Driving student engagement and motivation with the cloud-based flipped classroom model in BIM education

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way of teaching and learning, and they are undertaken remotely on digital platforms. This sudden shift away from classrooms to online learning platforms has created a new study mode that may persist in the post-pandemic period. Thus, students are confronted by an uncertain and increasingly complicated future. To prepare them for these challenges, the flipped classroom can offer a new learning experience to students. The flipped classroom is a strategy to replace the traditional approach to teaching and learning. It is a new pedagogical model that encourages active learning, student engagement, and self-directed learning. In the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technology, and its adoption has evolved substantially in recent years. The growing popularity of BIM has led to considerable demand for competent BIM professionals in the industry, Thus, BIM education, which has the primary objective of equipping students with necessary BIM skills, prepares new generations of industry professionals. As such, this proposal presents how the CityU BIM expert teams up with the cloud engineers and programmers to develop a cloud gaming server by employing the flipped classroom approach. Cloud gaming can offer solutions to particular problems seen in traditional classroom environments, for example, lower cognitive outcomes and poor attitudes towards learning. Eventually, it is expected that the cloud gaming server enhances student's learning performance, produces enhanced learning outcomes, and increases student motivation in BIM-related courses.