The Changing Paradigm: Implications For Construction Engineering Education

A paradigm shift is taking place in American higher education such that the focus in higher education is no longer the approach or the process (i.e. instruction/teaching) but the end result or product (i.e. learning). Consequently, a very clear distinction is being drawn between the means and the end so that we do not mistake the means (teaching) for the end (learning). This paper focuses on what the implications of this paradigm shift are for construction engineering education. It presents what needs to be done to align what we are doing with the new paradigm to the benefit of students. It examines in what ways faculty roles in the educational process needs to change in order to ensure and enhance learning efficiency and effectiveness and what changes in educational technologies are more promising in facilitating changes from an Instruction Paradigm to a Learning Paradigm. It also details what we are doing at the Department of Construction Technology at IUPUI along these lines.