Abstract
The paper relates to delivering vocational higher education to prospective building surveyors. Preparing students for the workplace requires inclusion of academic knowledge, workplace skills and practical vocational experience. This is reinforced by feedback from the four stakeholders to surveying education, learner, employer, education provider and professional institution. Successful delivery of learning to distinct vocational groups requires specific pedagogy. The paper analyses a realistic industrial simulation delivered to teach knowledge and skills to undergraduate building surveying students. Initial pedagogy was proposed by CEEBL, Centre for Excellence in Enquiry Based Learning. Work based skills requirements were taken from published work including leading building surveying academics and practitioners like Professor Mike Hoxley and Professor Malcolm Hollis. Data analysis is used to evolve future simulations. These become better suited to delivering appropriate learning, valid assessment and usable vocational skills, against academic, student focused and industrial criteria. An action research approach is utilised by the author to develop specialist pedagogy through analysis of outcome data and stakeholder feedback. Action research is undertaken through an approach using trial, evaluation and development. The paper concludes, simulation can be a valid tool for delivering teaching, learning, assessment and vocational skills training to surveying students and justifies further research.
Highlights
Access to a professional surveying career in the UK mostly requires the entrant to gain an accredited degree
This paper focuses upon an industrial simulation designed for final year BSc Building Surveying students The simulation replaced a previous classroom based learning experience and traditional theory based assessment, which whilst meeting knowledge and academic assessment criteria offered little work based skills training
The primary purpose of undertaking such an industrial simulation exercise was to add vocational skills value, not to test PBL's ability to raise achievement levels, it was important that the industrial simulation did not detract from academic achievement which might have been gained by traditional assessment methods, and the author is confident from the outcome data when compared to a traditional research based assessment given to the same students that this did not occur
Summary
Access to a professional surveying career in the UK mostly requires the entrant to gain an accredited degree. The reasoning being a belief that that things a learner has discovered through experience are more likely to be retained (Park et al, 2003) In both EBL the role of the teacher changes to facilitator (Bradbeer, 1996), Learning in the context of building surveying education should ideally include, academic outcomes, technical knowledge and practical vocational skills. In summary a successful industrial simulation exercise needs to be well scaffolded, needs for the tutor to adopt a role as facilitator which does diminish their effectiveness, requires realism to engage the students, needs to be bespoke to the level of the learner and needs to be fully supported by prior learning, prior skills training, current accessible supporting material and a physical tutor presence.
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