Review of BIM Adoption in the Higher Education of AEC Disciplines

Abstract

This Technical Note serves as one of the first review-based studies by analyzing existing trends of incorporating building information modeling (BIM) into the higher education of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC)-related disciplines. Assisted by a scientometric review approach, this study identified mainstream journals and conference proceedings publishing BIM educational research outputs and analyzed existing research keywords. The results show that the Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice was ranked as the top journal measured by the number of publications and the total citations received by all articles related to BIM education. However, the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management was the journal with the highest average influence per article despite its small number of publications in BIM education. The keyword analysis through visualized mapping and quantitative analysis revealed that existing BIM educational studies had focused more on construction-related disciplines. Discipline-specific pedagogical activities were reported (e.g., interactive display in construction education), and there had been educational efforts to bridge different AEC disciplines through integrated and collaborative approaches. Several research trends were identified following the keyword analysis, such as the need of incorporating BIM at the program level by extending from a single course (e.g., quantity surveying) and integrating BIM with other digital technologies (e.g., drone). This study reports the state of BIM education literature by providing an overview of the latest trends of adopting BIM in the AEC education. Based on the current review, some continuous work in BIM education is foreseen, including educational innovation addressing both technical and managerial aspects of BIM, as well as the interdisciplinary collaboration to reduce the fragmentation among AEC disciplines.