Exploration of Student Perceptions, Behaviors and Academic Performance in Construction Management Classes

Abstract

To improve student success, instructors need to understand how students feel about their own learning and how much responsibility the students take for it. This information is crucial to teaching and to the development of more effective courses. Yet, very often, instructors in higher education focus on content learning exclusively. While summative assessment of learning in these courses is important, content learning is not the only measure of educational outcomes. This study used an instrument-surveying tool in which the Course Valuing Inventory (CVI) was adapted for Construction Management (CM) courses to evaluate cognitive-content, affective-personal and behavioral learning in students taking these courses. The study also examined the relationship between course valuing scores, Approaches to Study Inventory (ASI), and course performance. Results indicated that the CVI can be adapted for use in CM courses. Multiple regressions run in this exploratory study predicting final course grade from seven predictor variables (student class standing, student self-reported GPA, whether the course was required for the student’s major, likelihood of student continuing with their current major, grade that student anticipated receiving in the course, ASI score, and CVI score), revealed that six of the variables were significant predictors of final course grades.