Eiris Pereira, R and Gheisari, M (2019) Site visit application in construction education: A descriptive study of faculty members. International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 15(2), pp. 83-99. ISSN 1557-8771
Abstract
Construction site visits are interactive experiences that enhance students’ understanding of real construction practices. Site visits create an interactive learning environment for students and provide exposure to a real-world spatiotemporal experience of a construction project. This article explores construction site visit application as an educational component in construction curriculum. An online survey was conducted to assess the current status of site visit application in construction education, benefits and barriers of their implementation, and the role of virtual site visits as alternative experiences to real site visits. This study focused on university faculty members in construction programs across the United States. The results of the study show that faculty members predominantly reported to have had zero or one to two site visits for each construction core subject areas taught throughout their careers. Furthermore, respondents indicated that the benefits of observing and interacting with the environment and the professionals present in a construction site are exceptionally important for the students. The respondents also remarked that the spatiotemporal challenges of construction projects are the most significant barriers for site visits. Finally, the study also revealed that a low percentage of the faculty have had educational experiences with virtual site visits.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction education; construction site visits; experience-based learning |
| Index terms: | implementation, United States, construction site, survey, career, construction education, program, construction project, exposure |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, work location, public and environmental health, software systems, professional development, contractual arrangements, production management, Geography, professional education |
| Topics: | Education, Procurement, Health and Safety, Project Management, Geographical Context, Site Management, Digital Applications, Information Management, Research Practice |
| 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