Abstract
Education of the built environment is moving towards more collaborative practices. The intent behind the collaborative approach of teaching is to encourage students to explore the unknowns and unravel the problems themselves with the professor acting as the facilitator. This chapter presents the case for collaborative pedagogical approaches that was adopted to teach students from two geographically distant universities. The occasion used was preparation of student teams for Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) student competitions. The underlying philosophy behind this initiative is to provide the context for the future leaders in the AEC to learn by doing in a safer and potentially rewarding environment.
TopBackground
McGraw-Hill have published a number of reports where they asked North American Architecture Engineering & Construction (AEC) firms their requirements for skills for collaborative BIM. In 2009 (McGraw Hill, 2009), they reported that “…more internal staff with BIM skills, more external firms with BIM skills, more incoming entry-level staff with BIM skills and more readily available training in BIM were required to realize the potential value of BIM.” By 2012 (McGraw Hill, 2012) the updated report showed small decreases in the percentages allocated to the collaborative BIM skills required (possibly reflecting uptake by the industry), but collaborative BIM training was still placed among the top three targets for investment by industry.
These reports show similarities with Henderson and Jordan (2009) who suggested that some of the additional skill-sets (to their traditional single-discipline learning) industry requires included: “…knowledge of data management, information technology, energy and material conservation, integrated building design, systems thinking, life cycle analysis, the design processes, business and marketing skills, and project finance” (p. 35).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Student-centered Learning: Student-centered learning is sometimes referred to as learner-centered education. The approach broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. This type of pedagogical approach believes that the student should be the focus of the learning and that should be placed at the center of the process.
Active Learning: Active learning is a student-centered approach in which the responsibility for learning is placed upon the student, where they often working in collaboration with other team members. In active learning the role of the teacher/coach is one of facilitation rather than one-way provider of knowledge/information.
Collaborative Learning: Collaborative learning is an umbrella term for a variety of educational/ pedagogical approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students with students, or students and teachers together. Collaborative learning has been practiced and studied since the early 1900s.The principles are based on the theories of the greater educationalists John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, and Benjamin Bloom.
Experiential Research: Experiential learning is a process of learning where the learner is exposed to experience. “A learning by doing” approach that is more specifically defined as learning through reflection on doing. Reflection is an important part of the experiential learning process.
Case Study: A case study is a research approach involving an up-close, in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject of study (the case), as well as any related contextual conditions.
Design Build: Design-build, in construction terms, is a method of project delivery in which one entity—the design-build team—works under a single contract with the project owner (the client) to provide design and construction services. The Client manages only one contract with a single point of responsibility. The designer and contractor work together from the beginning, as a team, providing unified project recommendations to fit the owner's schedule and budget.
BIM: BIM or building information modelling is a process for creating and managing information on a construction project across the project lifecycle.
Collaborative Pedagogy: The collaborative pedagogy approach holds true to the position that students will better engage with critical thinking, thinking and revision if they engage with each other.