Development of the BIM Body of Knowledge (BOK) Task Definitions and KSAs for Academic Practice

The BIM BOK project was a catalyst to investigate expectations and perceptions of professional BIM practices and performance outcomes. The project began in 2014 and was developed by the leadership of the Academic Interoperability Coalition (AiC). The AiC operates with the goals of improving communication and discussion concerning how academics around the world have been introducing BIM to their students (McCuen, 2014). The long-term goals of the BIM BOK project include the development of comprehensive metrics of BIM competency assessments for both industry/workforce and for academia and assists to delineate the specific tasks to roles, levels of knowledge and project phase. To date, although metrics for assessment for courses and certifications exist, there has not been a unified attempt to collect BIM competencies and requirements in one holistic framework. The AiC BIM BOK framework serves the purpose of creating a common curriculum roadmap to bridge the gap between college education outcomes and workplace performance requirements and to advance the understanding of BIM practices. Additionally, for the human resources sector, it will assist to standardize the levels of expectation for hiring practices and establish benchmarks for job task performance for emerging BIM job titles. Academics can then create the baseline performance measurement for BIM education accreditation, professional credentialing and certification. The initial phase of the BIM BOK project is complete and is now entering the next phase which includes a validation process. In an effort to summarize and market the results, the researchers have created a historical account of its development and an update on the future mission and the anticipated benefits for industry.