Internet Usage in Undergraduate Management Science and Operations Management Courses

Abstract

We surveyed 1,353 professors to learn if and how they use the Internet in instructing their introductory undergraduate management science (MS) and operations management (OM) courses. We surveyed the faculty instructing these courses, since the same faculty often teaches both areas. Thirty-five percent of the faculty teaching introductory MS or OM courses use the Internet in their instruction. The most reported applications of the Internet were: searching the Internet for information/data, gathering data about a specific company, retrieving an article, reading or downloading homework problems, and downloading a syllabus. The most common reasons for not using the Internet as part of course pedagogy were: lack of student access to computer laboratory resources, lack of faculty training in Internet-related areas, lack of relevant Websites, and faculty not being convinced about the learning students receive from its use.