The objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive, web-based on-line tutorial system for Operations Research (OR).
In practical terms this is translated into three kinds of activities:
- Development of tutorial modules for specific OR topics
- Development of generic web tools to facilitate the construction of the OR modules
- Research of the WWW technologies pertaining to this project
Over the past three years we have experimented with a number of approaches for the development of such a system. Our conclusion is that given the existing web technologies and the associated costs, a viable solution can be acheived via seamless integration of the following elements:
- HTML (in due course XML and MathML) for text
- DHTML for simple animation
- JavaScript for background computing and processing
- Simple, light, custom made web tools based on free-ware helper applications for user-friendly input/output graphic interfaces
Our long term plan is to develop about 100 modules ****, covering many of the introductory topics of OR, including:
- Linear Programming and Duality
- Game Theory
- Dynamic Programming
- Critical Path Method
- Graph Theory
- Goal Programming
- Decision Making Under Uncertainty
- Decision Trees
- Multicriteria Decision Making
- Sensitivity Analysis
- Inventory Theory and Production
- Branch and Bound
This list is not complete and is subject to changes. It reflects the topics we currently teach in our introductory OR subjects.
In developing these modules we shall keep in mind that OR provides excellent "examples" for classical first year subjects (eg linear algebra) so that the modules will be accessible and useful to non-OR students as well.
**** Don't panic! Most of the modules are small and we plan to complete this project before we retire.