Wall, J (2009) The development of technology facilitated learning for continuing professional development of construction managers. PhD thesis, University of Salford, UK.
Abstract
The demands on professionals in the construction industry are considerable, both in terms of time commitments at work and the range of skills necessary to execute their job effectively. One element in ensuring the continued effective delivery of projects has been the recognition that continued learning is an underpinning aspet for successfully delivering projects. This results in more certainty around the time of completion, to the appropriate quality and within budget. The aim of this research is to formulate a strategic framework that will serve both educational institutions and the construction industry, bring industry and higher-level education closer in the delivery of lifelong learning. These issues were investigated via the primary research, which consisted of a survey of construction professional bodies, the evaluation of a pilot portal for continuing professional development and the evaluation of a formal continuing professional development programme from both a participant's and an instructor's perspective. This research work suggests that it is vital to recognise the importance of understanding pedagogy and how learning takes place and that aone size fits allapproach does not recognise the inherent differences in individuals in terms of how people learn. There are a number of key issues that must be addressed in effectively delivering lifelong learning in the construction industry. These can be clustered around four principal themes; (i) continuing professional development, (ii) understanding the learning process, (iii) higher education's role and (iv) technological issues and challenges. Key success factors in delivering lifelong learning include; (i) acting professionally, (ii) collaboration between education, professional bodies and industry and (iii) creating an environment that encourages and facilitates access to lifelong learning. An important output from this research is the formulation of a framework that may be applied for deploying blended learning continuing professional development in an educational setting.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | collaboration; continuing professional development; evaluation; learning; skills |
| Index terms: | higher education, construction professional, continuing professional development, instructor, pedagogy, construction manager, lifelong learning, collaboration, survey, programme, construction industry, commitment, success factor |
| Subjects: | project controls, practitioner, industry analysis, educational institutions, teaching methods, psychology, health monitoring assessment and metrics, profession, management, data collection methods, professional development |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Research Practice, Time Control, Education, Information Management, Organizational Design, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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