Holley, P W (2006) Effectiveness of it-based course material: A case study in publishing and using a digital textbook for construction surveying. International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 2(1), pp. 29-41. ISSN 1557-8771
Abstract
Textbooks are an important part of education. The advancement of information technology is offering creative ways to change reference material and teaching methods to respond to the cultural shifts in the attention traits of today's students. Digital textbooks can be excellent teaching tools, particularly in curricula of applied fields such as construction management. They are capable of storing and presenting large amounts of high quality data in a variety of formats. This paper presents a case study in which the author of this manuscript authored and produced a digital textbook for use in a construction surveying class. Data reflecting course results was collected from 90 students who utilized the digital text and compared to data recorded previously from 92 students in the same course one year earlier who used a traditional printed textbook. Results were compelling in that the digital text was very effective and offered students value with respect to content and cost.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | alternative teaching; asynchronous learning; construction surveying; digital textbook |
| Index terms: | surveying, information technology, teaching method, effectiveness, case study |
| Subjects: | teaching methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics, performance management, data collection methods, computing systems |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Digital Applications, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Education |
| 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