On line educationally rich modules: an overview of IFORS tutORial project

This paper provides an overview of the IFORS tutORial Project. This project is a special initiative of the Educational Resources Committee of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) whose goal is to provide the international Operational Research (OR) community free access to web based, educationally rich tutorial modules dealing with standard OR topics. More than twenty self-contained modules are currently available on the project’s web site (www.ifors.org/tutorial/) covering linear algebra, linear programming, integer programming, dynamic programming and simulation topics. We describe the technical and organizational aspects of the project, including details on how the modules can be incorporated in science, engineering and management courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Pedagogical issues related to the incorporation of such modules in OR courseware are also discussed.