Using Computer Software to Support Surveying Students in Learning Structures

Abstract

“Structures” is offered to students of the BSc(Surveying) course in the Department of Real Estate and Construction at the University of Hong Kong. The emphasis in its teaching is based on the morphological approach rather than the quantitative approach which is often used for the education of engineers. In professional practice, building surveyors always perform the inspection and preliminary appraisal of building structures, whereas the detailed analysis and calculation will be carried out by structural engineers. Without the support of laboratory demonstration, the surveying students have experienced difficulty in learning structures’ behaviour under load.

Computer programs are available for aiding engineering professionals in the analysis, design and drafting of structures. They also possess the facility of illustrating the behaviour of structures under various loading conditions. Although lengthy calculations are minimised by running the software, students still have to acquire the basic concepts of structural analysis and design. Thus the structures computer software can be a useful tool for surveying students in learning structures. Different building structural systems can be conveniently compared and appraised without actually going through the laboratory sessions.

The aims of the project are: · To develop an integrated computer package for use by surveying students in the teaching and learning of structures · To enhance students’ ability in the appreciation of appropriate structural systems used for different types of buildings

The first goal is to improve students’ comprehension of the concepts in the study of structures. By integrating teaching materials with the computer software, the students will be better equipped to learn structures with the qualitative approach. The second goal is that students would promptly receive the feedback on their trial solutions to structures problems as different options can be compared within a very short time by using the developed package.

Evaluation of the use of the package is by comparison of student opinions and attitudes gathered through a questionnaire, and achievement level in assignment scores. The initial response from students in using the software was encouraging.