Donohoe, S W (2008) Can surveying and construction management undergraduate sudents' attitudes to construction law be changed by changes in teaching? DEd thesis, University of Sheffield, UK.
Abstract
Construction law is taught as a mandatory subject within surveying and construction undergraduate degrees as a requirement of accreditation demanded by professional bodies. Construction law is considered to be a vital part of surveyors' and construction managers' education, yet studies have shown that the subject is considered negatively by undergraduate students. The thesis uses action research to explore how construction law is taught at university and documents the use of problem-based learning to effect change. The thesis uses a multi-perspective approach incorporating experiments, surveys, interviews and fieldwork to answer the question can surveying and construction management undergraduate students' attitudes to construction law be changed by changes in teaching?. The thesis concludes that by using appropriate problems to enhance students' experiences at university, attitudes can be altered, particularly where students can see relevance to their chosen professional lives, and where intended learning outcomes are constructively aligned to assessment regimes.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction law; education; learning; teaching; graduate; professional; action research; interview; experiment |
| Index terms: | learning outcome, construction law, undergraduate, construction manager, surveying, experiment, documents, interview, survey, problem-based learning, action research |
| Subjects: | curriculum development, student development, construction law, data collection methods, professional development, profession, teaching methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Education, Information Management, Research Practice, Legal Issues, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here