Onsite and online: a 4-dimensional digital multi-disciplinary learning environment for construction industry professionals

Work-integrated learning has been suggested as a means to apply theoretical knowledge in a real-world context. Yet tensions exist between the opportunities afforded by the workplace, and the demands of placing large student cohorts in that workplace while ensuring pedagogical rigour. For students in construction-related disciplines, access to building sites to contextualise learning is a further problematic issue. This suggests opportunities exist for alternative approaches to providing the benefits of work-integrated learning through simulated real-life contexts. This paper reports on an Office for Learning and Teaching funded project that investigates this issue. The project involves the development of an interactive digital learning environment based on time-lapse 3-dimensional (4D) visualisation and other resources associated with the design and construction of the University of Queensland’s Advanced Engineering Building. The 4D environment provides a realistic context for simulated problems that activate student learning using a collaborative problem-based approach to enhance critical thinking skills. A pilot version of the 4D environment has been trialled and interim results indicate that the 4D environment is flexible in terms of its use across different learning activities and disciplines, and that it enhances the learning experience in terms of developing observation, reflection and collaboration skills