Teaching Project-Management Issues through Live Cases from Construction Sites

Abstract

Educating students in building science and civil engineering departments about professional practices has been recognized as an important issue. Information technology provides exciting possibilities for bringing project managers to classrooms electronically. In this paper, we describe the use of annotated still-image case studies in a senior undergraduate project-management class. A project manager, at a nine-story building site, discussed project-management problems with the students. Using a picturephone, the manager showed still images of the problem and talked to the students about the problem. The students were able to question him using another picturephone in the classroom. The effectiveness of this technology was determined using the four measures of “clear,”“useful,”“attractive,” and “challenging.” A questionnaire survey of the students showed that they found the case studies effective and preferred the ones delivered by the actual project manager. The students listed major benefits of the use of these case studies to be identifying project-management problems, reinforcing writing skills, and learning the need to communicate effectively.