Assessment of the development of social and learning networks in construction management courses using social network analysis

Preparing Construction Management (CM) students for their professional lives must include not only training on technical skills, but also a variety of personal interaction skills, from working with diverse teams and solving complex problems to communicating with clients and other project stakeholders. This paper asks the question, “How can CM departments facilitate student learning and interactions that simultaneously develop technical, managerial, communication, and people skills?”. Across disciplines, universities have been encouraging curriculum innovation through High-Impact Learning Activities (HI-Activities)–including hands-on learning, problem-based learning, capstone courses, service-learning, and study abroad experiences–in an effort to develop students’ ability to apply knowledge and prepare them for their careers. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between classroom teaching strategies in CM courses and the development of social and learning networks among students. The data include results from a social network survey of four courses to understand how using different HI-Activities in the classroom produced different social and learning networks. The results show that service-learning and study abroad classes are more effective than classes involving project-based learning and hands-on learning activities in developing communication and learning networks among CM students.