Using blogs as a skill development tool for construction management students

Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer a growing range of teaching and learning tools. This paper explores the use of blogging as a means of achieving a greater understanding of teaching and learning, and the impact ICTs can have on professional practice. This research has been developed with a group of final year construction management students, and is presented here in two stages. The first stage enabled the cohort to explore the scope of blogging as a tool for learning through reflection, and the second stage was designed to measure the impact this blogging forum had in facilitating the development of skills, particularly those in high demand by the construction industry. This study identifies which interventions are perceived as most relevant by the cohort as a means of developing skills. Results also indicate that the blogging platform format influences the impact blogging may produce. Collected data shows that undergraduate students perceive they improve their critical, analytical and communicational skills; however they don't perceive they have learned or that better prepares them for professional practice. Students conceive blogging as having potential far beyond the objectives of the curricula.
Description
Keywords
Blogs, Construction manager, Information technology, Professional skills
Citation