Linking OR and public engagement. The Challenge-Based Learning approach

Since Rosenhead’ inaugural address as President of the OR Society (1986) many things have happened in our discipline. At that time, Rosenhead was trying to answer “who O.R. works for ('custom'), as well as what we do and how we do it ('practice')”. What at that time was not at the focus of OR was: how to teach OR? But this question does not seem clearly bounded and can be answered with a poor answer: “do it as usual”.
In this presentation, we will focus on answering the question on how to teach OR, but with a particular twist. To teach OR in such a way that students learn, not just the techniques, but also become aware of the impact that they may have when using OR for finding “solution of problems in the management of complex systems that enables decision makers to make better decisions.”
This presentation will show different OR perspectives that can be used to improve communities through public engagement, under a multidisciplinary teaching and learning approach that aims to increase students understanding of OR to solve real-life problems. This approach is known as Challenge-Based Learning. Examples of its use will be presented and discussed with the audience.