Growth and the replacement of people leaving the labor force will add more than 68,000 new positions for civil engineers by the year 2005, according to a recent forecast of employment trends (ASCE, 1996). Attracting talented high school graduates and imparting the best possible civil engineering education is critical to the future of the U.S. construction industry. Studies conducted by researchers reveal that civil and construction engineering education should include practicality and feel for construction, creative thinking and problem solving, engineering judgment, and practitioner involvement. In reality, civil and construction engineering undergraduate curriculums are inadequate in providing students with the necessary construction management skills and experience. The goal of this project is to incorporate practical content in the civil and construction engineering thus bridging the gap between the classroom and the construction site. The project seeks to accomplish this important goal through the development of an integrated educational framework for the civil and construction engineering curricula that will serve as a national model. The two main activities of the project are: 1) to develop an Internet-based Interactive Construction Management Learning System; and 2) to develop an advising and mentorship program that will enhance practitioner involvement. The Interactive Learning System will focus on using interactive and adaptive learning environment to train students in the area of planning of construction processes. Tools that will be used in the development of the system will include multimedia, internet based computing, relational databases, simulation, and gaming. It will provide a real world environment requiring the use of multiple tools. The Interactive Learning System will be incorporated into the construction engineering and management curricula at Western Michigan University. The computer package, course material, and findings of the project will also be disseminated to unive rsities offering civil and construction engineering curricula at the national level. Evaluation instruments will be utilized to evaluate the learning and cost effectiveness of the proposed educational framework. This project provides an innovative methodology that utilizes the knowledge and guidance of industry experts, state-of-the art active learning paradigms, advanced computing tools, and skills of the university faculty to enrich the undergraduate engineering education.
