Building a symbiotic relationship between academia and industry: expectations and observations of construction management graduates

Construction management graduates are employed in job functions such as building and civil engineering contracting, construction and project management consulting, client organisations (public and private) and developer organisations. Considering the diversity of employment opportunities for construction management graduates, they increasingly need to have a portfolio of skills to work effectively and efficiently with other professions in the industry. In exploring this, the objective of the research presented in this paper is to determine if construction management graduates are meeting the expectations of their employers. In considering the competitive forces impacting the construction industry, the authors of this paper sought to establish whether construction managers are able to identify those key skills needed for the future success of the industry. In turn, this information is considered critical for the successful formulation of curricula. Therefore, to establish whether construction management graduates are meeting the expectations of contractors, a survey was distributed to managers to establish their expectations and observations of recent graduates. The survey results indicate that managers are generally satisfied with the skill level of graduate students. The survey also highlighted several important skills that were considered to be lacking in graduates. cknowledging that there is always a need to improve the skill level of graduates, the authors propose a number of recommendations that are considered to improve the content construction management curricula.

Toward a synergy between simulation and knowledge management for business intelligence

The adoption of simulation as a powerful enabling method for knowledge management is hampered by the relatively high cost of model construction and maintenance. A two-step procedure, based on a divide and conquer strategy, is proposed in this paper. First, a simulation program is partitioned based on a reinterpretation of the model-view-controller architecture. Individual parts are then connected, in terms of abstraction, to guard against possible changes that resulted from shifting user requirements. We explore the applicability of these design principles through a detailed discussion of an industry case study. The knowledge-based perspective guides the design of architecture to accommodate the need of emulation without compromising the integrity of the simulation program. The synergy between simulation and a knowledge management perspective, as shown in the case study, has the potential to achieve the objectives of rapid development of models, with low maintenance cost. This could, in turn, facilitate an extension of the use of simulation in the knowledge management domain.

Designing and delivering clinical risk management education for graduate nurses : an Australian study

In order to enhance their capabilities in clinical risk management (CRM) and to be integrated into safe and effective patient safety organisational processes and systems, neophyte graduate nurses need to be provided with pertinent information on CRM at the beginning of their employment. What and how such information should be given to new graduate nurses, however, remains open to question and curiously something that has not been the subject either of critique or systematic investigation in the nursing literature. This article reports the findings of the third and final cycle of a 12 month action research (AR) project that has sought to redress this oversight by developing, implementing and evaluating a CRM education program for neophyte graduate nurses. Conducted in the cultural context of regional Victoria, Australia, the design, implementation and evaluation of the package revealed that it was a useful resource, served the intended purpose of ensuring that neophyte graduate nurses were provided with pertinent information on CRM upon the commencement and during their graduate nurse year, and enabled graduate nurses to be facilitated to translate that information into their everyday practice.

Clinical risk management and patient safety education for nurses : a critique

Nurses have a pivotal role to play in clinical risk management (CRM) and promoting patient safety in health care domains. Accordingly, nurses need to be prepared educationally to manage clinical risk effectively when delivering patient care. Just what form the CRM and safety education of nurses should take, however, remains an open question. A recent search of the literature has revealed a surprising lack of evidence substantiating models of effective CRM and safety education for nurses. In this paper, a critical discussion is advanced on the question of CRM and safety education for nurses and the need for nurse education in this area to be reviewed and systematically researched as a strategic priority, nationally and internationally. It is a key contention of this paper that without ‘good’ safety education research it will not be possible to ensure that the educational programs that are being offered to nurses in this area are evidence-based and designed in a manner that will enable nurses to develop the capabilities they need to respond effectively to the multifaceted and complex demands that are inherent in their ethical and professional responsibilities to promote and protect patient safety and quality care in health care domains.

Effectiveness of a community-based osteoporosis education and self-management course : a wait list controlled trial

Summary : Osteoporosis is an increasing burden on individuals and health resources. The Osteoporosis Prevention and Self-Management Course (OPSMC) was designed to assist individuals to prevent and manage osteoporosis; however, it had not been evaluated in an Australian setting. This randomised controlled trial showed that the course increased osteoporosis knowledge.
Introduction and hypothesis : Osteoporosis is a major and growing public health concern. An OPSMC was designed to provide individuals with information and skills to prevent or manage osteoporosis, but its effectiveness has not previously been evaluated. This study aimed to determine whether OPSMC attendance improved osteoporosis knowledge, self-efficacy, self-management skills or behaviour.
Materials and methods : Using a wait list randomised controlled trial design, 198 people (92% female) recruited from the community and aged over 40 (mean age = 63) were randomised into control (n = 95) and intervention (n = 103) groups. The OPSMC consists of four weekly sessions which run for 2 h and are led by two facilitators. The primary outcome were osteoporosis knowledge, health-directed behaviour, self-monitoring and insight and self-efficacy.
Results : The groups were comparable at baseline. At 6-week follow-up, the intervention group showed a significant increase in osteoporosis knowledge compared with the control group; mean change 3.5 (p < 0.001) on a measure of 0–20. The intervention group also demonstrated a larger increase in health-directed behaviour, mean change 0.16 (p < 0.05), on a measure of 0–6.
Conclusion : The results indicate that the OPSMC is an effective intervention for improving understanding of osteoporosis and some aspects of behaviour in the short term.

Patient education and self-management programs in arthritis

♦ Arthritis self-management programs (ASMPs) are integrated into many clinical practice guidelines and policies, and are the core business of Arthritis Foundations.

♦ Australian Arthritis Foundations are embarking on a National Quality Assurance Program which should raise awareness and improve confidence in such programs.

♦ ASMPs aim to empower people, improve quality of life while living with chronic disease, increase healthy activities and improve self-monitoring — each of which can assist with clinical management, but can be difficult to evaluate.

♦ Although there is modest high-quality evidence of traditional “clinical outcomes” from ASMPs, these programs are strongly endorsed by consumers, are being used as a vehicle for healthcare reform, and have the potential to substantially improve public health.

♦ Coordinated national delivery of patient education programs has the potential to improve healthcare and outcomes for people with arthritis.

Technical features of BIM servers for collaboration on building and construction projects

This paper reviews the technical features and requirements of Building Information Modelling (BIM)-servers as collaboration platforms for multi-disciplinary building and construction projects. Multi-disciplinary collaboration is the norm in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries, especially in complex projects. The widespread adoption of object-oriented Computer-aided Design (CAD) tools that support BIM capabilities has generated greater interest in model based exchange of information across disciplines and consultants who have traditionally collaborated through the frequent exchange of 2D drawings and documents. BIM-servers are collaboration platforms that are expected to provide the technical capability to support this inter-disciplinary exchange of 3D models in addition to intelligent management of the related drawings, documents and other forms of data. Since BIM-servers are a recent technical development a review of their technical features can help further development. This paper serves this objective by providing a review of the technical features and requirements for using BIM-servers as multi-disciplinary collaboration platforms on building and construction projects. The methodologies include focus group interviews (FIGs) with representatives from the diverse AEC disciplines, a case study on a state-of-the-art BIM-server, and a critical review and analysis of current collaboration platforms that are available to the AEC industries. This paper concludes that greater emphasis should be placed on supporting technical requirements to facilitate technology management and implementation across disciplines. Their implications for user-centric technology development in design and construction industry are also discussed.

Action research : the use of enterprise resource planning system in construction engineering and project management

Although information communication technology (ICT) is long regard as very useful tool in today’s construction engineering and project management environment, organizations must not only operate based upon its original setting, but also requires on-going observation, additional features and fine is a very common phenomenon that organizations purchase the licensed “off their own business need. Due to the incapability of such software and inefficient customization, the possible result is making that ICT tool not user-friendly and sometimes the whole system becomes obsolete.

The purpose of this paper is to review and report those action organization to enhance the performance of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system launched in December 2002. Such actions include: improving data inputting method; removing the tran the organization’s “Delegation and Limits of Authority”; publishing the “League Table” amongst users; integrating the 3D Mode into the system and upgrading hardware.

Whilst the ultimate goals of such system are well beyond the time limit of this research study, an obvious interim result, achieved by this case studied organization, was winning a landmark project worth US$500 million after the ERP system was functioned prope and effectively. Their experience and success becomes an exemplar which can be borrowed by those companies, from managerial perspectives and as a roadmap, planning to adopt information technology (IT) strategy and use ICT tool in the construction engineering and project management framework. Singapore, where public housing provisions have been a major concern of their citizens as the building stock gets older.

Conceptualizing teamwork and group-work in architecture and related design disciplines

This paper reports on the early findings of an Australian Learning Teaching Council (ALTC/OLT) funded project – “Enhancing and Assessing Group and Team Learning in Architecture and Related Design Contexts.” This is a two-year project investigating good practice in Australian higher education for the teaching of teamwork in the design disciplines, with a focus on architecture. Drawing upon a review of the literature and discussions with teachers and practitioners, the paper considers how teamwork is conceived in the context of the design disciplines. The paper explores notions of team and group design activities in the literature, identifying the key elements and characteristics of effective teams and groups. While a great deal of research exists on effective teamwork in organizational, management and general education literature, this research found a clear gap in knowledge relating to teaching teamwork in architecture and related design contexts. Suggestions are made about the ways in which theories on effective teamwork in organisations might elucidate teaching and assessment of effectively functioning student design teams. The literature review prompted five key questions, outlined here, around the conceptualisation of teamwork in design education that were subsequently discussed with educators and practitioners, thus allowing the identification of issues, problems and solutions common to all fields of design.

Adaptation and validation of the Japanese version of the health education impact questionnaire (heiQ-J) for the evaluation of self-management education interventions

Aim:  

Investigating well-being, work limitations and preferences for self-management education and peer support among younger people with hip and knee osteoarthritis: protocol for a cross-sectional study

Introduction: