GOAL Project for Decision-making

How do we make decisions from day to day? Answering this question is not easy, not even on an individual level. However, this questioning gave meaning to my doctoral thesis that sought to understand how this process is carried out. So, focused on the logistics area, I developed a simulator where students put their knowledge into practice on business topics such as forecasting, inventories, production, optimization, and other related topics. The purpose of the simulator was to generate in students an internal motivation to study, conduct research, and extend their experience in understanding these subjects.

When I started this project, I realized that covering in a single class all the academic content that was addressed in the simulator was practically impossible; nevertheless, I decided to take it to the classroom and dedicate some of the class time to reviewing and discussing those topics that were not covered in the academic content. The positive response of the students was surprising. They were genuinely motivated to achieve better results in the game, and although there were topics they had not yet studied, they were determined to research and explore how to make decisions in those areas.

“Although there were issues that we hadn’t addressed in class yet, the students were determined to investigate and explore how to make decisions in those areas.”

The GOAL Project (Spanish acronym for Generating Opportunities for Learning in Logistics) is a project that has evolved from its creation in 2017 to date. GOAL is an open portal; teachers can find free educational material for their classes such as notes or notations generated by the same teacher, videos, quizzes, free textbook chapters, and a logistical decision-making simulator, which we have called LOST (an acronym for Logistic Simulator). More than 135,000 visitors have registered on the Goal Project portal, and more than 4000 have enrolled; there are also more than 130,000 visits to the game (the LOST simulator).

We aim to develop a broader set of educational support materials for teachers. However, teachers using the platform can access the game and monitor their students’ performance by seeing the scores that are generated when students respond to the quizzes available on the portal. They can also create and place new educational supporting materials or formulate new questionnaires.

“Students understand more clearly the complications of a logistics system through the Goal Project. We have been able to observe how they develop their strategies and adapt them as they obtain more information.”

Through the Goal project, students generate skills that are essential in this century, for example, the ability to “learn to learn,” also called self-directed learning, the ability to reflect on their learning, and the skills to make a more profound commitment to their education. Over the past year, we have generated more than half a dozen articles related to the benefits that this educational platform manages to develop in students.

As a result of this project, we have established partnerships with universities in different countries to explore the operation of this platform and become an academic reference in Latin America. We have had the privilege of being in contact with universities such as The Catholic University of Chile, The University of Buenos Aires, EAFIT University, The University of the Andes, The University of Costa Rica, and The National Open and Distance University (UNAD), among others. In Mexico, we have registrations from some universities that use the platform such as the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), The University of the Americas of Puebla (UDLAP), The University of Tamaulipas (UAT), and The University of the State of Mexico (UAEM). Within our institution, Tecnológico de Monterrey, several campuses have implemented its use. These are the campuses in Mexico City, Santa Fe, the State of Mexico, Toluca, Puebla, Guadalajara, Sonora Norte, Hidalgo, Tampico, León, Monterrey, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, and Sinaloa.

In summary, the GOAL Project is a platform that has allowed us to achieve significant advances in student learning. For example, the average score has been increased in the courses where the students integrate this platform as an educational resource; the rate of withdrawals and failures has decreased; the students’ motivation to learn has increased as well as their ability to self-direct their learning, and their commitment to their education and skills of reflection have developed.

Understanding how people make decisions is still part of the questioning; however, given the enormous amount of data we have on this platform today, we find it possible to determine what are the most common mistakes that we observe in students when they are making decisions in the logistics area. We have been able to see how they develop their strategies and how they adapt while obtaining information. We are confident that many of our students have been able to understand more clearly the complications of a logistics system.

The platform is entirely free and is open to teachers, students, and anyone interested in the subject of logistics. On the webpage, you will find a more explicit description of the project. If you are interested in working with us, participating in the project, or sponsoring the site, you can write to the email that appears on the page or to my email.

About the author

Ernesto Armando Pacheco (epacheco@tec.mx) has a Ph.D. in Operations Management. He is Professor of Plant in the Department of Industrial Engineering in The Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus. He teaches the subjects of Operations Research, Inventory Theory, Production Management, Statistics, and Decision Making.

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