Are our undergraduate construction students really ‘digital natives’?

In the higher education world we often hear that nowadays the students joining our courses have grown up immersed in digital technologies and are already highly proficient in using these technologies. They are the so-called ‘digital natives’ whilst the older generation are the ‘digital immigrants’. I realise that these ideas have been challenged but in my experience it is a widely held view that young people entering higher education are very ‘tech-savvy’ and don’t need any advice from us about the use of technology.

I wanted to get the students’ own views on this issue in order that we can adapt our provision to cater for students’ needs. At the start of the academic year last month I conducted a survey of all new students joining the Construction Studies Undergraduate Programme to identify the level of access they had to computing and how familiar they were with various technologies. The programme comprises five honours degree courses in construction-related disciplines, namely Architectural Technology, Building Engineering, Building Surveying, Construction Management, and Quantity Surveying & Commercial Management.

The survey yielded a total of 99 responses out of a total intake of 129 students so it is obviously just a small snapshot from one programme in one university. Nevertheless, it does produce some interesting results. Here are just a few of the key findings:

• The vast majority of students (93%) have access to their own laptop. The majority of these devices run the Windows operating system.


• Only around half the students currently have access to a tablet device.


• The overwhelming majority of students (95%) have a smart phone. Around a half of these are iPhones.


• Use of social media is nowhere near as widespread as we might expect. Whilst most students have a Facebook account, around two thirds of them post to Facebook rarely or never. Around 40% of students do not have a Twitter account and of those students who do, most of them rarely ‘tweet’. Google+ is only used frequently by around 20% of students.


• 95% of students have never maintained their own blog. Similarly, around 95% have limited or no experience of using wikis, and almost 90% have limited or no experience of using discussion boards.


• 95% of students have limited or no experience of using social bookmarking (such as Diigo or Delicious) and almost 80% of students have limited or no experience of using image hosting services (such as Flickr).


• Around half the students do not use any form of cloud storage.


• There is very limited use of ‘productivity’ web apps such as notetaking apps (e.g Evernote) or ‘to-do’ list apps (e.g. Wunderlist).

What does this tell us?
In my view this suggests that we cannot simply assume that our students are highly proficient in the use of digital technologies. I think our courses have to incorporate guidance on digital literacies and the effective use of digital technologies so that students can get the most from their studies and be better prepared for the professional world.

Further information
A document summarising the responses to the survey is available in PDF format here.

Five things I've learnt on my Revit training course

This week, along with several colleagues from the Dept. of Property & Construction at the University of Westminster I’ve had three days of training in Revit, an architectural 3D modelling package. The training has been provided by Cadassist, and our trainer, Aaron has been superb - he is clearly extremely knowledgeable and experienced, not just in this software package, but also in many other relevant packages which often run alongside Revit. He presents the course in a very clear manner and is very patient with those of us who don’t quite grasp the concepts immediately.

The course has been a real eye-opener for me. I was aware that Revit (and similar packages) offered a whole new approach to the design process and the management of the information associated with a building, but this week I’ve had a glimpse of the real potential of this technology.

So here’s the top five things I’ve taken from the course:

1. This technology has the potential to genuinely change the way the industry operates. When used effectively it will not only change the design process but will also integrate production, cost control and built asset management and will facilitate real collaboration between all the parties involved.


2. Our students have to become proficient in this technology. It is them who will have the power to change the industry.


3. All construction professionals should develop a good working knowledge of this technology, not just those involved in design.


4. The technology has massive potential to change the teaching of built environment disciplines. For example, I teach construction technology and I can see fantastic possibilities for making the subject easier to understand for students.


5. Regular use of the technology will be essential to retain and develop proficiency. I am going to have to keep working with Revit otherwise I will simply forget it.

Looking at the screenshot below, it will be apparent that I still have a great deal to learn!!

Deadline Day

Transfer deadline day usually brings a flurry of activity in the market at QPR. Who’s going to end up a QPR player by 11.00 tonight?  Benoit Assou-Ekotto? Chris Baird? Jermain Defoe? Who’ll have left the club? Joey Barton? Julio Cesar?

Well none of us will know for sure until the deadline is passed but no doubt we’ll be glued to Sky Sports News this evening following the latest developments with Jim White.

It’s sad isn’t it!

My new blog

Well - here goes.

On two previous occasions in the last few years I’ve tried to get a blog going but have never managed to sustain it. I think I was trying to make the content too formal and consequently I never felt that I had anything significant enough to contribute.

This time I’m having a go with Tumblr, which seems to be much more laid back and encourages short-format uploads, whether they be text, images or links.

Hopefully it will be third time lucky.