Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
MANAGEMENT
David Jaggar and Andy Ross
School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Clarence Street, Liverpool. L3
5UG, UK
INTRODUCTION
The development of the web site, described in this paper, as an aid to the teaching of
design cost management, arose as a result of the preparation of a text book (Jaggar et
al 2002) addressing this important subject area. The text book was written with the
aim of achieving the following three objectives:
There are numerous well- prepared textbooks (Ashworth A.1988, Ferry D J, Brandon
P S and Ferry J D 1999, Flanagan and Tate B 1997, Morton R and Jaggar D M 1995),
which, in various ways, address the issues identified above. During the preparation of
the book, considerable thought was given as to how the book might be made more
effective as a teaching and learning aid, especially as the subject of design cost
Jaggar, D and Ross, A (2003) A survey into the effectiveness of web-based teaching of building design
cost management. In: Greenwood, D J (Ed.), 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003,
University of Brighton. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Vol. 2, 633-42.
START
Motivation/
Wanting
Reflection/
Digesting
Aids:
Lectures
Tutorials
Textbooks
Videos
CDs
Internet etc
Experiencing/
Doing
Feedback
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By means of the case study, the real life building project, recently completed on
Merseyside. Again access is gained through the web site home page. This feature
allows the user to trace the building design cost management process for an
Electronics Factory together with having access to the supporting information
obtained from the BCIS and other members of the design team such as the
architect and services engineer . The user is able to see the authors' default
solutions against the various stages of the RIBA Plan of Work (1998) and also
override these default solutions by inserting his own particular cost, specification
and size parameters.
The site thus provides the background information to complement the theoretical
information contained in the text, both generally and specifically, through the case
study, and has the additional useful benefit of having a dynamic quality whereby the
user can develop his/her own cost models for the same, or a similar case study.
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In addition to the features highlighted above, the site, through the home page, also
contains information about the authors, has information for lecturers in the form of
power point presentations on building design cost management and has a number of
useful links to other relevant sites, such as the RICS, the BCIS, the RIBA, Blackwell
Publishing and others. The web-site domain name,www.bdcm.co.uk (2002), was
selected to reflect UK practice, to be easy to remember and to provide a link with the
textbook. It has been registered with a domain name registration service, Nominet
and an internet service provider was chosen that gave fast access, few restrictions on
space and was reliable. It is anticipated that the use of the web-based approach will
facilitate the following developments:
Increase the student base
The site aims to reflect international factors and allow for differing nationalities to
compare and contrast the professional practice of different countries.
Increased learner accessibility
The site allows unlimited access to design cost information which is only available
from the BCIS under a license agreement which not all academic institutions are
willing to invest in and access is limited to single user participation. This site makes
no charge for its use and can be accessed any time anywhere by any number of users.
Ease of updating
A particular benefit of the site, unlike a textbook, is that the data contained within it
can easily and quickly be updated. It is anticipated that the cost analyses, tender price
data and average cost data will be updated annually to ensure the data remains
contemporary.
Increased learner effectiveness
The approach to the design and structure of the site allows for a flexible approach that
can be adopted by the learner and is essentially making use of experiential learning
which, as discussed above, is a particularily effective means of teaching and learning.
Provides a central point for learning resources information that includes
Cost Information from the BCIS
Teaching resources:
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CAPTURING OF INFORMATION:
AO drawings were reduced and scanned into jpeg format, CAD format was
considered, however rejected, as it was felt this might limit the usability of the site.
Borehole reports and site layout plans and all other graphical information were
imported into the pages.
METHODOLOGY
A quantitative methodology was adopted as this stage of the research and aimed to
collect data on attitudes on how the technology had supported leaning and preparation
of assessments. This method was selected in favour of a more qualitative approach as
it was felt that the data collected was less likely to be biased as the questionnaire
contained no identifying information and was distributed and collected in a manner
that made it impossible to match responses with individuals. The population for the
investigation was a group of forty two final level construction management and
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Frequency
30
10
40
Percent
75.0
25.0
100.0
Valid Percent
75.0
25.0
100.0
Cumulative Percent
75.0
100.0
quantity surveying students studying a financial control module during semester one
as part of their programme of study at Liverpool John Moores University and
Liverpool University. The measuring instrument was distributed at the start of
semester two 2003, after the students had a period of time to reflect on the approach
adopted and also had received feedback on coursework and also module marks.
Measuring instrument development
The web-based case study was used as the central vehicle for learning and respondents
were required to complete a number of tasks that required access to web based
materials such as cost and index information, development of cost models and the
identification of savings by alteration to specifications. As the approach taken in
supporting the teaching relied heavily upon the users ability to utilize web
technologies for access and manipulation of files, the use of spreadsheets and basic
navigation and it was felt important to collect data on IT skill level. A number of
questions were used with Likert scales that collected information on students self
assessed skills before and after using the site. The Quantity Surveying students had
studied a formal IT module prior to the final level and the authors considered that a
useful comparison of IT skills between the two groups and the effect it may have had
on the efficacy of the site would be useful. The Building Design Cost Management
textbook was a recommended text to accompany the assessment tasks and although
was not essential, it was felt that information on whether the text was used during the
task completion, revision or when using the website would provide some useful
information on student use of texts and web sites in supporting learning. The
respondents attitudes on how the BDCM website content and structure were
perceived as supporting learning were collected via six point Likert scales. The web
areas were subdivided into the case study, BCIS cost information, the PowerPoint
slides, links to other sites and on how the text links were accessed. Respondents were
also asked to reflect on the task driven approach, whether it helped structure their
learning and also whether it influenced them on the use of the website. The website
had been developed using relatively small files however it was felt important to
collect information on the location of the users when accessing the site as this would
have implications for future developments such as video and audio files. Two open
questions were used to capture information on website improvements and how the
approach to the assessment could be improved. The questionnaire was developed to
collect nominal and ordinal data and was piloted and amendments made prior to it
being distributed. It was three pages long and took approximately ten minutes to
complete.
Sample
A total of numbers of questionnaires were distributed to a sample size of 45, 40 were
returned giving a return rate of 89 %. The questionnaire returns are given in Table 1.
The average age of the respondents was between 21-24, 8 respondents were over 25
years of age. 75% of the respondents were studying at LJMU
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Respondents average-Before
3.00
2.83
2.88
3.21
After
2.56
2.78
2.97
3.06
Respondents average
1.60
1.60
1.62
1.63
1.70
1.78
1.88
% access
100
100
97.5
100
100
92.5
90
639
SA
17.5
10
10
12.5
17.5
7.5
15
A
65
67.5
55
55
60
77.5
75
U
12.5
15
25
22.5
15
10
5
2.5
45
27.5
17.5
SD
2.5
2.5
2.5
No response
5
5
7.5
7.5
7.5
5
5
5
SA
SD
15
12.5
50
47.5
22.5
17.5
7.5
17.5
5
5
Msr of
agreement
3.76
3.57
10
20
20
70
60
70
10
12.5
2.5
5
2.5
5
5
7.5
3.89
4.03
4.18
12.5
67.5
12.5
2.5
3.90
22.5
60
4.0
2.5
NR
The respondents agreed that the site supported their learning and although they didnt
indicate the use of the spreadsheet models for sensitivity analysis they found this
aspect of the site particularly useful. The cost analyses and design information format
and manipulability were areas that respondents indicated their uncertainty with and
this was also reflected in the responses to two open questions.
The use of multi media approach to support learning
The responses to questions on motivation to access the site and the respondents
reflection on knowledge gained were gathered using a five point Likert scales and are
given in Table 5.
The respondents indicated that they were in general agreement with the statement that
the tasks assisted their learning and that they would access the site in the future. Their
responses indicated that they agreed that they had gained knowledge of the different
types and use of cost information during the process of providing cost advice. They
indicated that they mostly completed the responses to the tasks set outside of the
timetabled tutorial sessions.
The respondents tended to access the site weekly or greater than once per week as
indicated in the figure 1. This supported the authors view that learning activities
tended to take place at a time outside the timetabled sessions and at a time and place
that was convenient to the user. The data gathered on access location is shown in
figure 2 and indicated that the users tended to access the site via university facilities
that were located in the other parts of the university.
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Access freq
20
Frequency
10
0
>1
Access freq
Frequency
6
4
2
0
om
lh
w
l&
w
e&
k
w
e&
m
ho
l&
m
ho
l&
r
he
ot
ni
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ni
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ni
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ni
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ni
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ni
k
or
e
w
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ho
r&
he
ot
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e
m
r
he
ot
ho
Access Loc
Figure 2 : Bar chart indicating the range of locations of students accessing the site,
(UniCl=Teaching location, Uni other= location in the university other than teaching
environment)
CONCLUSIONS
As the site is developed to date, it represents the commencement of the application of
web based technology in this important discipline, which will, without doubt,
improve, in terms of comprehensiveness and flexibility and thus usefulness, to the
user. Evidence from the teaching and learning of building design cost management,
using the text book and the site, at Liverpool John Moores University, has shown that
it is a powerful aid to developing the students' understanding of its principles and
application. The survey has indicated that users tend to access learning materials at a
time and place that is convenient to them and that they tend to use high-speed
machines. The survey indicated that the approach to encouraging learning through the
use of structured tasks was successful in stimulating learners to access the website and
that having developed an appreciation of its content were likely to access it in the
future. One of the difficulties in developing a case study and associated tasks that
support the approach was the provision of design information, the web site provided
non scaleable jpeg images which were not considered as being very manipulable, the
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alternative of zoomable pdf files doesnt provide much improvement to this aspect
and is an area that the is being investigated. The textbook links were accessed
however the users tended to access the site to provide support in responding to the
tasks, the aim of providing a learning environment that en coraged reflection as well
as demonstrated the application of theory has only been partially met. The
development of the web site to encourage reflection during the process of developing
design cost advice is an area for future consideration.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Blackwell Science especially Ms Madeleine Metcalfe for commissioning the project.
Building Cost Information Service, especially Mr Joe Martin, Executive Director for
both his support and for allowing the use of selective information from the BCIS on
line system. Tweeds Cost consultants for providing us with a comprehensive real-life
project for use with the case study.
REFERENCES
Ashworth A. ( 1988). Cost Studies of Buildings, Longman.
BCIS on line (1998) at http://www.bcis.co.uk
BDCM on line 2002 at www.bdcm.co.uk.
Jaggar D, Ross A, Smith J, Love P (2002) Building Design Cost Management, Blackwell
Science, Oxford.
Ferry D J, Brandon P S and Ferry J D (1999) Cost Planning of Buildings Seventh Edition,
Blackwell Science, Oxford.
Flanagan and Tate B (1997). Cost Control in Building Design. Blackwell Science, Oxford.
Joliffe,A., Ritter, J. and Stevens, D.(201) The online Learning Handbook, developing and
using web-based learning, Kogan Page, London.
Morton R and Jaggar DM (1995) Design and the Economics of Building. E and F N Spon,
London.
Race P (1989); Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Series 3. CICED Publications,
Aberdeen.
RIBA (1998) . Handbook of Architectural Practice and Management, Vol 2 RIBA, London.
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