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The paper analyzes how to improve the teaching of Operational Research, focusing on distance learning courses where professors and students are separated through space and time. This case study was done in a public Industrial Engineering undergraduate course, and the work structure is divided into three main parts: an exploratory‐descriptive documentary analysis, application of free software, and evaluation of learning. The authors showed the feasibility of using the SageMath tool in the teaching‐learning process. The study revealed the importance of developing alternative solutions to educational realities marked by economic and financial constraints, where structure teaching with free software is a ruling factor once Engineering education is not a similar global event everywhere. Distance learning is a phenomenon that has been growing over the last 20 years in Brazil, but this was one of the first experiences with the use of SageMath. So, it can serve as a reference for countries with socioeconomic conditions similar to Brazil. Also, this case study can help other professors to enhance their teaching in a distance learning context even in scarcity scenarios of educational resources. The software implementation would be justified in part of the groups studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]