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AN INTERACTIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING QUANTITY SURVEYING MEASUREMENT
Glasgow Caledonian University (UNITED KINGDOM)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2013 Proceedings
Publication year: 2013
Pages: 3862-3871
ISBN: 978-84-616-3847-5
ISSN: 2340-1095
Conference name: 6th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 18-20 November, 2013
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
Despite the progress of technology, quantity surveying (QS) measurement is still very much a hands-on process. The process of QS measurement involves a quantity surveyor reading the construction drawings, calculating and quantifying the work and documenting the quantity of work. It is a process that requires the understanding of construction technology. The quantification skills involved in measurement cited by Hodgson et. al. (2008b) and Hasan and Rashid (2005) pointed to the ability to read and interpret drawings, knowledge of building construction and acquaintance of the rules of measurement – namely the standard methods of measurement (SMM) or the new rules of measurement (NRM) published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) as essential skills of a quantity surveyor. The skill of measurement is a basic QS ability required of a quantity surveyor (AIQS, 2003; RICS, 2006).

The ‘Measurement’ module was taught to students in the first and second year of the BSc Quantity Surveying programme in Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). This module is required to prepare students for their quantity surveying career and to meet the Quantification and Costing of Construction Works competency required by RICS.

The conventional approach in teaching ‘Measurement’ module involves the lecturer trying to explain the construction technology on a drawing, the prescriptive set of rules in the SMM/NRM and showing students the measurement (also called taking-off) process to quantify the work. Little technology, other than the use of PowerPoint to illustrate the drawings, is adopted to teach ‘Measurement’ module. Teaching the ‘Measurement’ module was acknowledged as a challenge by Hodgson et. al (2008b) and Hasan and Rashid (2005). Attempts were made to deliver the technical knowledge and taking-off process at the same time to help students learn.

This paper investigates the use of video and interactive PowerPoint as a teaching method to present anatomic information to aid learning and enable students to acquire the skills to measure and define construction works. Questionnaires were used as an instrument for measuring varying degrees of respondents’ opinion of using video and interactive PowerPoint as a tool to support students’ learning. Research findings indicated that the teaching methods have helped the delivery of the module more efficiently, students’ learning experience was enriched and students were able to understand the module better. However, skills required for interpreting construction drawings has to be developed separately. As the quantity surveying programme is one which requires a lot of drawings to illustrate the construction process and to aid students to grasp the subject, the use of video and interactive PowerPoint would be of great benefit and help in supporting students’ learning in their own time.
Keywords:
Measurement, Quantity Surveying, Supporting Students’ Learning.