Collaborative multidisciplinary learning : quantity surveying students’ perspectives

The construction industry is highly fragmented and is known for its adversarial culture, culminating in poor quality projects not completed on time or within budget. The aim of this study is thus to guide the design of QS programme curricula in order to help students develop the requisite knowledge and skills to work more collaboratively in their multi-disciplinary future workplaces. A qualitative approach was considered appropriate as the authors were concerned with gathering an initial understanding of what students think of multi-disciplinary learning. The data collection method used was a questionnaire which was developed by the Behaviours4Collaboration (B4C) team. Knowledge gaps were still found across all the key areas where a future QS practitioner needs to be collaborative (either as a project contributor or as a project leader) despite the need for change instigated by the multi-disciplinary (BIM) education revolution. The study concludes that universities will need to be selective in teaching, and innovative in reorienting, QS education so that a collaborative BIM education can be effected in stages, increasing in complexity as the students’ technical knowledge grows. This will help students to build the competencies needed to make them future leaders. It will also support programme currency and delivery

Students’ perceptions of BIM education in the higher education sector: A UK and US perspective

© The Author(s) 2017. The use of building information modelling (BIM) has increased in the global architecture, engineering, construction and owner-operated (AECO) industries. This increased use has contributed to a recognition by project stakeholders of its importance across the building life cycle, leading higher education institutions to rethink their AECO provisions. There has been much debate about how BIM should be employed in undergraduate curricula: should it be included as a stand-alone subject in a programme or as an underlying theme across the programme? Research has also been conducted into theories of practice with regard to BIM education. This article builds on previous research in the codeBIM project and describes students’ perceptions of current practice in the United States and the United Kingdom. The article begins with a literature review of current theories of BIM teaching in AECO and a summary of good practice. The use of focus groups is described and the findings from focus group sessions held in the United Kingdom and the United States are discussed. The authors identify six key areas required for BIM to be inclusive in higher education: collaborative curricula, space, teamwork, relevance to the industry, technical/technological skills and the role of the professor or lecturer. Each of these areas is discussed in light of the findings from the focus groups