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The transportation engineering field is currently experiencing a profound transformation driven by technological evolution, which highlights the importance of preparing students for the types of careers that will be available to them in the future. Although transportation engineering programs in the United States are typically at the graduate level, the majority of existing research has focused on undergraduate courses. This study focuses on master's-level transportation engineering curricula, with the goal of investigating how changes in employment opportunities and day-to-day work responsibilities of transportation engineers over the coming 5-10 years will inform the topics that graduate-level curricula should include to set students up for future success. The study consists of in-depth interviews with a range of academics and practitioners and subsequent analyses of interview transcripts using thematic analysis methods. Seven themes were derived, pertaining to three categories: future opportunities, identified skills, and program structure observations. The three thematic categories are not independent, and their interactions with one another hold information that can lead to recommendations for the design of transportation engineering master's programs.

Engineering and engineers are considered central to maintaining global competitiveness and the workforce needs of any nation. Media shapes public opinion, and the image of a profession can affect the way the public views that profession and professionals in the field. Very little research can be found which analyzes media portrayal of engineers and engineering to assess whether and how media influences people's view of engineers and engineering. Two foundational research questions are addressed in this paper: (1) to what extent are engineers or engineering portrayed in broadcast network television evening news media? and (2) do these news outlets miss opportunities to identify and discuss engineering subjects and, subsequently, exclude engineers as experts? The conclusions are derived from data culled from 24 unique, randomly selected, and full episodes of evening news of three television broadcast networks in the United States yielding 257 individual news stories over the course of a year (2015) and the coverage of two significant disasters (2014 Oso landslide and 2015 Flint water crisis) with high relevance to civil engineering. The data reveal a nearly complete absence of engineers as experts and links to engineering concepts, with only one story mentioning the word "engineer." The situation is further exacerbated as these evening news programs deemed it important to cover about 15% of the stories as they relate to topics and concepts within the purview of the field of engineering, but did not include voices of engineers or explicitly connect those topics to engineering, which the authors identified as the missed opportunities. The authors suggest investigating the reasons behind the near absence of engineering content and engineers as experts for future research studies, particularly in light of the observation that 19% of the analyzed news stories did feature speakers who were identified as an expert.

Two-dimensional (2D) drawing is one of the most common communication approaches in the civil and construction engineering domain. However, there are limits to the traditional classroom setting for training in 2D drawing and interpretation skills. New visualization techniques exist for integrating the third dimension (depth) to 2D drawings, providing more accurate and natural representations of objects. This helps students to better understand 2D drawings and develop required spatial skills. This study employed cloud-based augmented reality (AR) technology to 3D-enable 2D drawings through virtually superimposing interactive 3D building information models onto 2D paper-based drawings. This research aims to understand if AR-enabled 3D augmentation can be used to facilitate students' understanding of complex 2D drawings. An experiment was conducted to evaluate how AR could facilitate understanding 2D drawings against the conventional paper-only approach. The results revealed that AR was positively rated by students and could improve the accuracy of a plan-reading task.

Civil engineers and architects are both trained in design thinking, but they approach the process of design from differing perspectives largely due to the divergence in their educational curriculums. With an interest in the effect of differing educational perspectives on design thinking outcomes, comparisons were made between the self-identified design thinking abilities of students in their final year of undergraduate civil engineering or architecture programs. Perceived design thinking ability was evaluated through a survey that was distributed to students enrolled in 4-year institutions across the United States. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare responses between the civil engineering (n=356) and architecture (n=335) student samples. There is a significant difference in perceived design thinking ability between the groups. Architecture students score higher than civil engineering students on all design thinking traits. Based on these results, the civil engineering curriculum may benefit from the incorporation of pedagogy that emphasizes design thinking, like studio-based learning.

Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as its theoretical foundation, this study intends to explore the use of Travelling Beam devices in road engineerings in Taiwan and offer suggestions based on its findings to encourage industry willingness for device deployment resulting in improving road pavement smoothness in Taiwan. The study subjects were pavement smoothness device operators in Taiwan. A total of 107 valid questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Study results show that more training/support and perceived ease of use can lead to more willingness to use travelling beam devices and consequentially help improve pavement smoothness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis results also indicate training/support, perceived ease of use and attitude will give users' positive attitudes towards use of travelling beam devices.

The work analyses the training process condition in teaching the discipline "Metrology, Standardization, Certification and Quality Control." It proves that the current educational standard regarding the instruction of the discipline "Metrology, Standardization, Certification and Quality Control" does not meet the needs of the present-day Russian education and construction practice. The paper substantiates the timeliness of the issue regarding the reconsideration of the approach to metrological training. It proposes a concept of metrology instruction to specialists and bachelors of different majors at a higher education institution of civil engineering. The issue of providing the learning process with up-to-date tools is considered. It is emphasized that bachelors and specialists of the construction industry today have to put their knowledge to use in concrete situations which are as nearly as possible to the working conditions.

Background: Numerous studies have identified a gap between the writing skills of engineering program graduates and the demands of writing in the workplace; however, few studies have analyzed the writing of practitioners and students to better understand that gap and inform teaching materials. Purpose: This study sought to compare word-level, sentence-level, and organizational differences in writing by practitioners and students and to identify differences that are important for engineering practice. I also sought to demonstrate the untapped potential for linguistic analyses to contribute to understanding engineering writing. Design/Method: I used techniques from applied linguistics -- corpus linguistics and rhetorical move analysis -- supplemented with interviews of practitioners and students. The analysis investigated the interaction of language features, their functions, and writers' motivations. Results: Student writing had more complicated sentence structures, less accurate word choice, more errors in grammar and punctuation, and less linear organization. These characteristics decreased effectiveness in areas that practitioners considered important: accurate and unambiguous content; fast, predicable reading; liability management; and attention to detail. Underlying the student writing problems were misconceptions about effective writing, ignorance of genre expectations, weak language skills, and a failure to appreciate that written words, not just calculations, express engineering content. Conclusions: The findings better define the gap between student and practitioner writing, and are a basis for instructional materials that target important student writing weaknesses.

This article follows the timeline of the "Nicosia International Airport: The Return" Integrated Design Project which was undertaken by Year 2 students of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at the Cyprus University of Technology in Cyprus. The Nicosia International Airport was the first and main airport of the Republic of Cyprus since its independence from the British Empire in 1960. The airport remains closed since the Turkish invasion of 1974 and is located in the buffer zone administered by the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus. In this work, the innovative aspects of a project to inspire and train engineering students are highlighted, while special attention is given to the dissemination and outreach of the project through the social media. The attracted attention of national media and the project's impact on the local society had a cyclical effect, further inspiring students to work hard and act as responsible professional engineers. "Nicosia International Airport: The Return" is a case study of how an academic engineering project can have societal impact, by inspiring students, engaging practitioners from a wide spectrum of disciplines, captivating the general public and raising the profile of Civil Engineering in the society.

While many construction companies claim substantial productivity and profit gains when applying lean construction principles, it remains a challenge to teach these principles in a classroom. Lean construction emphasises collaborative processes and integrated delivery practices. Consequently, new teaching methods that nurture such values should form the basis of lean construction education. One of the proposed methods is "hands-on team simulation games" which can be employed to replicate various real-life processes, projects, or systems for the purpose of teaching, analysing, and understanding. This study aims at assessing this simulation games and understanding their impact on students' learning and satisfaction. Surveys and tests are administered to assess changes in student's perception of their learning styles and their understanding of key lean construction concepts. Results show a positive student reaction to hands-on simulation games, provide pedagogical insights, and highlight suggestions for improvement.

This study aimed to provide evidence-based conclusions from students concerning a capstone-design course in a civil engineering programme in Hong Kong. The evidence was generated by designing a student-experience questionnaire. The questionnaire instrument was assessed for internal consistency in four scales (curriculum and structure changes; design and problem solving; personal and transferable skills; and Industrial-Links and Real-Life Authentic Academic Knowledge). The internal structure of each scale was also examined separately. Overall, the findings suggest that this internal structure is uni-dimensional in nature and has good internal consistency. Our quantitative and qualitative data have provided support on the student learning experience in the reformed capstone-design: how students were able to develop depth and breadth in engineering knowledge and skills that were previously not covered by teachers in conventional taught courses to enhance student learning. Rationale and changes of the curriculum were documented to contribute to the building of an authentic capstone-design curriculum.

Purpose: In today's complex society, there is an increasing demand to include a wider set of skills in engineering curricula, especially skills related to policy, society and sustainable development. Role-playing and gaming are active learning tools, which are useful for learning relationships between technology and society, problem solving in complex situations and communication. However, use of these learning methods in higher education, and in engineering particularly, is limited. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a role-playing game for learning about complexities related to sustainable water and sanitation management within a civil engineering curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: The game has been used during three consecutive years in a Masters' level course. Surveys and course evaluations were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this method from both teacher and student perspectives. Findings: The results show that students gained knowledge on complex subjects, and both teachers and students had positive experiences. Better integration of the game within the rest of the course could strengthen its effectiveness. Originality/value: The experiences gained from this study should assist others in the development and use of such active learning techniques in higher education.

The integrity of a structural system depends on the strength of materials, shape of the individual member and the elements used to hold the members together. In most undergraduate civil engineering curricula, a structural steel and/or reinforced concrete design course is required. Usually, the main focus of these courses is on member selection (size and shape) for a given material. Moreover, the time available for connection design is usually limited. To provide a 24/7 access to students who are interested in learning more about steel connection design, with the support from the National Science Foundation, a virtual steel sculpture was developed. The virtual steel sculpture not only provides a 360-degree view of different type of connections, but also provides information on their limit states, field examples, and finite element models showing stress distributions. In this paper, the discussion is focused solely on the content of the sample design calculation for each connection shown in the virtual steel sculpture. These sample calculations were created as additional examples that could supplement class lecture to enhance students' learning.

The lack of prevention through design (PtD) education in higher education institutions has long been recognised in construction literature. Despite the fact that some of the institutions have embedded PtD education in their curricula, it is often not addressed in engineering curricula in higher education institutions in developing countries, such as Malaysia. Due to the recent introduction of the Occupational Safety and Health in Construction Industry (Management) [OSHCI(M)] guideline, which is based on the PtD concept, the need to incorporate the PtD concept and skills in engineering programs is crucial, as part of early safety education for future engineers. In order to address this gap in the body of knowledge, this study aims to investigate the current state of safety education in general and PtD in specific, in order to understand the extent the subject has been covered within the curricula of civil engineering programs in Malaysian higher educational institutions. A qualitative research methodology via case studies of seven public universities was adopted. The findings indicated that not only is the level of PtD education in civil engineering programs almost nonexistent, but the occupational health and safety (OHS) education itself was only covered to a certain extent. This significant gap has led to recommendations including the need for institutional dynamism in the context of incorporating OHS subjects, interactive OHS teaching and learning, technology-driven education, and the improving the competency of OHS lecturers. This study could act as a reference for the industry, accreditation bodies, and educational institutions to understand the status quo of PtD education for future engineers towards OSHCI(M) implementation. The findings also extend the knowledge of PtD education in construction literature, subsequently providing insights for wider incorporation of PtD in civil engineering programs.

This article presents the application of the problem-based learning (PBL) methodology for introducing the civil engineering task of bridge design and construction to high school students with a multidisciplinary approach. The materials (toy construction system) and methodology of the workshop are first presented. Then, three examples of arch typology proposals are detailed, as an example of the evolution of the students' designs in time while retrofitting the successive editions. A selection of the built structures along with some pictures of their most representative details in the decks and arches are included. Finally, the different experiences obtained from this activity are also reviewed. The objective of this paper is to present the observations of the authors after several years of conducting this workshop with the hope that colleagues from other institutions might benefit from the strategies exposed and adapt them to different disciplines or focus on specific topics. The key observation was that the use of construction toys, which are not usually used by teachers, proved to be a powerful learning tool, the limitations of which can be overcome, and the method used was improved annually to realize the objective.

This research characterized faculty perceptions about the role of cocurricular activities in educating civil engineering students about ethics and/or the societal impacts of engineering (ESI). Among all survey respondents--those who mentored cocurricular activities and those who did not--41% believed that undergraduate students in their program learned about ESI via an engineering professional society, an engineering service group, or other cocurricular activity. In contrast, nearly all of the advisors of cocurricular activities (including research and design competitions) indicated that students learned about one or more among 18 specific ESI topics via the activity. Presentations, discussions, design projects, and working with a community were thought to impact students' ethical development. Cocurricular activities have the potential for significant contributions to students' ESI education; however, elective participation may limit their widespread impact.

The expectations for engineers to solve complex, global issues are growing at rates that exceed current curricula in engineering education. Studies show that early career engineering students are not confident in their ability to innovate. In this paper, the authors investigated the innovation self-efficacy beliefs (i.e., questioning, observing, experimenting, idea networking, and associational thinking) of first-year engineering students and how those beliefs might differ by gender and engineering discipline. This study used multiple regression to examine the innovation self-efficacy beliefs of 2,678 first-year engineering students. Findings indicate men interested in construction management engineering had significant innovation self-efficacy beliefs in all areas except idea networking. Of those interested in civil engineering, only women were more likely to hold innovation self-efficacy beliefs in the area of experimenting. The authors' work highlights how students enter college with positive innovation self-efficacy beliefs and uncovers specific behavioral and cognitive skills that can be developed through the engineering curricula.

Universities are preparing future professionals to face real problems. Sustainable development is a challenge that requires particular attention from educational programs. In their profession, civil engineers address many decisions that can compromise the sustainability of infrastructure. This paper proposes a sustainable decision-making module to promote student competencies relevant to solving real engineering decision-making problems while meeting sustainability criteria. The module is tested in a project management course for a master's in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering program. Students were placed in a procurement process scenario with the objective of designing a sustainable decision-making layout for selecting the best construction company to construct a highway. The assessment of the student performance revealed that most students acquired higher-order cognitive skills, and the perception survey showed that this learning method has been widely accepted for developing competencies related to both decision-making and sustainable thinking. This study could serve as an example for engineering education to promote sustainable practices through the active exploration of decision-making in real professional situations.

This study investigates the effectiveness of role assignment in team-based learning (TBL) modules to improve technical writing skills in an undergraduate civil engineering (CE) materials lab course. Four standalone technical writing modules were integrated into the existing lab sequence: (1) logic/technical expression; (2) data representation; (3) references and citations; and (4) ethics and literature reviews. Technical writing skills were assessed using a standard rubric to evaluate lab reports. Two lab sections participated in this study, with one section having peer leaders assigned in each team and the other not having peer leaders. Scores on lab reports were compared between sections. The overall results indicated that TBL modules can improve students' technical writing skills and their perceptions of their abilities over the course of a semester. The TBL team with an assigned team leader was observed to work differently than teams without an assigned team leader, with significant differences occurring with specific group reports. This case study applies a method aimed at improving students' technical writing skills that has potential in other engineering disciplines.

Enhancing students' interdisciplinary design ability in a highway engineering context is important for the development of building information modeling (BIM). This paper proposes a new paradigm for highway engineering and its service areas based on the BIM platform, integrating road, bridge, tunnel, engineering costing; architecture; structure; water supply and drainage; heating and ventilation; and electrical engineering for a senior year capstone course. An overall and breakdown work system is constructed of the joint design process guided by the highway engineering discipline. BIM technology is utilized to integrate the design work content of nine majors, linking the originally separated design stages, and articulating the flow of interoperability information in highway engineering. A case study tests the course, evaluates the students' performance, and identifies improvements in software training, time schedule, technology connection, interoperability issues, as well as how BIM affects teamwork. In applying BIM in an interdisciplinary situation, a visualization tool is used to enrich the body of knowledge of BIM education as it relates to highway engineering.

Engineering and construction industry workplace culture is known to undermine the mental health of workers and professionals, yet relatively little is known about the mental health of university students aiming to work in the industry. This is concerning, given evidence that students face increasing mental health risks in balancing study, work, and life demands within the context of declining government support for education in many parts of the world. To address this knowledge gap, an exploratory survey of construction management, civil engineering, and architecture students enrolled in one Australian university was conducted using the University Student Depression Inventory (USDI). The survey aimed to identify prevalence, symptoms, and support for depression in this student cohort. Overall, the prevalence of depression was found to be considerably higher than other student groups that have previously been tested using the same instrument. Architecture students scored the highest on the USDI, with female students appearing to suffer higher levels of depression than male students. The likelihood of students suffering depression was significantly shaped by their age, enrollment status, year of study, and number of hours studied. Students in all groups were generally cynical toward, and unaware of, the support structures offered by their university and employers. These results contribute to the emerging literature on mental health in the construction and engineering industry by providing insights into a relatively understudied part of the future workforce. The results will enable university and construction managers to develop better targeted strategies to improve the mental well-being of students.

The responsibilities of civil engineers are not limited to technical practices. The responsibility borne by employers and senior members of the profession to uphold ethical behavior in their personal lives cannot be overstated. As the use of social media progressively grows and becomes more prevalent, its penetration into civil engineering is inevitable. Recently, research focusing on the ethical conduct of civil engineers has amassed attention. The present research proposes a two-level, case-based discussion and analysis of comments on a case study using popular social media platforms; and a questionnaire survey exploring the involvement of professional civil engineers in social media discussions. This paper reveals that the convenience and efficiency of social media implores civil engineers to follow the ASCE Code of Ethics to improve the moral standards of the profession.

The heart of engineering lies in problem solving. Critical thinking and mathematical thinking are inexorably linked and indispensable in complex engineering problem solving. However, the preparedness of prospective engineers in terms of having the required skills to face future challenges in the engineering workplace is still questionable and worrisome. Therefore, a study to understand the application of these two types of thinking in professional engineering practice is urgently crucial. This study focuses on having insight into the interrelation and interaction among pertinent elements of critical thinking and mathematical thinking used by engineers in professional civil engineering design practice, in the form of a substantive theory. This paper presents qualitative research using a modified grounded-theory method. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight informants from engineering firms through theoretical sampling. Data were analyzed using modified grounded-theory analysis with analytic tools to interrelate the inductive codes, which contrasts with the more usual grounded-theory analysis. The substantive theory, named math-related critical thinking, explains six essential processes used in professional engineering design for justifying decisions reasonably. The substantive theory provides useful information for prospective engineers and engineering education, along with some implications for designing engineering curricula.

Creativity is an important characteristic for civil engineering professionals and students when facing innovation challenges associated with construction engineering projects. Previous studies have not examined the temporary group context when conducting research on creativity. Drawing on the social cognitive theory and the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) approach, this study explored two questions related to how psychological cognitive factors (i.e., intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy) motivate creativity, and whether the motivation process is influenced by others. Using a class experiment and a pre and posttest questionnaire survey completed by civil engineering students that performed an idea generation task, this study applies an APIM approach to distinguish the positive actor effects of students' innovation motivation and task motivation on their own creativity, instead of the negative or nonsignificant influences from a partner. Creative self-efficacy--as a mediator--plays an indirect positive actor role between students' intrinsic motivation and their own creativity, but an indirect negative partner role in affecting partners' creativity. The findings contribute to an in-depth understanding of the componential model of creativity, including the creative source of intrinsic motivation and the motivational path from interest to belief. The study also provides a broader interdependence perspective to motivate an individual's creativity in engineering and educational practice.

Since 2007/2008 project-based learning models have been used to deliver two fundamental courses on Geotechnics in University of Aveiro, Portugal. These models have evolved and have encompassed either cooperative or collaborative teamwork. Using data collected in five editions of each course (Soil Mechanics I and Soil Mechanics II), the different characteristics of the models using cooperative or collaborative teamwork are pointed out and analysed, namely in terms of the students' perceptions. The data collected include informal feedback from students, monitoring of their marks and academic performance, and answers to two sets of questionnaires: developed for these courses, and institutional. The data indicate students have good opinion of the project-based learning model, though collaborative teamwork is the best rated. The overall efficacy of the models was analysed (sum of their effectiveness, efficiency and attractiveness). The collaborative model was found more adequate.

In principle, the research-teaching nexus should be seen as a two-way link, showing not only ways in which research supports teaching but also ways in which teaching supports research. In reality, the discussion has been limited almost entirely to the first of these practices. This paper presents a case study in which some student field-trip construction projects, originally designed as a teaching tool, were also used to undertake environmental research. The research consisted of testing the implementation of a tool for assessing the environmental impact of construction sites. It was conducted at the Imperial College London Constructionarium Field Module 2012 at the National Construction College, in England. The findings highlighted the unexploited research potential of the Constructionarium teaching tool specifically and of field-trip teaching events generally. To a lesser extent, the students also learned about the research content and process. This experience could be extended to other field-trip teaching events.

Background: This study was motivated by the ubiquity and apparent usefulness of general epistemological development schemes, notably that of William J. Perry, Jr., in engineering education, but also by limitations that derive from their generality. Purpose/Hypothesis: Empirical data were used to articulate engineering students' epistemological views on the role of mathematical methods in engineering and to explore the fit of a stage-based developmental model to those data. Design/Method: Data included interviews, think-aloud protocols, and classroom observations over a one-year period. Ten undergraduates and four instructors in a civil engineering program participated. A grounded-theory approach was used to identify levels of epistemological views. Perry's scheme provided a starting framework. Skeptical reverence, the view veteran engineers hold regarding mathematics in engineering, which was previously identified by the author, was taken as a normative endpoint. All data were coded by view level and various contexts to detect students' epistemological developmental patterns. Results: This article proposes three categories of engineering students' views on the role of mathematical methods in engineering: dualism, integrating, and relativism. Dualism and relativism reflect elements of Perry's general categories, but integrating, a new category, diverges significantly from Perry's middle category of multiplicity. No evidence supported a stage-based developmental model. Conclusions: This empirically based scheme, while exploratory, provides further evidence that epistemological development differs across disciplines, and offers four levels of epistemological views held by engineering students on the role of mathematics in engineering. Conjectures about how to promote engineering students' epistemological development, based on classroom observations, are also offered.

Emissions reductions targets for the UK set out in the Climate Change Act for the period to 2050 will only be achieved with significant changes to the built environment, which is currently estimated to account for 50% of the UK's carbon emissions. The socio-technological nature of Civil Engineering means that this field is uniquely placed to lead the UK through such adaptations. This paper discusses the importance of interdisciplinary teaching to produce multi-faceted team approaches to sustainable design solutions. Methods for measuring success in education are often not fit for purpose, producing good students but poor engineers. Real-world failures to apply sustainable design present a serious, difficult to detect, and ultimately economically negative situation. Techniques to replace summative examinations are presented and discussed, with the aim of enhancing core technical skills alongside those required for sustainable design. Finally, the role of our future engineers in policy-making is discussed. In addition to carbon, the provision of water and food will heavily influence the work of civil engineers in the coming decades. Leadership from civil engineers with the technical knowledge and social awareness to tackle these issues will be required. This provides both opportunities and challenges for engineering education in the UK.

Threshold concepts are transformative, integrative, and provocative; understanding these difficult concepts allows students to be capable of solving advanced problems. This investigation and evaluation of a metacognitive curricular approach explore variation in students' and teachers' discernment of structural complexity of concepts and its potential for enhancing students' learning and conceptual understanding of threshold concepts. Three trials of a metacognitive assessment activity administered to two cohorts of a civil engineering course (n?=?276 and n?=?264) were investigated. Students were presented with several answers (varying in structural complexity) to a question about a threshold concept and asked to mark each response. Quantitative analyses compared students' and teachers' marking schemes within and across trials, and qualitative analyses explored students' written reflections following the activity. Students' justifications for their marking schemes, their reflections on the activity's usefulness, and the convergence of students' and teachers' marking schemes suggest that the activity supported deep forms of student learning.

This article examines the application of knowledge creation learning and innovation to higher education in construction. The objectives are to demonstrate the application of the course based on knowledge creation learning to mass teaching and to analyse whether knowledge creation learning improves student motivation and learning. The empirical data (n = 120) consist of the results of a student survey from two university-level courses. The first course, Basics of Construction Management and Economics (n = 79), was developed on the basis of knowledge creation, and the second course, Building Project (n = 41), was implemented using the case-based learning method. The results, based on student self-assessments, showed that case-based learning supported the learning process more effectively than did the course based on knowledge creation. On the other hand, the results showed the relevance of applying knowledge creation-based learning to the mass teaching of construction in higher education. The findings of this empirical study suggest that more attention should focus on developing students' metacognitive skills in engineering education.

Research and practice is presented on the use of student assessments as part of reflective practice to evaluate teaching. Case studies are presented in the delivery of Engineering modules across a number of years at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Both student performance in continuous assessment and student feedback on assessments highlighted the need for a shift in techniques from end-of-year examination to field-based continuous assessment. Data collected on student feedback highlighted their appreciation for the value of field-based continuous assessments on their learning and showed that it clearly fostered engagement. Student assessments in written examinations failed to adequately determine their ability to meet key learning outcomes specific to these modules.

This paper reports on a project in which students designed, constructed and tested a model of an existing early warning system with simulation of debris flow in a context of a landslide. Students also assessed rural community members' knowledge of this system and subsequently taught them to estimate the time needed for evacuation of the community in the event of a landslide. Participants were four undergraduate students in a civil engineering programme at a university in Thailand, as well as nine community members and three external evaluators. Results illustrate project and problem-based, experiential learning and highlight the real-world applications and development of knowledge and of hard and soft skills. The discussion raises issues of scalability and feasibility for implementation of these types of projects in large undergraduate engineering classes.

The architectural innovations are becoming more and more important in the economic and social development and in the quality improvement of people's lives. Sometimes, however, the implementation of innovative projects can lead to negative consequences. The development of any innovation should be based on a comprehensive analysis of their implementation's consequences. Therefore, developing a responsible of the future architects' attitude to innovations is extremely important for achieving a qualitatively new level of training of future architects to ensure sustainable development. This article presents the results of a research that investigated the social values of future architects and their attitude towards innovation.