Strategy transitions in an operations management course: alongitudinal case study of student performance and teaching evaluations in Colombia

Recent developments in higher education have prompted the exploration of alternative instructional strategies to improve student engagement and learning outcomes, particularly in complex subjects such as Operations Management. This study documents the outcome patterns associated with the sequential use of gamification and social media in an Operations Management course at a university in Colombia. Using longitudinal data collected between 2016 and 2024, descriptive summaries, mixed-effects grade models, weighted semester-level segmented regressions, and semester-group lecturer-evaluation models were used to examine changes in student performance (measured by final grades) and lecturer evaluation scores across instructional phases. Mean grades and lecturer evaluations were generally higher in the gamification and combined phases than in the lecture-based phase, but because the strategies were implemented sequentially, the findings are interpreted as longitudinal associations rather than causal effects. The study contributes a longitudinal OM teaching case and highlights the importance of accounting for time, clustering, and the interpretive limits of student evaluations.