Learning building pathology using computers – evaluation of a prototype application

Abstract

Building Surveying employers are requiring graduates with a high level of cognitive and experiential skills to enable them to survey buildings directly after graduation with little or no supervision. These skills have traditionally been built up over many years through on the job training. This has led to a change in thinking for educators as providing this type of graduate requires learning and training material that is time consuming and costly to provide, as it requires learners to be actively involved in real surveying tasks.One method that appears to solve some of these problems is computer-aided-learning (CAL). CAL can be defined as, "…a way of presenting educational material to a learner by means of computer program which gives the opportunity for individual interaction." The full potential of CAL tools in the building-surveying domain has yet to be fully explored. This paper presents the results of a prototype application developed to enable inexperienced surveyors to learn building pathology without leaving their desktops.

Modelling of owner‐occupiers' perception of small‐scale maintenance builders' performance expectation – Part I

“…Although, IT has enhanced innovation in construction technology and has led to efficient delivery of building design, construction assembly and building aftercare (Aouad, 1996; Coday and Hoxley, 2001; Hoxley, 1996) some sectors of the construction industry are yet to embrace its wider benefits. Indeed, when compared to other operations, within building refurbishment and maintenance, where examples of IT benefits have been outlined, for instance, by Shelbourn et al (2004), the domestic repair sector has seen the least levels of innovation and therefore lags behind other sectors. For the industry as a whole, the IT challenge remains.…”