Construction Management Department
Course Improvement Plans 2008-09
CM 3260-Applied
Structure II
Guest lectures
will be included
An assignment on
shoring and reshoring will be included
CM 3000 - Computer
Applications in Construction
Reference guide for SureTrak - developed by Javier Irizarry will be improved.
Continue to improve lab exercises on Revit.
Continue to improve lab exercises on Estimation software.
CM 3110 Building
Techniques and Methods I
Guest lectures will be included.
Assignments utilizing the Building Information Model (BIM) software will be included.
CM3210 Applied
Structures I
Students’ presentation will be included.
Outcome Assessments
Spring and Summer 2008
Estimating I CM 3410
and Estimating II CM 3420
Insurance and Bonding
After reviewing the exit interviews and the Outcome Assessments for the above classes, I found out that the areas that deserve improvement are Bonding and Insurance.
Now, I was not clear who this comment was addressed to. In Estimating II, I have two full lectures that discuss surety companies, Bid bond, Payment and Performance Bond and their implication on preparing an estimate, bidding a project, etc. In another lecture, I provide the cost of obtaining insurance and bonding and how this becomes part of the Bid.
An in depth discussion typically will be repeated also in a Construction Law Class and to a lesser extent in Project Management.
CM
4710-Construction Safety
1. Put more emphasis on accident costs and construction ethics
2. Add more statistics to justify the importance of safety
CM
3260-Applied Structure II
1. Include another fieldtrip to visit material testing labs to demonstrate some testing equipments and procedures for soils and concrete. Possible visits can be made in Lafarge Testing lab and ATC
2. Need to form the project group early
CM 4639-
Construction Safety and Law
1. Will provide 10 hr OSHA completion certificate
2. Either course content should be reduced or need to increase the course hour
CM 1000,
Construction Orientation:
1-
Present SPSU and CMD policies and procedures to the
class.
2-
Test students on issues covered in item 1.
3-
Update the currently used 13 years old Skyscraper
video series.
CM 3180,
Construction Materials and Methods III:
1-
Incorporate use of more in class props and physical
examples.
2-
Encourage students to attend professional meetings
and lectures by ASHRAE, ASPE and IEEE.
CM 3500,
Construction Codes:
1-
Invite permit official from different local
jurisdictions to lecture to the class on permit process.
2-
Complement online testing with in some in class
testing and individual student assignments
CM 4800, Construction Simulation:
1-
Updated
scenarios that the students worked on based on more recent issues.
2-
Add
more preparation lectures for CM 4900 which follows this course.
CM 4900, Construction Capstone Project:
1- This course represents all other courses taught in the department and the latest outcome assessments were all above the target range of 3.5/5 however administrative improvements may be incorporated based on the feedbacks received.
2- Provide more than 10 days for industry panel members to review the student projects.
3- Inform the students on ALL their milestones both in the Capstone Manual and in the Syllabus and add milestones to make sure the deadlines are met.
2000 Constriction Graphics:
Review the available textbooks and suggest a new textbook since Volume II of the textbook is not always available.
Incorporate original size construction drawings with the text books.
Add field measurements and free hand sketching exercises to enhance the students’ capabilities in documenting existing constructions and relate the construction drawings to the field.
Add exercises to produce professional drawings of basic construction details.
4570 Development Process I
Invite external reviewers for the final project.
Require an electronic submittal and a power point presentation for the final project in order to prepare the students for the Capstone Project.
Generate a bank of suggested questions.
Prepare a library of the required electronic forms and spreadsheets for the course.
CM 3000 - Computer Applications in Construction
Add more lectures on graphics programs such as Auto Cad and Revit.
Add more BIM integration exercises.
Incorporate more exercises that are related to estimating software .
Continue to improve lab exercises and assignments to reflect more closely topics addressed in construction practice for Excel and Word sections of the course.
CM 3620 – Construction Finance and Feasibility
After reviewing the capstone assessment, exit interviews and considering the departmental change in course offering, I am going to make the following changes to CM 3620.
1. Rewrite the syllabus to include more development topics.
2. Rewrite the lectures to include more development information.
3.
Repost
4. Rewrite the book to include more development information.