Journal of Civil Engineering Education

Ranking systems are readily available and offer a simplistic way to differentiate among universities. However, end-users are not informed about the criteria and methods used to develop the ranking systems. Whereas ranking systems are used by prospective students, their lack of reliability and transparency outweigh their benefits. There are a few reliable ranking systems of institutions and some disciplines, but there is no reliable ranking system for construction higher education programs. This study proposes a rating, instead of a ranking system, to better illustrate the comparative excellence of a program, rather than simply providing an ordinal scale. This study focused on creating the framework for rating construction programs through the lens of faculty and administrators. Specifically, the study sought to identify appropriate criteria for rating construction programs and to find consensus among administrators concerning the criteria. An initial list of 200 criteria were gathered from three sources before applying parameters of: measurability, triangulation, and saturation that consolidated it to 21. Then, a modified Delphi method was used to objectively create a consensus for 11 criteria that should serve as a framework for rating the excellence of construction programs.

The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry involves substantial requirements for visualization of complex three-dimensional models. There is a significant opportunity to expand the range of tools used to prepare students for this reality, while increasing engagement in the learning process. This study details several potential benefits of advanced visualization tools for AEC design courses, and proposes augmented reality (AR) as an addition to current teaching methods. An AR prototype that facilitates a mock building project design meeting has been developed, and a user evaluation ($\mathrm{N}=60$) was carried out to measure its impact on visualization and engagement. The results demonstrate that AR enables students to visualize buildings with greater speed, accuracy, and confidence than paper drawings during a mock design meeting. User perspectives strongly favored AR across fields such as attention span, affinity for the building design, and ease of both visualization and communication. These results show promise for the use of AR in facilitating visualization practice during design education.

This paper describes a teaching innovation project that adopts the project-based learning approach to introduce civil engineering students to their future professional roles and tasks throughout the infrastructure life cycle. The successful development of the whole process and completion of the infrastructure in the best technical and sustainable conditions require a comprehensive view of the infrastructure life cycle. Courses on Project Design and Project and Business Management at the B.Sc. in Civil Engineering simulated practical experiences in bidding, design, estimation, preliminary analysis, and construction planning, linking theory to professional practice. This study describes the organization of both courses to implement the simulations. To analyze the experience from the student’s point of view, a survey examined the students’ perceptions of the achievement of higher-order learning and their comprehensive view of the infrastructure life cycle. In addition, the learning results were compared with the students’ perceptions. Results indicated that students are aware of the learning improvement after performing the proposed activities. In addition, this approach helps the students to develop the professional competencies needed for the curricula. The coordination of the courses to align the learning activities with the life cycle phases enables students to deepen their understanding of the phases of the infrastructure life cycle while they acquire a comprehensive view of the process. In addition, this approach has improved the motivation and engagement of the students. This teaching innovation project is easily adaptable to other engineering curricula.