MXB338 Work Integrated Learning in Operations Research

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2025, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

Throughout your course, you have been building your discipline skills and your understanding of contemporary industry practice. This capstone unit provides you with the opportunity to bring together the skills that you have developed throughout the operations research major, combining them in a coherent manner to solve a significant and relevant real-world problem from industry. Your experience will reflect the genuine practice of an applied mathematician in the workforce.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Use computer-based techniques to solve operations research problems.
2. Critically select and apply advanced operations research techniques, tools and methods to analyse and solve a genuine industry problem.
3. Effectively and coherently communicate the outcomes of modelling and analysis in oral and written form.
4. Work collaboratively as a group of discipline experts through a combination of scientific report writing, self-reflection, project management and problem solving.
5. Familiarise yourself with ethical requirements in the workplace context and being able to appropriately apply them in real-world settings.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit utilises a blended learning methodology, including online and face-to-face components. The two cornerstones of work integrated learning (WIL) at QUT, i.e., industry engagement and assessed authentic tasks are present in this unit.

In lectures and workshops, you will engage in collaborative activity with peers, academic staff, and industry experts. New operations research content will be presented only in its direct context to the solution of the industry problem. Significant learning time will be devoted to working in your groups on formulating and implementing your solution to the industry problem. Your activities will include communication, evaluation of information and complex problem solving, which will help you to work effectively within groups with consideration for interpersonal differences.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Formative feedback will be provided for the in-semester assessment items by way of written comments, student perusal of marked assessment pieces and informal interview as required.

Summative feedback will be provided throughout the semester with progressive posting of results via Canvas.

Assessment

Overview

The assessment items in this unit are designed to determine your level of competency in meeting the unit learning outcomes while providing you with a range of tasks with varying levels of skill development and difficulty.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Individual Reflection

You will reflect on the group's project work, your contribution to the project, interactions with the industry partners and stakeholders, and technical aspects of the project.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Group Project Planning and Development

Your capstone project will be modelled on consultancy projects commonly used in industry. You will be tasked to develop a high-quality project that meets industry standards. You will perform analysis and operations research modelling to gain insight and inform decision-making by industry. You will present your findings and recommendations in a professional manner, as if to a group of experts in government, industry or academia, in both oral and report form, including the programming code developed for the project. Project deliverables at mid-semester mimic those in a project proposal, and may include project management documentation, exploratory and prototype operations research models and data analysis, professional progress reports and presentations.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Group Project Final

Your capstone project will be modelled on consultancy projects commonly used in industry. You will be tasked to develop a high-quality project that meets industry standards. You will perform analysis and operations research modelling to gain insight and inform decision-making by industry. You will present your findings and recommendations in a professional manner, as if to a group of experts in government, industry or academia, in both oral and report form, including the programming code developed for the project. Project deliverables at the end of semester mimic those at the end of a project and may include project management documentation, operations research models and data analysis, professional reports and presentations.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no out of ordinary risks associated with this unit.