A Graduate Seminar In Construction

At our University, with our graduate program in construction, we looked for a vehicle to accomplish certain goals. Our construction program is in a major metropolitan area with an extremely active construction market. We wanted to expose graduate students to the broad spectrum of this market ranging from residential and commercial through to heavy construction. In addition, we wanted students to gain insight into construction problems faced by firms in these markets. These insights might help students to focus on areas of exploration in completing thesis or project requirements for their particular degree study plan. Also, we wanted to expose students to research that involved our construction faculty members. A further goal was to encourage student presentations on their selected topics. In order to address these above concerns, it was decided to implement a graduate seminar in construction. This is a two-course one-credit (two total credits) sequence spread over two consecutive semesters. Currently, we are in the second year of offering this graduate seminar. The subject paper explores the relevant issues and problems in successfully conducting this seminar program. One advantage we had as a graduate program is that we could add the two credit requirement on top of the existing program without having to reduce credit numbers devoted to other topics. Hopefully the lessons learned from our experience will prove useful for other university programs in construction. Introduction Construction programs whether at the graduate or undergraduate level are always faced with coursework constraints when considering additional degree requirements. Most programs have system-imposed constraints on hours required for a degree. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, when initially developing the M.S. in Construction Management and M.S. in Engineering (Construction Specialization), we were faced with a credit limit constraint of 30 semester credit hours for the M.S. thesis option program and 33 semester credit hours for the M.S. project option program. These credit-hour limits were considered as hard caps beyond which additional coursework could not be mandated of students. We had developed a core of 30 hours that we thought were essential for a student’s graduate Page 637.1 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” education. This included (thesis option) 18 hours of required graduate construction coursework, 6 hours of required graduate management coursework and 6 hours of targeted electives (students choose 6 hours from a list of 34 hours). We still thought that the course sequence was missing some elements. From our own graduate education experiences and those of others, the largest barrier that graduate students confront is when it comes to completing their thesis or project. These barriers range from initial concept through to completion and presentation. That significant numbers of students exist with coursework complete but lacking the completion of a thesis or project are legendary in higher education. Students often lack the knowledge of the research process, research information resources, and literature review. In addition, students may be familiar with only a limited segment of the construction industry from their prior background. With the addition of a two semester one credit graduate seminar, it was our intent to address these issues. This graduate seminar thus increased our requirements for both the thesis and the project option by two credits above the perceived maximum credit hour limit. However, fortunately we were able to quickly gain approval for this proposal from the various approval levels within the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. The additional credit hour approval was very important because otherwise including the seminar would mean deleting classes or reducing credit hours in the balance of the graduate program. This would be anathema to ourselves since, from our perspective, every included core class in the graduate program is mission critical. The other alternative would have been to reduce elective choices which would also create certain problems. Graduate Seminar Format The format for the graduate seminar is one class meeting per week over the entire semester. The class meetings are for seventy-five minutes for both the Fall and Spring semesters. Students in the seminar receive a letter grade. We want students to take this seminar seriously so letter grades rather than some pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory system were felt to be the preferred route. The grading basis consists of mandatory attendance, written assignments, and student’s own presentations. While only counting for one credit each semester for a two credit total over the two semesters, since it counts in the grade point average, students take the mandatory attendance requirement seriously. Course attendance is kept by the coordinating faculty member. A continual stream of written assignments on a weekly basis including summaries of speaker presentations is another requirement. These speaker assignments force students to pay attention and take notes rather than merely occupying a chair. Short student presentations are assigned each semester for students to report on their research progress concerning their thesis or project topic. Literature Search Most graduate programs include the requirement that the students complete a thesis or project report. This requirement ensures that the students learn the ability to think independently and conduct an objective evaluation of a topic. Part of this process is the search for existing knowledge and information on the topic, an activity which typically requires long hours in the school library. Scheduled into the Fall semester seminar is a presentation from the university library staff regarding the resources available at the library for conducting literature searches. The presentation includes a discussion of what resources are available and how to use the resources. The class meeting for this presentation is actually held in the library so that the students can see first hand the location and use of the resources. This presentation provides the students with a head start for conducting the literature search as part of their thesis or project P ge 637.2 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” report. Making the students conduct a literature search as an assignment for the class also gives them the impetus to begin the search for their thesis or project report. The assignment is of great benefit to faculty who no longer have to hold a “hold a student’s hand” when conducting a literature search. Conducting The Seminar Since the start of the M.S. program approximately two years ago, seminars have been conducted each semester. Minor changes have been made with each successive offering, with several suggestions coming directly from the students, until a preferred format was developed. Table 1 shows a representative schedule of topics taken from the course syllabus in a recent semester. The development of the seminar has led to the realization of several issues that needed attention and benefits that have come about. These issues and benefits are described in detail in the sections that follow. Table 1. Typical Seminar Schedule for Semester Week Topic Presenter 1 Class Introduction And Research Process UNLV Faculty 2 Residential Construction Top 10 U.S. Homebuilder 3 Construction Estimating ENR Top 25 Industrial Contractor 4 Construction Scheduling Scheduling Consultant On DOE Yucca Mountain Project 5 Database & Searches In UNLV Library UNLV Library 6 Clark County Multi-Year Multi-Billion Dollar School Construction Program Clark County School District (8 Largest School District in U.S.) 7 Project Management Software Leading Software Project Control Firm 8 Airport Construction ENR Top 25 Heavy/Highway Contractor 9 Construction Safety State of Nevada Safety Consultation & Training Division 10 Construction Partnering ENR Top 400 Heavy/Highway Contractor 11 Commercial Construction ENR Top 200 Commercial General Contractor 12 Construction Management Process Improvement Principal, Construction Consulting Firm 13 Construction Defects Research UNLV faculty 14 Optimization in Construction Research UNLV Faculty 15 Student Presentation Graduate Students Extra Out-Of-Class Field Trip To Water Resources Project Public Agency Guest Speakers P ge 637.3 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” In terms of guest speakers and topics for the graduate seminar, UNLV is fortunate to be located in a large urban area with a dynamic construction market. These two factors help to provide outside speakers to the two semesters of this program. However there are some significant problems in dealing with guest speakers. Some of these problems that we have encountered include the fact that in the current construction industry environment there is a significant scramble for talent. At UNLV and other institutions job boards are full of recruitment ads seeking construction personnel. Faculty phones ring off the hook with calls from construction companies and search firms seeking construction talent as well. If construction students, whether graduate or undergraduate are interested, there are a plethora of opportunities available. Unfortunately, a minority of speakers have tried to turn their presentations to the graduate students into a straight recruiting pitch. It is consistently emphasized to guest speakers that we are not seeking recruiting pitches aimed at our students. The speakers can talk about their firms to provide context for their talks but a recrui