Computing in AEC Education: Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight

McCord, Kieren H.; Ayer, Steven K.; Gheisari, Masoud; Turkan, Yelda; Mutis, Ivan; Katz, Glenn; Fruchter, Renate

doi:10.1061/jccee5.cpeng-5646

Computing in AEC Education: Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight

Journal Article · Tue Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1061/jccee5.cpeng-5646· OSTI ID:2406474

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[5]; Katz, Glenn ^[6]; Fruchter, Renate ^[6]

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

In the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields, computing and information technologies play an increasingly prevalent and complex role in day-to-day work. Consequently, educators must adjust and, in many cases, reimagine curricula and teaching methodologies to adapt to the changing landscape. Past research efforts led by the ASCE Computing Division Education Committee, formerly called the Task Committee on Computing Education of the Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT), have regularly surveyed AEC educators to understand computing trends in AEC curricula, with the latest survey taking place nearly a decade ago. This work presents the results of an updated survey that used this prior work as a springboard, providing timely insights into the computing skills and curricular barriers faced by AEC educators today. The results showed that the technical skills used by students have evolved, but the barriers faced in incorporating new skills into curricula have remained largely the same. In addition to comparisons with prior surveys, this work presents the results of an expanded, open-ended portion of the survey that explores educator perspectives on the future of the AEC workforce in a broader lens than used in previous surveys. Thematic analysis of these open-ended responses revealed themes that were common among responses and provided organization to the findings. For example, educators provided their vision of what competencies the future AEC workforce would need, which were thematically organized into a continuum based on the level of interaction between humans and technology. These results suggest an increasingly complex and evolving relationship between the AEC workforce and emerging technology, highlighting the need for educators to encourage the development of technological adaptability and agility. Overall, this work provides a systematic comparison of current educational practices in AEC computing with a decade ago to illustrate educational shifts and adds a prediction of AEC trends from experts in AEC education, providing crucial discussion of curricular transformations that will better position students for success in the workforce.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 2406474

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA--187017

Journal Information:: Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, Journal Name: Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 38; ISSN 0887-3801

Publisher:: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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