A PORTFOLIO APPROACH TO A M.SC. DEGREE IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT USING A COMMON PROJECT

The M.Sc. in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering, sponsored by the Universitat Politècnica de València, has been implementing innovations since its inception in 2008. During the last three academic years a single civil engineering project has been used as a common reference for the mandatory courses taught during the first semester. This implementation intended that the students were able to generate a portfolio. In the context of this paper, a portfolio is a collection of documents generated by coursework linked to each of the subjects, which are related to the management of the infrastructure throughout its chronological life-cycle: feasibility, design, construction, and operation. The goal of the implementation of the portfolio using a common project in the program is to generate a holistic vision of the students in the construction management field, as well as to guide students in the process of building their own knowledge, to facilitate their understanding of the construction management field as a system, and to acquire meaningful learning and horizontal competencies. The portfolio allows instructors to provide the necessary evidence for a more realistic and accurate assessment. This paper presents a specific application of the portfolio as a teaching and learning strategy that develops better coordination between subjects.