http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/5915 2013-05-31T13:28:18Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6788 Title: Student Participation in Building the Learning Environment: Establishing Virtual Database of Construction Standards for Hong Kong Authors: Lee, Raymond Yiu-yin Abstract: Establishing Hong Kong's own construction standards will involve an enormous amount of financial commitment when comparing with other countries. However, the lack of a consistent series of construction standards in Hong Kong has resulted in a number of problems in the Industry and also the tertiary programmes such as Construction Engineering Education and related courses and programmes at BEng, BSS at out Department, for example: One can easily find a host of different national standards (e.g., BS, DOT, ASHRAE, DIN, JIS, ASTM, ANSI, AAMA, AS, EN, ISO, etc.) being cited in the specifications for a single project. This will hinder the application of the strongly advocated performance-based specifications for the application in building construction. (BC2001 & BC2111 Building Technology, Construction Environment) The lack of a common basis on construction standards results in inconsistent acceptance criteria, rejection of comparable alternatives submitted by contractors, delays in approval, disputes, and confusion to building material manufacturers and suppliers; (BC4145 Building Design Project) The borrowed overseas standards may not fit Hong Kong's contextual situations such as different weather, the corrosive environment and trade practices; (BC2lll, Construction Environment) Owing to different standards used and inconsistent acceptance criteria, this gives ways to under-table dealings and social corruption; (BC34ll & BC 4412, Construction and Project Management) As a result, it leads to confusions, even within the works departments of the Hong Kong government. For example, from the investigators' recent visit to some building material manufacturers and suppliers in Dong Guan, some manufacturers complained that for the same material (e.g. concrete repair mortar), different departments (e.g. using Department, ASD and CED) may specify different standards (ASTM or BS, etc.). However, to establish construction standards for Hong Kong, everything needs to start from scratch. In order to avoid the confusion and uncertainty after graduation to the industry for this area, it is proposed to developing a Virtual Database of Construction Standards (VBSS) for Hong Kong with Student Participation. 2012-10-11T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6789 Title: Development of a Virtual Construction Environment (VCE) Model (Foundation Part) for Construction Planning for Construction & Structural Engineering Curricular Authors: Tam, Chi-ming Abstract: The planning process of construction projects is among the most challenging topics faced by construction students. Decisions made during this process have a tremendous impact on the successful execution of the project from its early conceptual phases, through the project construction and completion. For a large majority of construction projects, the current planning practices remain manually based. General and project specific data are communicated among project participants through design drawings in a 2D paper-based format. Due to the interdependence between the different elements and the large amount of information that needs to be manually processed, it imposes a heavy burden for construction undergraduates to make right decisions under the planning process.One web-based resource centre for planning environment has been set up and support the learning process of the construction or civil engineering students in the planning phase of design-build projects. The courses related to this area are BC3411, BC4412, BC2111 and BC5106: Construction Engineering and Project Management, Building Design Project, Construction Environment, Building and Science and also a GE programme named GE2303 Sustainable Environment, etc. The main purpose of the web-based resource centre is to assist the students in planning decision making, by providing pertinent information necessary for making appropriate decisions in a structured format. This information can be organized, stored, and retrieved by the students whenever needed at the web-based centre. The centre also provides the information of the different work execution and site layout planning scenarios early during project development stages. In order to define required information in learning planning decision making, the investigators use a web-based Virtual Construction Environment (VCE) model (Foundation Part) under which information required could be classified and organized in a structured standardized format. The construction students can then retrieve and utilize this information interactively whenever needed during the virtual learning sessions. 2012-10-11T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6790 Title: Facility Layout Planning Lab (FLPL): Uses of Tower Crane & Other Heavy Construction Plants Authors: Wong, Chi-Kwong Abstract: A tower crane used on a demolition site in Causeway Bay collapsed suddenly on 10 July 2008, causing the death of two workers and injuries to a number of others. While the causes of the accident are still under appeal, the tragic accident is in fact not the first one related to the use and the location of tower crane. Due to the lack of competences and training, the safe use and the right position of tower crane/ heavy plants in facility layout planning is still in question. In the light of this, the engineering courses offered in BC department aim to strengthen and cultivate our ideal graduates with sound and practical knowledge in the subject matters related to tower crane/ other heavy plants/ equipment in construction sites. However, the traditional teaching methods are mainly relying on the schematic drawings and documented procedures which may not effectively convey the major and critical knowledge about the operations of this usual and typical equipment at Hong Kong construction sites. All civil, building and construction engineering students pursuing a Bachelor's degree in the Building and Construction (BC) Department are required to take engineering courses related to the Construction Technology, Building Technology and Temporary Works Design. In these courses, the knowledge about the heavy construction plants, such as tower crane's location, erection, climbing and dismantling are the essential and vital subject matters for our students to learn at construction sites. However, the existing teaching and learning materials do not effectively help our students to learn and experience the location, installation and operations of tower crane in-depth. Utilizing digital imaging technologies and multimedia software, the PI will develop a web-based instructional virtual lab designed to allow students in several different disciplines from BC Department to experience and actively gain knowledge about the most concerned operations of tower crane/ other heavy plants in their workplace. By providing for individual learning needs and opportunities to observe students' work, this proposal will help in improving both the effectiveness and the quality of teaching and learning, and hopefully in support of CityU's overall goal to add values to our students in our plan to moving from a 3-year to a 4-year curriculum. 2012-10-11T00:00:00Z http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6791 Title: Development of a Sustainable, Student-centered, Teaching and Learning Resources Repository for Construction Students: Integrating In-class and Out-of-class Learning Activities Authors: Chan, Gary Chak-wa Abstract: Construction is multi-disciplinary, involving several separate branches of fields like engineering, management, economics and finance. To facilitate students of construction to learn effectively such a multi-disciplinary subject, teaching has to go hand-in-hand with the appreciation of their practical applications in order to understand how basic concepts are put into practice in a complex construction project. To this end, one of the best ways, apparently, is to let students explore and experience the process and complexity of a construction project through organized site visits; such out-of-class activities actually form an integral part of our present (and also the coming 3-3-4) curriculum, as indicated in our pedagogy model, developed through years of observation of teaching and learning effectiveness in our programme. The objectives of our site visits are three-fold, namely: 1. To motivate students’ learning interest and thus enhancing their general academic learning attitude; 2. To provide students with opportunities to broaden their view in construction; 3. To reinforce what they learn in class. Regular site visits are either arranged by staff or organized by students themselves. During such visits, students have the opportunity to learn and discuss with professionals, observe and record various construction activities through photos and video, and collect other information in various formats. This collected information provides an important and invaluable source of references for learning among students in our Division. Although students have to submit reports upon completion of the visits, such invaluable information collected has not been systematically stored in any easy-to-share format in the past and thus making such invaluable information difficult to be fully utilized in enhancing students’ learning. In view of the importance of site visits to our students and the necessity of systematically storing information collected from site visits and better utilization of such resources, it is proposed herein to establish a sustainable, student-centered, management system and learning resources repository for our students. The system is intended to be installed on our Divisional e-learning server, which could be easily administered and managed by the proposers and our in-house computer technicians. The system also integrates with Blackboard and makes use of some commercially available tools (like various Google tools and YouTube), if necessary. 2012-10-11T00:00:00Z