What are the research focuses regarding learning in the field of operations management in higher education? The case of Spain in 2017
Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management
JIEM
2013-0953
What Are the Research Focuses Regarding Learning in the Field of Operations Management in Higher Education? The Case of Spain in 2017
Juan A. Marin-Garcia
ROGLE Research Group
DOE Universitat Polit?cnica de Val?ncia (Spain)
Purpose: What are the current research topics being studied by higher education professors in the area of operations management in Spain with regard to the learning of their students? Are the approaches that support these investigations adequate? Design/methodology/approach: For the analysis, we have selected 25 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals published by Spanish authors in 2017, and we have encoded them using Atlas.ti. Findings: Most of the research centers on a very basic type of approach to learning, which reproduces the type of research typically conducted more than 40 years ago (type 1). For this reason, we propose an example of how to convert type 1 research questions into type 2 or 3 questions. Originality/value: This paper collects and summarizes the main works on learning research carried out by members of ACEDEDOT and published in 2017, identifying themes, methods, levels of teacher conception and focus on the type of student learning. We intend to use this information to create a map of the current situation and propose possible suggestions to implement evidence-based instruction on operations management.
Scholarship; student learning; student engagement; higher education
1. Introduction
Medina-L?pez et al. (2011). This situation limits the impact or the efficiency of our work as scholars who not only
conduct research, but primarily help transfer knowledge to students and professionals.
Furthermore, there has been a clear evolution in the meaning and implications of the levels of teaching conceptions
and approaches to teaching (Gow & Kember, 1993; Kember, 1997; Kember & Gow, 1994; Prosser & Trigwell, 1997)
and of the approaches to learning by students (superficial, strategic and in-depth) (Biggs & Tang, 2011 (1st edition
1999); Marton et al., 2005; Paricio Royo, 2013; Paricio Royo & Allueva Pinilla, 2011; Ramsden, 1992; Trigwell et al.,
1999). All these classic developments in teaching have marked the methodology and focus of the research on
learning at the end of the last century and the early part of this one.
However, this begs the question: Are operations management instructors taking advantage of these developments?
What have we as university professors in the area been investigating over the last year? Are the approaches
appropriate that support our research?
This research aims to collect and summarize the main works about research on learning in operations management
conducted in Spain in 2017. This will be used to identify topics, methods, types of teaching approaches and focus on
type of student learning. This will allow us to create a map of the current situation in this country, show a working
protocol for other researchers to analyze broader periods of time or to cover other countries, and make possible
suggestions for building an evidence-based teaching of operations management.
2. Objectives
To identify research focuses on learning from the studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals by
professors of operations management who teach university courses in Spain (as part of a degree or master?s
program).
To reflect on how to improve research on learning in this area of corporate organization and its possible
generalization to other academic fields.
3. Context
In this research, we will work with two dimensions that will enable us to identify the research focuses (Table 1).
On the one hand, we will focus on the type of research questions and we will analyze the type of teaching approach
that supports them (Kember, 1997; Prosser & Trigwell, 1997; Trigwell et al., 1999). We will characterize type 1 as
those research questions that attempt to identify the best method/resource to achieve student learning. Type2 is
focused on how the students learn, what the students do or what leads them to choose one learning approach over
another. Type3 focuses its questions on identifying, in specific contexts, what good learning consists of and what
students are learning during the course.
On the other hand, given that one of the variables that best explains the variability of the students? results or
behaviors are the learning approaches that the student demonstrates (Marton et al., 2005), we will analyze which
ones are present, explicitly or implicitly, in the published research.
Learning approaches that students choose can be classified into three types (Coffey & Gibbs, 2002; Gibbs & Coffey,
2000; Marton et al., 2005; Paricio Royo, 2013; Paricio Royo & Allueva Pinilla, 2011; Ramsden, 1992): superficial
(routinely storing unconnected information), strategic (doing homework or displaying behaviors that are rated
favorably by the teacher, for the maximum possible grade, with the (...truncated)