Integrative pedagogical framework to support construction students' professional skills and engagement
Conference
Pradhananga, P, Elzomor, M, Santi, G et al. (2020). Integrative pedagogical framework to support construction students' professional skills and engagement
. 2020-June
Pradhananga, P, Elzomor, M, Santi, G et al. (2020). Integrative pedagogical framework to support construction students' professional skills and engagement
. 2020-June
Competent Construction Management (CM) graduates require an educational paradigm that go beyond conventional approaches, to align with the evolving workforce demands. This is especially true for underrepresented minority CM students, who must overcome additional barriers to succeed. To date, STEM students in general are offered conventional engineering education that depend on ineffective techniques, tiring introductory courses, and timeworn pedagogies. Research studies indicate that a shift to innovative pedagogical techniques such as problem-based learning (PBL), flipped classrooms and vertical integration are recommended to engage learners as well as actively develop their professional skills. This research implemented a pilot integrative learning approach, which couples PBL and vertical integration to successfully prepare minority CM students to thrive in their careers. Through this approach, three courses with different educational levels and instructional forms were connected by developing a shared project that addressed genuine and current construction issues. This research initiative targeted 48 minority CM students at a minority-serving institution and were evaluated in terms of self-reported professional skills. A pre and post-course survey tracked their progress throughout the semester which is analyzed through paired t-test and graphically represented with box plots with line plots. The results of the study show that this approach has a significant positive impact on CM students, especially minorities, in terms of improving their professional skills, implicitly supporting their retention and paving for successful careers. The findings of the study contribute to the engineering education body of knowledge on the integrative learning approach and its effectiveness in improving minority students' overall performance and professional skills.
