Internet Based Interactive Construction Management Learning System

根据最近的一项就业趋势预测，到2005年，经济增长和劳动力流失将为土木工程师增加6.8万多个新职位(美国工程师协会，1996年)。吸引有才华的高中毕业生并传授尽可能好的土木工程教育对美国建筑业的未来至关重要。研究人员进行的研究表明，土木工程和建筑工程教育应该包括实用性和对建筑的感受、创造性思维和解决问题、工程判断和实践者参与。在现实中，土木工程和建筑工程本科课程在为学生提供必要的建筑管理技能和经验方面是不够的。该项目的目标是在土木工程和建筑工程中融入实用内容，从而弥合课堂和建筑工地之间的差距。该项目力求通过为土木工程和建筑工程课程制定一个综合教育框架来实现这一重要目标，该框架将成为全国的典范。该项目的两个主要活动是：1)开发基于互联网的交互式建筑管理学习系统；2)开发一个咨询和指导计划，以加强从业者的参与。互动学习系统将侧重于利用互动和适应性学习环境对学生进行建筑过程规划方面的培训。系统开发中将使用的工具包括多媒体、基于互联网的计算、关系数据库、模拟和游戏。它将提供一个需要使用多种工具的真实环境。互动学习系统将被纳入西密歇根大学的建筑工程和管理课程。还将向在国家一级开设土木工程和建筑工程课程的大学分发计算机资料包、课程材料和项目成果。将利用评价工具来评价拟议教育框架的学习效果和成本效益。该项目提供了一种创新的方法，利用行业专家的知识和指导、最先进的主动学习范例、先进的计算工具和大学教员的技能来丰富本科工程教育。

Growth and the replacement of people leaving the labor force will add more than 68,000 new positions for civil engineers by the year 2005, according to a recent forecast of employment trends (ASCE, 1996). Attracting talented high school graduates and imparting the best possible civil engineering education is critical to the future of the U.S. construction industry. Studies conducted by researchers reveal that civil and construction engineering education should include practicality and feel for construction, creative thinking and problem solving, engineering judgment, and practitioner involvement. In reality, civil and construction engineering undergraduate curriculums are inadequate in providing students with the necessary construction management skills and experience. The goal of this project is to incorporate practical content in the civil and construction engineering thus bridging the gap between the classroom and the construction site. The project seeks to accomplish this important goal through the development of an integrated educational framework for the civil and construction engineering curricula that will serve as a national model. The two main activities of the project are: 1) to develop an Internet-based Interactive Construction Management Learning System; and 2) to develop an advising and mentorship program that will enhance practitioner involvement. The Interactive Learning System will focus on using interactive and adaptive learning environment to train students in the area of planning of construction processes. Tools that will be used in the development of the system will include multimedia, internet based computing, relational databases, simulation, and gaming. It will provide a real world environment requiring the use of multiple tools. The Interactive Learning System will be incorporated into the construction engineering and management curricula at Western Michigan University. The computer package, course material, and findings of the project will also be disseminated to unive rsities offering civil and construction engineering curricula at the national level. Evaluation instruments will be utilized to evaluate the learning and cost effectiveness of the proposed educational framework. This project provides an innovative methodology that utilizes the knowledge and guidance of industry experts, state-of-the art active learning paradigms, advanced computing tools, and skills of the university faculty to enrich the undergraduate engineering education.