Abstract
In many business schools and engineering schools in universities and research institutes, Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been a very important course for students in Industrial Engineering or Information Management. The course aims to help students investigate the impact of business environment on the characteristics of supply chain, and the related supply chain management techniques, such as the use of optimization methods and planning of mathematical models. Students will be able to familiarize with the organizations’ upper, middle and lower levels of chain behaviors and operating processes before they step into the job market. After comparing the situations of SCM courses in universities in Taiwan as well as with the other countries, this researcher uses a 3-Tier Architecture and concept of module system development to design a supply chain simulation system and a web-based learning system. In the supply chain simulation system, it provides the users with supply chain mathematical model planning, forecasting of production scheduling and the optimal route calculation, etc. In the web-based learning system, three major functional categories-- individual learning, interactive and cooperative learning and web-based course evaluation are provided to strengthen the mechanisms to assist learning. Thus this study investigates how to utilize the Internet technology to assist in the instruction of the “Supply Chain Management” course. Web-based related learning theories have been used as the foundation for developing both the SCM simulation system and the Web-based learning system. Thirty students from various graduate institutes were involved in this study. Questionnaires, observations and interviews have been employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data for understanding the learning effects. Overall, the result shows that most 90% of the students are positive to the design and uses of the SCM simulation system and the Web-based learning system. Detailed finding are as follows: 1.the SCM simulation system could appropriately simulate the real situation of the organization’s supply chain; 2.the Web-based learning system could help strengthen learning mechanism; 3.this Web-based learning course improves learning effects and compensates the deficiency of traditional face-to- face learning; 4.the activeness of participation in the Web-based learning and learning performance positively co-relate with the learning effects; 5.Web-based teamwork accelerates the completion of the Web- based team project; 6.there is a high interaction between the learners and the instructors or among the follow learners. Finally, related research issues are discussed and more suggestions are presented for future study.