Student-Centered Teaching Construction Equipment and Methods to 350 Students

Large class-size teaching has traditionally relied on lecturing in theatre style spaces with students transcribing what the teacher writes on the blackboard or projects onto the wall. Such lectures are commonly supplemented with tutoring sessions in which students are helped to complete homework assignments followed by graded tests. However, research has shown that there is very little that the students learn beyond taking tests on narrow technical topics. The construction industry, however, is asking for engineers with skills that cannot be taught using this lecture based approach to teaching. This paper presents the results of a pilot study designed to evaluate the concept of formative assessment as a means to teach a large undergraduate class on construction engineering. The paper's focus is on sharing the experiences with an instant response e-learning tool, Poll Everywhere, and the effectiveness of engineering sketching as an educational tool. This pilot study found that by applying known pedagogical models and resources, even large classes can be turned into active learning experiences that benefit every student.