Evaluating Learning Approaches of Construction Students in Hong Kong through a Matrix Framework |
| |
Authors: | Mei-yung Leung S Thomas Ng Yin-kwan Li |
| |
Affiliation: | 1Dept. of Building and Construction, City Univ. of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Av., Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. 2Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Rd., Hong Kong.
|
| |
Abstract: | Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge, and students may adopt different learning approaches to achieving their learning goals. While educationalists can draw up what they believe is a good construction curriculum for students, students’ learning would depend on their own learning approaches and attitudes. Acknowledging a lack of research on the learning attitudes of construction students, a matrix framework of learning approaches (MFLA) based on the relationships between three learning motives and three learning strategies is proposed in this paper. The MFLA enabled a major empirical survey to be carried out in Hong Kong to examine the learning characteristics of construction students. A questionnaire based on Biggs’s study process questionnaire was distributed to five groups of construction-related students in three universities in Hong Kong. The results of the survey indicate that seven of the nine hypothetical learning approaches exist in construction education in Hong Kong. The assortment of learning approaches used varied across the five student groups. As a result, different teaching and learning factors should be adopted by educators of construction students to meet the distinctive characteristics of students in various universities. |
| |
Keywords: | Construction industry Engineering education Learning Students Teaching methods Hong Kong |
|
|