When it comes to decision-making in various real-life situations, sometimes data is more “reliable” than merely intuition. The question is: how can we make the best out of the “facts and figures” available to optimise our decision-making process?

 

Operations Research: an Active Learning Approach

If you wish to become a better decision-maker who uses data effectively, you should check out the new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Operation Research: An Active Learning Approach” designed by PolyU’s Department of Applied Mathematics and commencing in early July.

 

Operations management deals with operational planning and control issues, and is needed in almost every sector of society. One of the many challenges in operations management is how to make the best use of available resources to achieve a certain objective. To address such an issue, Operations Research (OR) could be one of the sensible solutions. OR is an analytical method of problem-solving and decision-making that is useful in the management of organisations. The techniques of OR incorporate useful quantitative tools to assist operations managers, and have wide applicability in engineering, manufacturing, construction, finance and various service sectors.

 

Through this newly launched MOOC, the mathematical procedures for OR techniques are introduced in detail with examples, helping learners to master the methodology and the techniques and apply them to achieve their goals. Two prominent OR techniques, namely the Simplex Method for Linear Programming and the Critical Path Method, as well as a series of extended topics will also be introduced.

 

To enrol yourself on this course, please click here. 

 

To learn about the free MOOCs offered by other faculties and schools of PolyU, check out the HKPolyUx website.