Proceedings of the
1st Cal Poly Pomona Civil Engineering Conference
September 12, 2022, California, USA
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-5185-8_21-49-5

Engaging Industry in the Classroom to Enhance Teaching of Heavy Civil Construction

Maria Calahorra-Jimenez

Construction Management, California State University, Fresno, 2320 San Ramon Ave. MS/EE94, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

Even though every construction project requires a civil portion to be completed, civil work is one of the most challenging areas to understand and estimate by students. Knowledge areas such as earthwork and processes like determining activities' duration, resources, methods, and costs must be integrated into each project. This integration requires students to have a "how to build" mindset. Unfortunately, students barely began building this mindset in the final years of their undergraduate degrees. Aiming to scaffold students' "how to build" mindset, the Construction Management Department at Fresno State has engaged heavy civil industry members in improving and developing courses within the construction management bachelor curriculum. Starting in Fall 2020, a heavy civil committee representing five heavy civil companies and public entities have worked on (1) identifying civil knowledge gaps found in early-career students and proposing ideas to fill those gaps, and (2) collaborating in the classroom activities like guest speakers, expert panels, judges, and coaches. Twenty-three (23) industry-classroom interaction events have been held between 2020-2022, including ten (10) different companies and entities in four sophomore and senior levels courses. This article reflects on (1) the industryfaculty interaction's outcomes through the heavy civil committee and (2) the impact of different in-classroom activities on student’s perception of their learning of civil aspects.

Keywords: Heavy Civil, Industry engagement, Industry advisory board, Teaching.



Full Text (PDF)