Anderson, A; Dossick, C S and Osburn, L (2020) Curriculum to prepare AEC students for BIM-enabled globally distributed projects. International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 16(4), pp. 270-289. ISSN 1557-8771
Abstract
Globalization and the increasing adoption of BIM and other technologies in the AEC industry have changed the way we prepare graduates for the digital workplace. This paper presents curriculum design where students from five universities worked together to develop design and construction proposals. This paper describes a collaborative project executed in two parts. Part I included the University of Washington in the USA and IIT-Madras in India. Part II included Washington State University in the USA, and National Taiwan University and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Students from these global universities worked on a multi-disciplinary, interdependent project where teams created 3D models and 4D construction simulations. This curriculum addresses ACCE and ABET accreditation requirements regarding multi-disciplinary teams, ethical and professional responsibilities in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts, and effective teamwork. In this paper, we describe the course design, evaluative criteria, and lessons learned. We found that it was important to emphasize BIM Execution Planning for distributed teams given that communication and coordination can be challenging across time zones and cultural differences. Working through technical challenges of exchanging BIM data, the students learned coordination skills in a globally distributed team environment that simulated real work experiences.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | bim; building information modeling; digital literacy; distributed teams; global collaboration |
| Index terms: | India, coordination, collaborative project, design and construction, 3D model, building information modelling, teamwork, lessons learned, collaboration, globalization, cultural difference, Taiwan, proposal, construction simulation |
| Subjects: | cross-cultural studies, Geography, contractual arrangements, project planning, computational design, economic factors, information systems, professional development, management, modelling and simulation |
| Topics: | Information Management, Organizational Design, International Construction, Digital Applications, Procurement, Geographical Context, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
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