Principal Investigator: Veto Ray, Senior Lecturer, Department of Engineering Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Project Title: Integrating Simulation Based Learning into Construction Education to Promote Workforce Readiness, Student Engagement and Group Interaction: Construction Estimating and the Bidding Process
Funding Level: $5000
Abstract: Faculty seeking to prepare students for successful careers in their respective industries often deliver course material conveying the technical aspects of the area of study without allowing students the opportunity to simulate real world applications. Promising careers in the construction industry require students to have a great deal of technical knowledge, but application and soft skills are equally important to employers.
Integrating Simulation-Based Learning into construction education provides an opportunity to bolster technical skills through application and foster the development of soft skills influenced by group dynamics. The Construction Management Program at IUPUI underwent an extensive curricular change in 2020, consolidating structural design courses to allow for a more intentional focus on construction management principles while maintaining the necessary rigor and technical aspects within the structural courses & This deliberate change has brought light to the need for existing courses to expand beyond technical aspects and isolated application and introduce guided experiences through real world applications.
This proposal seeks to dedicate faculty and resources to provide students with new course material in CMGT 31000, Cost Estimating, including a culminating project that simulates real world expectations as they relate to current estimating and bidding practices, technology and required soft skills in the construction industry. New material will also provide students with an understanding of the principles of subcontractor selection and relationships, methods to determine project scope, and best practices in establishing an inclusive disadvantaged business enterprise program (DBE) as it relates to ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) commitment and contracting goals.
