Contribution: To guide engineering educators on the complex path of understanding how to teach future engineers and how they can help engineering students to obtain the professional competencies required by frameworks and syllabus, based on didactic techniques that determine an orderly learning process. Background: University education is committed to change and adaptation to the current and new realities of the world. The framework for measuring the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) outcomes and Conceive- Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) syllabus have developed a list of competencies required by engineering students, encouraging universities to meet real-world needs. Intended Outcomes: Rethinking the role of engineering education and the purpose of education in the engineer's professional development, proposing a roadmap for engineering educators, helping them to define which teaching-learning techniques to apply to develop the competencies and skills that university and industry require from future engineers. Application Design: A relationship is shown between the competencies that today's engineers must have according to ABET criterion 3 (i.e., student outcomes), which are required for continuous accreditation of the engineering and CDIO syllabus, and the respective didactic techniques considered in this research. Findings: To develop competencies, students should be taught based on different teaching-learning techniques in higher education. A relationship is proposed for the engineering educator, showing them which didactic technique could be adequate to be applied in the classroom to develop in students the specific competencies established by ABET (SO1 to SO7) and CDIO (SL1 to SL4).
1 April 2014 in Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Buffers are used to deal with the detrimental impacts of uncertainty on projects. However, methods for the allocation of buffers often provide single unique solutions, which are inefficient in the multiobjective decision-making environment of construction. This paper discusses a probabilistic-based buffer allocation method (PBAL), which enables the final decision on buffer size to be made by the project planners based on their preferences about project completion time. It investigates the construction projects where each activity starts as early as possible. Accordingly, the decision involves determining the size of time buffer at the end of the project network. The accuracy of the results is subjected to approximation and numerical errors in the mathematical models among others. Most buffer allocation heuristics for projects have approximation errors and simulation-based techniques introduce numerical errors by their iterative sampling calculation approach. PBAL can minimize these errors by supporting important details of modeling the production in activities, and preserving these details when modeling at the project level. The PBAL capability to minimize mathematical modeling errors and its accuracy has been successfully tested using the records from ten construction projects.
Given the complex and dispersed nature of construction projects, which demand collaboration among varied experts, it is crucial to reevaluate project management and execution approaches to enhance their performance. Agile principles offer a path towards heightened responsiveness within tasks and processes, addressing the construction industry’s fast-paced nature and growing client demands for timely project completion. However, adopting new management methodologies, such as Agile, needs a significant cultural shift, enabling the cultivation of multi-skilled and self-managing teams. Projectification, a growing trend in contemporary society where more activities are managed as projects, has gained significant relevance in recent years. This study examines the application of Agile project management (specifically Agile Scrum methodology) during the pre-construction phase of a construction project through the lens of Projectification. As evidenced by the research results, applying the Agile methodology in the pre-construction phase may help enhance flexibility and collaboration, enabling teams to adapt quickly to evolving project requirements and unforeseen challenges. The findings demonstrate that Agile methodologies offer numerous benefits, including enhanced adaptability, flexibility, accountability, transparency, and teamwork. Additionally, there were significant reductions in time and costs, emphasizing the value of Agile practices in construction project management.