Assessing the Benefits of Flipped Classroom in Enhancing Construction Students’ Technical Communication Skills
Publication: Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 147, Issue 1
Abstract
Because of the availability of internet resources including audio and video on virtually any subject, the flipped classroom is being increasingly used in many areas. However, the benefits of using a flipped classroom on the technical communication skills of construction students have not yet been rigorously studied. Hence, a study was carried out with the objective of assessing the benefits of the flipped classroom in enhancing construction students’ technical communication skills. The University of Texas at Arlington’s graduate-level building information modeling course was selected to be taught using the traditional lecture-based format and the flipped format in two consecutive semesters. Students’ project report grades and presentation grades were used to evaluate their technical communication skills. Nine control variables representing students’ preexisting communication skills, technical knowledge, and background were considered. Hypothesis tests were conducted to compare the grades of students in two consecutive semesters. The results indicate that the flipped classroom format can significantly improve the technical communication skills of students measured in terms of project report grade and presentation grades. It is expected that these results contribute to the construction engineering and management pedagogy by increasing the knowledge of educators about the effectiveness of flipped classrooms in enhancing the students’ communication skills.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The available data items include the collected data about students in the traditional lecture-based BIM course and the flipped classroom BIM course: independent variables (project report grade and project presentation grade) and control variables (GPA, TOEFL, GRE quantitative score, GRE verbal score, graduate major, undergraduate major, family background in the construction industry, field experience in the construction industry, and past BIM experience).
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the grant provided by the Engineering Information Foundation (EIF). The authors are grateful to EIF for their help and support.
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Published In
Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 147 • Issue 1 • January 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 23, 2019
Accepted: May 27, 2020
Published online: Aug 18, 2020
Published in print: Jan 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jan 18, 2021
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