Design of a Web-Based Virtual Construction Site Visit for Education of Civil Engineering Student (Part I)

Abstract: Learning from experience approach has been widely adopted in the academic cluster of Built Environment including Civil Engineering field. To further strengthen this aspect, a study in exploring construction site visit as an aid to educational component in teaching and learning method is significant. This provide a platform which helps civil engineering students to enhance their safety knowledge and understanding by experiencing the real time situation at the construction site. The objectives of this study are to: (1) determine the effectiveness of site visit approach in teaching and learning of construction site safety (2) measure the performance between students who acquire knowledge related to safety by experiencing one site visit compared to students with zero site visit; and (3) compare the achievement and understanding between male and female students if site visit is adopted in the teaching and learning process. A set of questions is designed as an instrument and participating students are required to answer the questions nonverbally to show their knowledge on the construction site safety. Based on the scoring marks, a statistical analysis has been conducted. The result indicates that students with one site visit have better achievement and understanding compared to students with zero site visit. In addition, the result also shows that with one site visit, female students have better performance in the score marks compared to male students. Keywords: construction site, experience-based learning, site safety, site visit

Download Full-text

An Educational Tool based on Virtual Construction Site Visit Game

Modern Applied Science ◽

10.5539/mas.v11n8p47 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 47 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cheng Zhang ◽

Yulin Lu ◽

Ruiyang Xu ◽

Xiaomei Ye ◽

Yuwei Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Active Learning ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Site Investigation ◽

Site Visit ◽

Construction Site ◽

Construction Sites ◽

Training Tool ◽

Development Platform ◽

Virtual Construction ◽

Active Learning Method

To enhance the engagement of Civil Engineering students and encourage active learning, a virtual construction site investigation game is developed in the present paper. 3D construction site environment is built based on BIM models and relevant objects common on construction sites are created to enhance the realistic. Navigation and Interactions are developed to enable the students to explore the virtual sites freely and get instant feedbacks. Different modules, such as Questions and Tasks, are developed to exam how well the students master the domain-related knowledge. Unity, a cross-platform game engine, is used as the development platform for this research project. The architecture, mechanism and the implementation are described in detail in this paper. A pedagogical methodology for improving the quality of learning is thus developed by transforming traditional instructional delivery techniques into technology-based active learning. Students’ engagement in the learning process is improved by establishing a contextual connection between ordinary textbook materials and technologies that students use in their daily routines. This new approach enables students to interact, and learn abstract topics in engineering design and construction method. The effectiveness of this active learning method is investigated by the feedback from two groups of students using a questionnaire. The potential benefits of the proposed research are: enhanced understanding of complicated structures; better accessibility to more construction site virtually; more convenient and flexible time for learning practices; and safer site visit with this pre-training tool.

Download Full-text

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF AN INVENTORY TO FACILITATE LEARNING OF INDIVIDUAL TEAM-EFFECTIVENESS

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.v0i0.4924 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Kristine Sheridan ◽

Doug Reeve ◽

Greg Evans

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Team Effectiveness ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Engineering Science ◽

Engineering Student ◽

Web Based ◽

Team Members ◽

Course Content ◽

Graduate Attributes ◽

Communication Competencies

Team-based projects have become a common method of modeling real-world experience and meeting required graduate attributes in engineering. In these projects, much of a student’s grade is attributed to work produced by an entire team, creating a need for instruction on how to work effectively as team members in addition to course-content instruction. A web-based tool is in development to create a virtual environment in which students can learn about and improve their individual team-effectiveness competencies through self- and peer-assessments. Framed as a guided reflection, these assessments are facilitated using an inventory which identifies 18 competencies along three aspects of team-effectiveness: Organisational, Relational and Communication competencies [1]. The inventory assesses observable behaviours that translate to specific levels of competency so as to provide a foundation for normalized self- and peer-assessments, as well as provide examples of how to improve. A study to assess student perceptions and use of the inventory was conducted in the Fall 2012 term in two upper year courses. The first course was a third-year course on energy systems that is required of all students in the Energy Option of Engineering Science and the second a fourth-year engineering leadership course which any engineering student can select as an elective. The objective of this study was to determine if students in a required engineering course perceived and used the inventory differently than those who self-selected into an engineering leadership course.

Download Full-text

The Virtual Construction Site: Knowledge Management in Virtual Environments

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) ◽

10.3991/ijet.v15i13.14655 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (13) ◽

pp. 81

Author(s):

Irina Terentyeva ◽

Aleksandr Lunev ◽

Svetlana Kashina ◽

Liliya Sadrieva ◽

Irina Korolyuk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Practical Significance ◽

Construction Site ◽

Social Significance ◽

Management Tools ◽

Technological Processes ◽

Construction Education ◽

Virtual Construction ◽

Smart Technologies ◽

The University

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of the virtual construction site as a tool of knowledge management on technological processes of construc-tion production at the university. A digital paradigm that ensures the unity of in-novative and smart technologies in construction education and improves knowledge management tools has become the methodological basis. The authors present the criteria for the effectiveness of teaching technological processes with the help of virtual construction site (digital, professional, personal). The guide-lines for teaching students to make a technological map in construction are pro-posed. The levels of knowledge of modern digital technologies are presented. The practical significance of the study is to present the experience of teaching techno-logical processes using digital content. The social significance lies in the for-mation of a sustainable orientation of students towards the digitalization of con-struction production. Originality of research consists in substantiation of virtual construction site as the effective tool of knowledge management.

Download Full-text