Teaching transportation construction blueprint reading with BIM support
Date
2022
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The AEC industry is facing a workforce shortage of employees that are properly trained in common construction practices. One such practice new hires often lack experience in is the ability to read 2D plans. Traditional methods of teaching plan reading have become outdated, and there is a need for a new approach that helps young professionals visualize and interpret a project. Plan reading is an important skill for new employees to have because it leads to better coordination, communication of tasks, and project management. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been a revolutionary tool in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in recent years, and the authors of this study propose that BIM technology can become a new, efficient tool in plan reading education. In this paper, the authors report findings on evaluating the effectiveness of BIM as a tool to help young AEC professionals interpret and analyze transportation construction plans. In order to test the effectiveness of this approach, online courses were developed with and without BIM supplementation, and the before and after skills of the participants of the study were measured. To measure the before and after plan reading skills, pre and post-course quizzes were developed, and the change between the scores was used as a metric to evaluate the effectiveness of BIM as a tool to teach plan reading. Another metric that was used was the difference in quiz scores between the groups with, and without BIM supplementation. The findings conclude that BIM is an effective tool to teach plan reading to young professionals and helps these students complete tasks such as finding dimensions, determine grading, and generate quantity takeoffs with less errors than traditional plan reading methods. Participants in the study were also given a questionnaire at the end of the course which allowed them to answer questions regarding their feelings about BIM, plan reading, and the relationship between the two. The results of the survey were quite positive and showed that the students had a positive experience learning transportation plan reading with BIM as a supplemental tool.
Description
Keywords
Blueprint reading, Building information modeling, Infrastructure, Plan reading