books the course Web site provides rich online resources materials to get you through the course.

Forum: 

  • Yes, through Google groups (Need to create or have Google profile)

Country: 

  • USA

Language: 

  • English

Tags: 

  • Linear Programming
  • Operations Research
  • Simplex Method
  • Sensitivity Analysis
  • Duality theory

More Information