Professional Documents
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(Asce) LM 1943-5630 0000107
(Asce) LM 1943-5630 0000107
the Demonstrated
Leadership of Graduate
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Civil Engineering
and Construction
Management Students
LEIGHTON A. ELLIS, M.SC.; AND
ABSTRACT: The year 2007 was a year for visionary change in the field of civil engi-
neering in the United States. This vision did not go unnoticed in the Caribbean. At the
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of the West Indies,
the M.Sc. programs have been restructured to meet the U.K. Joint Board of Moderators
requirements for academic accreditation and to fulfill the mandate of the vice chancellor
to develop 12 desired attributes, with leadership being among them. A model was devel-
oped in a course, Practical Team Project, to measure the learning outcome of leadership
by combining the Project Management Institute body of knowledge areas and the Insti-
tute of Civil Engineers (ICE) development objectives. The course prepares students for
professional review at the Incorporated Engineering (I.Eng.) level with the ICE and gives
them similar standing in other Washington Accord signatory countries. This new initia-
tive for the university required innovative assessment techniques, such as 360-degree
feedback and zero tolerance, to evaluate the demonstrated leadership of the graduate
students. Analytical tools such as ANOVA and t-test were used to justify the effectiveness
of the chosen model.
involvement. This was done in the summer of 2007 the Department’s learning outcomes. On completion
and gained approval. This departmental review of of the M.Sc., according to the revised definition, suc-
its graduate programs led to a review of the kind of cessful civil engineering candidates will be able, at
graduate the Department wished to produce and threshold (pass) level, to
the capabilities students should have to satisfy the de-
1. Lead and work within teams to identify and
mands of industry. Acknowledging that the Depart-
solve technical, business, social, cultural and
ment was accredited by the JBM led to a review of ethical issues in Civil Engineering both system-
what they would be looking for in a future accredita- atically and creatively, make sound judgments
tion process. The Quality Assurance Agency for in the absence of complete data, and communi-
Higher Education (QAA) document “The Framework cate their conclusions clearly to specialist and
for Higher Education Qualifications in England, non-specialist audiences;
Wales and Northern Ireland” (QAA 2009) noted 2. Demonstrate self-direction, critical thinking
the following: and originality in tackling and solving
Typically, holders of an MSc qualification will be problems, and act autonomously in planning
able to: and implementing tasks using Information
Technology.
(a) deal with complex issues both systematically 3. Continue to advance their knowledge and un-
and creatively, make sound judgments in derstanding, and to develop their new skills
the absence of complete data, and communi- to a higher level. Candidates will have the com-
cate their conclusions clearly to specialist petencies, qualities and transferable skills neces-
and non-specialist audiences; sary for employment requiring: the exercise of
(b) demonstrate self-direction and originality in initiative and personal responsibility; deci-
tackling and solving problems, and act auton- sion-making in complex and unpredictable si-
omously in planning and implementing tasks tuations; and the independent learning ability
at a professional or equivalent level; required for continuing professional develop-
(c) continue to advance their knowledge and un- ment as a practicing Civil Engineer.
derstanding, and to develop new skills to a
high level; and will have: To achieve these learning outcomes, students must be-
(d) the qualities and transferable skills necessary come involved in working in teams (Outcome 1),
for employment requiring: undertaking a design-oriented project (Outcome 2),
and undertaking a research project (Outcome 3), in
• the exercise of initiative and personal addition to and supported by the taught units. This
responsibility; paper focuses its attention on Learning Outcome 1:
• decision-making in complex and unpredict- work in teams.
able situations; and
• the independent learning ability required for
continuing professional development.
THE WAY FORWARD
As a result, the Department’s mission must be to The program learning outcomes in Learning Outcome
provide quality education at the undergraduate and 1 were woven into the course entitled Practical Team
graduate levels in order to produce the vice chancellor’s Project, which is compulsory for M.Sc. students in the
desired attributes: “critical and creative thinkers, prob- construction management, civil engineering, and civil
lem solvers, effective communicators, knowledgeable with environmental engineering programs. At the
Figure. 1. Average number of attempts to submit an error-free document for each objective by the 2010 cohort.
between the leaders and the clients (members of staff) able, as significant differences were found in seven of
as well as the peers and the client. Therefore, it is sug- the 10 objectives using the 2-tailed test (less than
gested that a truer evaluation was found between these 0.05): all areas except scope, risk, and time manage-
respondents. ment. The data showed a positive mean difference,
During the 2009 delivery of the course, the peers with a 0.07 level of significance for scope manage-
were required to evaluate their leader in the classroom ment; the students experienced difficulty in the initia-
based on a paper version of the questionnaire, whereas tion of the projects, and most teams took four to five
in 2010, an online assessment was used that allowed iterations to produce an error-free document. As the
for greater flexibility on the part of the students. learning curve increased with time and understanding
Although the evaluation is of an anonymous nature, progressed, however, the students were able to pro-
the peers may have been more comfortable completing duce the documents at the required level with fewer
the evaluation away from the presence of the leader, iterations. The remaining seven objectives had a con-
contributing to the difference in evaluation. sistent significance level of 0.000, with the project
plan slightly higher at 0.009.
The mean of the mean represents the average level
Zero Tolerance Evaluation at which the team players achieved an error-free sub-
Each team was required to produce a project plan for mission; it was 3.3 in 2009 and 2.2 in 2010. This may
the course. This plan was divided into 10 main sec- be attributed to the fact that the 2010 group were able
tions, nine of which are based on the knowledge areas to see the project plans produced by the previous
in the PMBOK: group, giving them clearer insight into the expecta-
1. Scope management, tions of the course than the previous group, who were
2. Risk management, the pioneers.
3. Time management,
4. Cost management, Postcourse Evaluation
5. Human resources management,
A postcourse evaluation questionnaire was designed
6. Quality management,
and administered to the students of the 2010 cohort.
7. Procurement management,
The questionnaire comprised 15 questions, two of
8. Communication management,
which were directly related to the impact of the course
9. Integration management, and
on the career development of the students. Because the
10. Project plan.
program took place in the evenings, most of the stu-
As professionals and future leaders of the industry, the dents were able to continue their careers while contin-
students are expected to produce documents without uing their studies part time. As a result, the students
known errors and omissions, as these documents are were able to see the direct impact of the course on their
used by other teams to execute the project. The simple current and future roles in their workplaces.
misplacement of a comma in a bill of quantities could The “academic safety net” allowed students an op-
cause the loss of a project at the tender phase. Hence, portunity to exercise their leadership and team playing
zero tolerance for such practices is necessary. abilities in a less stressful environment that could
To analyze the students’ ability to each produce a facilitate a greater scope of learning. Figs. 2 and 3 in-
one-page document without known errors and omis- dicate the responses of the 31 students to questions
sions, one-sample t-testing was used. A test value of 3 about the relevance of the course and its impact on
was used, representing the average level at which the their career development. More than 70% of the