Design of an Innovative Learning Experience for the Final Project of the Building Engineering Degree

Abstract

This essay presents the bases for a new teaching methodology for the Final Project of the Degree of Building Engineering. The aim of this methodology is to approach students to advanced forms of work in architectural and engineering offices by employing Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies. This initiative has been funded within the Call 2011 for Teaching Research Incentives of the I Teaching Plan of the University of Seville. Following the guidelines of the European Higher Education Area, the learning experience designed has to enable the future Building Engineers to acquire specific and generic competences ascribed to the Final Project in the Verification Report of the Building Engineering Degree. The specific competence "E71. Presentation and defence before a university board of a final project, consisting of an integration exercise of the formative contents received and skills acquired through the degree" is trained by the development of a building execution project with the use of BIM technologies. For a decade, architecture and engineering offices have increasingly been incorporating in their projects new tools for information processing in digital integrated systems, i.e. programs which allow the construction of building virtual models in three dimensions, and the identification of their constructive components, providing them with parametric dimensions. The operating capacity of BIM programs is stronger than that of 2D drawing programs, since they can manage and generate all the technical documentation in an integrated way. As far as the generic competences are concerned, the problem is that the Final Project has ascribed twenty four competences and their training and evaluation throughout a single term, which seems rather unattainable. In order to solve this matter, the four most important generic competences of Building Engineers have been identified according to their professional profile: "G01. Capacity for organization and planning","G06. Information management skills","G09. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team" and "G13. Positive social attitude towards social and technological innovations". The use of BIM technologies and collaborative work methodologies allow the training of these generic competences. Finally, assessment matrixes of the five competences involved have been established with the descriptors of the assessment indicators for each of their corresponding criteria at each level of student achievement. This study is limited to the design of the experience; its implementation could be carried out in the first term of the 2012/2013 academic year, provided the main pre-requisite are met by students, and command of BIM programs such as ALLPLAN, REVIT or ARCHICAD, is achieved. Aware of this challenge-since BIM programs are taught as optional subjects-a curricular line for students interested in participating in this experience is also proposed for the next academic year.