Teaching warehousing concepts through interactive animations and 3-D models

A significant challenge in teaching warehousing and facility logistics is conveying the important managerial and operational concepts to students effectively. These concepts always involve the presence and interactions of real-world objects such as facilities, vehicles, materials, storage and retrieval equipment, and most importantly humans. Meanwhile, knowledge in the mentioned fields does not only consist of concepts and principles but also include algorithms that solve a variety of problems encountered in practice. Trying to communicate this body of knowledge in words with the help of photos and drawings frequently proves insufficient. In teaching his warehousing courses the author has realized that a set of educational media composed of interactive animations and virtual three-dimensional (3-D) models indeed facilitates the challenges described earlier. Extensive educational media has been developed at Sabanci University in a coordinated effort of undergraduate students under the supervision of the author, and with the support of a multimedia expert. The media content has been selected and organized such that it can support and enrich classes and courses that would be based on two extremely useful books, one on implementing world-class practices in warehousing, and the other on strategies for saving space in the warehouse. The developed materials are freely available on the Internet to everyone, and are expected to contribute to the awareness, recognition, and growth of the fields of warehousing and facility logistics. In this chapter the educational materials developed, the rationale for the technology selections, and the teaching methods in class are explained. Meanwhile, resources for warehousing education are reviewed extensively and potential new technologies and approaches are highlighted.